After months of planning, innovation and test video calls, the virtual 2020 WNBA Draft came and went in a matter of hours.

Unfortunately, the upcoming season will not follow its typical timeline. We won’t be moving from draft preparation to training camp coverage to final roster evaluations to counting down the hours until games are actually played.

Of course, we’ll miss the rush of covering what the end of April and early May would bring in a WNBA season that wasn’t impacted by a novel pandemic, but for now, we’ll use the time we have to take a closer look at the Lynx’s draft night decisions.

If you watched Friday’s draft unfold, you know there’s a lot to uncover.

Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve turned heads once again by selecting South Carolina forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan with the sixth overall pick before landing UConn guard Crystal Dangerfield in the second round and trading Stephanie Talbot to the New York Liberty for Rice University guard Erica Ogwumike.

There are still a bazillion questions about the 2020 WNBA season that have yet to be answered, but after Friday night’s post-draft media availability, it’s evident that Reeve and her staff are more reassured with what their roster has to offer.

‘We Knew (Herbert Harrigan) Would Be A Surprise To Some People’

Before the draft began, the Lynx offered up the chance to win an autographed basketball to fans who correctly guessed the team’s No. 6 overall pick. You probably deserve to have my job if you were still eligible to win after Herbert Harrigan’s name was announced by Cathy Engelbert.

There was plenty of pre-draft talk about the Lynx bringing in a South Carolina player in the first round, but most folks probably assumed Ty Harris would be the Gamecock the Lynx went with. There was also discussion of the Lynx selecting a forward like UConn’s Megan Walker or Miami’s Beatrice Mompremier but few — if any — slotted Herbert Harrigan as the sixth overall pick.

How did the forward who helped lead the Gamecocks to a 32-1 2019-20 record drop on our radar?

Reeve believes Herbert Harrigan’s “later arrival to the game” may have kept her name from popping up in most media members’ mock drafts.

But there was plenty of buzz about the power forward on their side of the process.

“There was some conversation around maybe Chicago,” Reeve said. “If Hebard was gone, we thought that Chicago might take her at 8. You’re talking about a few spots a little sooner, but she was absolutely on the other side of it — not the mock side of it — where they had Beatrice Mompremier being in the top 8.

“Those things are hard. It’s a type of draft that I think, again, once you get past the four talented players that you knew were going to go in some order in the top four, it really became very subjective after that.”

The Lynx viewed Herbert Harrigan as a top-two power forward in the draft whose defensive game set her apart from the power forwards expected to be selected before her.

“Defending the post, the way that we like to defend the post, playing 1 on 1 on the perimeter and some of these matchups we have in our league at the 4 spot, we think she’s different,” Reeve said.

The 6’2 power forward recorded 210 career blocks in South Carolina, 58 of which came in the 2019-20 season. She averaged 1.8 blocks and just 1.6 fouls per game as a senior while serving as a reliable helpside and on-ball defender.

The Lynx were also drawn to Herbert Harrigan’s passion for the game, which they believe can be reinforced and maximized under their coaching staff.

“I really don’t know if I could find a better fit for our staff, meaning I see some Plenette Pierson in Kiki,” Reeve said. “There are some challenges that go with Kiki that I think our staff can be very helpful with.”

Reeve and her staff recognize “the good, the bad and the ugly” of Herbert Harrigan’s competitive edginess and lacking rebounding skills but believe that if she just listens to coaches such as Pierson who once carried an on-court presence similar to hers, there’ll be plenty of potential to unlock.

“If she listens and applies herself, I mean, look at the players and the coaches she has coaching her,” Reeve said. “She’s got everything she needs, she just has to listen.”

Herbert Harrigan’s offensive game may not be quite as translatable as her defensive skills, but she still brings plenty of promise on the other end of the court where she shot 43.5% from 3-point range (on only 46 attempts) as a senior. She can create her own shot off the dribble but may be a bit trigger happy at times, according to Reeve.

“I think she shows some impatience on offense,” Reeve said. “She’ll learn that that’s just not how we do it here. If she just listens, if everybody just does what they’re great at, that’s how we’ve found success. I think Kiki has some things that she’s very good at offensively. I think she’s very hard to play against. So we just thought she had some upside.”

It’s tough to bring this up but selecting a forward like Herbert Harrigan with the No. 6 pick also gave the Lynx some security if Jessica Shepard’s 2019 ACL injury keeps her from returning to full force. Aside from Shepard, Damiris Dantas and Temi Fagbenle were the only other power forwards listed on the Lynx’s roster before the draft.

“Jess is coming off an ACL; you just don’t know how these things are going to go, and we thought we needed more depth,” Reeve said. “That was sort of the driving force for our interest there.

“There were some players in this draft that we think were in consideration that we said, ‘They might be near kind of their ceiling,’” Reeve said, “and Kiki was one that while it’s a bit of a flyer, a little bit higher than what people thought, we also think that she’s someone who potentially has a pretty decent ceiling.” – Katie Davidson

Dangerfield Looks Like A Complete Steal 

Many people thought the Lynx could end up with UCONN point guard Crystal Dangerfield in the 2020 WNBA Draft.

And while the Lynx did draft Dangerfield, it was in the second round rather than the first, unexpected by many people (Lynxbasketball.com included).

The Lynx ended up getting Dangerfield with the 16^th overall pick, which certainly looks like a steal.

And while Reeve and her staff drafted Dangerfield later than expected, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t interest. In fact, the Lynx were the first team to reach out to Dangerfield during the pre-draft process.

“It was early on and they were just letting me know this process was going to be new for them,” Dangerfield said. “ . . . They were just trying to figure out who I was as a person and what I thought my game would fit into the program and everything.”

One player in particular who might have done some lobbying for Dangerfield to join the Lynx was her former UCONN teammate, Napheesa Collier. Reeve uses the term “plug and play” to describe UCONN players and that certainly was the case for Collier during her rookie campaign, a campaign that Dangerfield was watching closely.

“It was funny because I was more of a fan than anything even though a couple of months ago I was her teammate,” Dangerfield said. “I was really proud of her. It wasn’t really a shock to me, nothing was. Rookie of the Year, I was gonna throw a fit if she didn’t get it. She’s been great and for her to be lobbying again for me to play with her, that means something to me. . . I think we’ll play great together.”

Of course, when a player does slide in the draft, there are reasons for it. For Dangerfield, it appears as if that reason is her height. At 5’5, she’s not the biggest, but she’s a good shooter and has extremely high basketball IQ.

There will be plenty of competition for playing time, and for a roster spot, but the Lynx don’t have a clear-cut point guard right now. I’m not sure if Dangerfield can start right away, but if she can continue to play smart, there’s a world in which she’s a player who the Lynx depend on in 2020. – Kyle Ratke

 Beyond The Family Ties 

As soon as the Lynx selected Dangerfield, Ogwumike became their next target.

“It’s very hard once you get past the first few picks to kind of know how it’s going to play out, but when Crystal was there at 16, the first thing we did when we picked her was start talking about how do we get Erica,” Reeve said. “Who could we trade with? What could we do?”

Sure enough, New York was willing to trade its third-round pick for Talbot’s rights and the Lynx were able to add another guard into the mix.

“I like what Erica brings to the table, and she’ll get a shot,” Reeve said.

The Lynx’s roster will eventually have to be narrowed down to 12 players and doesn’t allow for much wiggle room. Dangerfield, Ogwumike and even Herbert Harrigan will have to fight, claw and compete to outlive training camp.

Ogwumike should be up for the challenge.

“Anybody who follows the WNBA knows the bloodlines of the Ogwumike family,” Reeve said. “The characteristics, the qualities of an Ogwumike are incredibly appealing. Period. The way that they play the game, they do things that win possessions.”

But Ogwumike was drafted and traded for for various reasons — not just her name recognition.

Unlike her sisters Nneka and Chiney, 5’9 Erica suits up as a guard. But the athleticism and enthusiasm for the game she shares with her sisters have allowed her skill set to branch off from that of a traditional point guard — just look at her rebounding numbers.

Ogwumike recorded a career average of 10.1 rebounds per game at Rice on top while averaging more than 17 points per game all three seasons. That’s not a bad double-double average for a 5’9 guard.

She also averaged 6.8 free throw attempts per game and shot 81.0% from the free-throw line her senior year. Rachel Banham and Lexie Brown may provide the Lynx with better outside shooting than Ogwumike can, but none of the Lynx’s guards can get to the rim quite like the Rice guard can.

“Erica gets to the rim and gets fouled,” Reeve said. “Crystal Dangerfield doesn’t necessarily get in there to get fouled; she’ll get in there, she’ll make a move and create a 3-ball.

“I just think Erica is going to give us something different, which is what we really, really wanted.”

Ogwumike, like all third-round draft picks, has her work cut out for her. But if she can capitalize on the opportunities the Lynx’s roster that’s light on guards presents, fans will find out just how much she brings to the table.

“I like that Erica knows these players,” Reeve said. “I like that Erica probably watched the game where I called her sister the biggest flopper. I like all that. I like that we’ve got somebody who’s got some inside information on LA in some ways.

“I like a lot about Erica Ogwumike.” – Katie Davidson

A Competitive Transition

A few years ago, the Lynx were a team full of veterans, and certainly, that was by design.

We’re starting to see the team transition. While there is still Sylvia Fowles (34), this team oozes potential. That starts with Collier (23), but that includes players like Rachel Banham (26), Lexie Brown (25), Damiris Dantas (27), Jessica Shepard (23) and Ceci Zandalasini (24).

That doesn’t even include the trio of rookies the team brought in. Having this much youth on a team generally means rebuild, but this team is competitively transitioning, which is something very few teams have success with. With Fowles and Collier, two All-Stars, the Lynx have a pretty good base.

Can Herbert Harrigan be the next star? I think defensively, she is going to cause major problems for other teams from the get-go.

This is certainly a different team than the one we saw have so much success in the 2010s, but that wasn’t going to last forever. Credit goes to Reeve as, on paper, it appears this team will remain competitive as we enter the new era of Lynx basketball. – Kyle Ratke