Defense wins champions, or so they say. If that’s the case, Tuesday’s practice was about winning championships. The Lynx started to install their defensive playbook—working on strategies for navigating picks, sending help and other core concepts of their system.
Everyone looked good, but it’s still too early to get into evaluation. The team will have another session Tuesday evening and will put the offense and defense together on Wednesday and start scrimmaging against their practice squad.
“Today was a defensive day so everybody looks good on defense. You just play hard and you look good on defense,” said head coach Cheryl Reeve. “. . .We made progress, but every team in the league did.”
In the first three days of practice, Lexie Brown has stood out. She can shoot the lights out, something the team really needs, and has positional versatility at the point guard or shooting guard spots.
“She’s a little quieter than I thought she would be but is confidently playing her role. She can shoot it, and that has tremendous value on this team in particular,” said Reeve. “She’s kind of picked up on her spots—where she can get her shots, and I think she’s probably been one of our best players in the first couple days.”
Reeve sees Brown playing a lot off the ball to get open looks, but she likes Brown’s ability to run the point on occasion. If she’s on the floor with Odyssey Sims, the two can transition back and forth between the two positions seamlessly. With their differing skillsets that could give opposing defenses fits.
“I’ve been raised as a point guard so moving to the two position is kind of a new thing for me as I’ve gotten older, and my skillset has grown a little,” said Brown. “I’ve been able to score more on the bounce, in isolation, stuff like that, I’m super comfortable handling the ball but to be able to spot up, space the floor, shoot, would be really fun as well.”
For a shooter like Brown, getting to play with a big like Sylvia Fowles is a luxury. She’ll often find herself with a lot of space. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
“In college and even overseas you don’t have dominant post players like that, so to come here, I always feel like I have to give her the ball but she’s told me, ‘I’m looking for you, if you’re open you better take your shot and I’m going to clear the lane out for you sometimes.’ It’s going to be fun learning and growing with Sylvia,” Brown said.
Things didn’t work out for Brown last year with the Sun, but that wasn’t because she wasn’t talented. Last season was a difficult one to make an impression in because the season was so condensed. Now, with a full training camp and more time between games, Brown has a real opportunity.
“I just personally felt like I didn’t get a chance to show myself as a player. There are some great players on Connecticut of course and I have no problem earning my minutes and things like that, but because the seasons was so condensed I didn’t really have a lot of opportunities to get after it, go after the vets, earn some minutes,” Brown said.
Reeve credited the Sun for giving Brown the chance to move on to a better situation.
Karima Christmas-Kelly Is Settling In
It’s not an easy thing to come into a new team after a season-ending injury, but Karima Christmas-Kelly is doing an admirable job. The Lynx love her versatility—she can play the two through four spots and has come into camp with a focus on defense. That will endear her to Reeve quickly.
“It’s just playing your role. If it’s knocking down threes or if it’s getting to the basket, releasing some pressure from Seimone and Syl, kind of playing off of D-Rob at the same time, but I’m just looking to get better this year coming off of an injury and focusing on the little things,” said Christmas-Kelly.
Coming back from knee surgery is a tough process but though the road back is not a straight line, Christmas-Kelly is up to the challenge.
“There’s going to be good and bad days. For me it’s just new because I’ve never had an injury like this, especially in my professional career,” she said. “Just trying to stay with it, there’s going to be bad days, just kind of bounce back and kind of roll with the punches.”
Quick Hits
- Assistant coaches Walt Hopkins and Plenette Pierson were very vocal in practice. Though Reeve did most of the direction, Hopkins and Pierson were willing to stop drills to outline a concept or give a pointer. This coaching staff trusts one other.
- Danielle Robinson is going to be expected to shoot from deep this year. Reeve said she’d rather have D-Rob shoot and miss than not shoot it. Reeve wants Robinson in double-figures.
- The new players on this team have a knack for defense. Shao Ting, Jillian Alleyne and Napheesa Collier all had a few great moments when media were allowed in. Jessica Shepard looks great as well, she plays way bigger than her height.
- “We never trail screens.” That is, Reeve wants her players beating their marks around screens or going under if they have to. Never get behind the ball, that’s defense 101.
- Robinson and Sims have some real chemistry. They’ll see significant minutes playing together this season.