LAS VEGAS—These odd-year Minnesota Lynx aren’t like the others.
Less than two years ago, Sylvia Fowles earned WNBA Finals MVP honors for the second time of her career as the Lynx clinched their fourth championship (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) in seven seasons with a Game 5 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks.
This weekend in Las Vegas, the six-time All-WNBA center is joined by two fellow Lynx—a rookie and a former member of the Sparks that she faced off with in those 2017 Finals—neither being one of the four starters that starred alongside her as they cemented one of the best runs in league history.
Lindsay Whalen retired. Seimone Augustus is sidelined after undergoing knee surgery. Maya Moore is not playing professional basketball in 2019. Rebekkah Brunson is still dealing with post-concussion symptoms.
It’s all on Fowles, a midseason addition to the 2015 title run via trade, now to lead the way as the Lynx retool rather than rebuild.
“It was scary at first. But once I got there, it was very easy,” Fowles told High Post Hoops on Friday. “When we started, I definitely first thought it was gonna be a rebuild. But once we got into the flow of things, I realized that we were way further along than I thought we would be.”
Minnesota opened the season with just three returning players on roster: Fowles, Augustus (yet to log a minute this season) and Danielle Robinson.
“We had new players that came in that were willing to work—hungry,” Fowles said. “That made it a tad bit easier than I thought it would be. So I really have no complaints. I’m really just happy that we have continued what we had and have a team that I can grow with.”
Lexie Brown, Damiris Dantas and Stephanie Talbot have provided much-needed shooting around Fowles. Reserve big Temi Fagbenle joined the team after competing for Great Britain at EuroBasket 2019. Karima Christmas-Kelly and Jessica Shepard, two key forwards, have been sidelined by knee injuries.
Yet the Lynx entered the All-Star break at 10-10, 1.5 games back of the No. 4 seed and 3.5 games behind the Las Vegas Aces and Connecticut Sun at No. 1.
Former Finals foe Odyssey Sims leads the team in scoring at the break and was voted in by the coaches as an All-Star reserve along with Fowles. Rookie forward Napheesa Collier was selected as a replacement for injured Aces forward A’ja Wilson.
Who knows where the Lynx would be without the rookie forward. Few first-year players are asked to step into such a large role. The Augustus and Christmas-Kelly injuries opened minutes up on the wing. Collier is contributing to winning now.
“What impressed me the most is that we changed her from a post player to a wing player,” Fowles said. “The transition she made so quickly to adjust to us to make sure we were comfortable with the things she was doing was pretty freaking amazing. So yeah, I was impressed with that.
“I was like, ‘How do you go from a post player to playing against guards and shooting 3s when that’s not something that you’ve always done?’”
Meanwhile, Fowles is getting used to something she hasn’t always done, now leaned upon more as a vocal leader out on the floor.
“When I first came in, I was more of a ‘get in where I fit in’,” she said. “I didn’t really wanna have to say much. I just wanted to go out and do my job and lead by example.
“But with these girls, you have to be like a true veteran. You actually have to talk, which is not my strong point. I hate talking. Just telling ‘em what’s expected, encouraging them to be themselves and play hard. But the difference from the first couple years to now is definitely being more vocal.”
To make a deep playoff run, these Lynx may also need Fowles to be even more vocal in making sure she maximizes her own touches as the team’s lone established star.
On a per-game basis, her shot attempts have remained about the same across the past three seasons. But her free throw attempts have been slashed in half, down to 3.0 per 36 minutes from 6.1 in 2017 and 5.6 in 2018 per Basketball-Reference.
The officials are letting ‘em play this season, especially around the basket. Fowles is also working to develop chemistry with her new teammates. Entry passing is under-discussed as a skill and comes at a premium when post defenders are allowed to get away with more contact around the basket.
“The chemistry part is the easy part,” Fowles said. “I think me getting triple-teamed is the hard part. But once I catch it, it’s easy. But it’s just trying to find those open positions on the court, making sure I can get those touches. Because not a lot of teams are allowing me to get those easy touches that I got in the past.
“You definitely have to have that one-two punch with the person throwing you the ball. But it’s difficult. Especially if you’ve got somebody who just likes lobs or just likes bounce passes. I can do a little bit of both. I’m like, ‘If you can just get it to me any way you can, then nine times out of 10 I do a good job with the ball.’ But it is hard, and it’s something not a lot of people pay attention to.”
Fowles and the cast of newcomers assembled by head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve have forced the rest of the league to take note. These Lynx are not seen as top title contenders as in years past. They’re dangerous for a different reason.
Who knows if L.A. and Phoenix will ever get whole. With so many stars sidelined, could Minnesota of all teams be the ones to enter the postseason playing free and easy—armed with the confidence knowing they have nothing to lose?
“We’re not happy with where we’re at right now. We know that we can do better, especially with the close games that we’ve been losing,” Fowles said. “We’re not the team that we were in the past, so don’t look to those expectations. We’re a whole new group. We’re willing to make our own breaks with the group that we have.”
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