Alex Shun

Web Editorial Associate | Twitter

After coming to the Lynx last week in exchange for a 2016 second-round pick, forward Asjha Jones is finally getting healthy.

Jones has not played in each of the last two seasons due to a strained Achilles tendon in 2013 and a ruptured Achilles tendon in 2014. Despite the time-off and the injuries, Lynx players know that Jones can be great.

Guard Lindsay Whalen, who played with Jones for 5 seasons in Connecticut, is excited for fans in Minnesota to finally see the immense set of skills that Jones provides.

“They’ll see someone that can consistently make a 15-18 foot jump shot, just a smart player, a vet. She’s someone who has been an Olympian, someone who on the low-block can get her shot, and a heady player; someone who comes in and knows what’s expected of her everyday and she comes in and works hard. I’m definitely happy she’s here, it’s fun to play with her again.”

Despite the immense praise, the injury-riddled past is still a concern for head coach Cheryl Reeve, which is why Reeve has been careful with Jones’s workload thus far.

“We’ve been doing the kind of gradual, put her in some stuff, and today was the most that she’s done. She looks like Asjha Jones…She looked comfortable.”

Although she is not 100 percent physically just yet, Reeve says that she is impressed with how Jones has been coming along on the mental and technical side of her development.

“I know that she’s just trying to soak up what it is that we do, how we do it, why we do it, and then once they have all that information, veterans are usually really good at just going and applying it, and that’s what I’ve seen with Asjha.”

It would seem logical that Jones was acquired to fill the void that center Janel McCarville’s sudden departure has left on the roster, however, Reeve says the two are incomparable.

“They’re different skill-sets. They both do different things. Probably want to shy away from any kind of comparisons. They’re different mentally, they’re different physically, different skill-sets, and what we’re really focusing on is what Asjha does.”

The Lynx will have Friday off after practicing twice per day for the majority of Training Camp.