After spending the first few practices of training camp working through installing sets on both sides of the ball, the Lynx had the opportunity on Wednesday to get up and down the floor and scrimmage a bit.

Everyone likes playing, but it’s been especially nice for the rookies who have been working hard to learn an entirely new system. Getting out and playing gives them the opportunity to show off the traits that don’t show up in drills.

Head coach Cheryl Reeve said that the early signs from first-round draft pick Napheesa Collier have been encouraging.

“Every time you see Napheesa play she does the same thing. Her activity when she plays, defensively, get a rebound, run, how she plays in the half-court offense, she moves,” said Reeve. “I don’t know that I would say she looks completely comfortable, but there’s no reason why she should feel that way just yet.”

Collier is the type of player who does the little things on the floor. That can be hard to spot in drills when a lot of the work isn’t done quite at full speed and there’s no live competition. However, the hard work of installing the Lynx’s system isn’t taking away from Collier’s confidence.

“I think she feels like she belongs in terms of her talent level, it’s more that she’s done something for four years a certain way. We like her to keep a lot of those things that she did, but just different terminology, different teammates, different coaches, that whole process takes a little bit of time,” said Reeve. “But she’s not been bashful by any stretch, it’s exactly what I thought it would be, and when we scrimmaged that’s when you see Napheesa Collier the most. She’s involved in everything.”

A big part of camp for Collier is about changing a few elements of her jumper. She tends to slide her left hand to the front of the ball when she shoots, which give her release a bit of a strange hitch. She’s been working a lot with assistant coach Walt Hopkins to iron that out. It’s a long process but it’s going well.

“It’s going to take time. Changing a shot is really hard,” Collier said. “I’m trying to do as much as I can, but the season is so close I don’t want to do it too much.”

On top of that, Collier is also working towards becoming more comfortable playing the small forward position and operating on the perimeter more. With all the new-ness, having a good group of fellow rookies around has been nice.

“It’s actually kind of comforting because sometimes there’s only one or two on a team and you’re the only one learning all the new offenses so as much as I’m sure it’s frustrating for the coach and for the vets it’s kind of comforting for the rookies to know that we’re all struggling, it’s not just one or two of us out there on an island by ourselves,” said Collier.

Green Means Go

Reeve has repeatedly emphasized the green light her players have from three this year. She won’t be pulling players for missing three-point looks, she’ll be pulling them if they pass up shots.

“They all have the green light to shoot from three. That’s probably a first step. They can’t feel like if ‘I shoot it and I miss I’m going to come out.’ You can’t coach it that way. Everybody’s got the green light,” said Reeve.

That’s a change for the Lynx, who have traditionally been more of a two-point-oriented team. However, with the personnel they have, there’s no reason the Lynx can’t be up towards the top of the league in three-point shooting.

“We were a two-point team. We were pull-up, and that’s what worked,” Reeve added. “We won a lot of games doing it that way. But now’s a time to kind of look at how do we play differently to sort of catch up to where the game is today.” 

Quick Hits

• New Wolves President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas had a long conversation with Reeve after practice. It’s clear that the two of them are going to have a very productive relationship. Reeve said she really values Rosas’ opinions and is excited to have him around the Lynx.
• The Lynx (specifically Hopkins) are working to extend Damiris Dantas’ range. Right now, her sweet spot is just inside the three-point line, but they’re hoping she can become a three-point shooter.
• Shao Ting has a strange looking release on her shot, but she was knocking them down from three after practice. Hopkins is working with her to get a little more spin on the ball, but her accuracy is good.