Cameron Brink played eight minutes in the Sparks’ first regular-season game and didn’t take a single shot. After the game, head coach Lynne Roberts said that Brink needed to produce to stay on the court. The situation quickly caused some panic around Brink’s role with the now veteran-heavy Sparks this season. The Sparks have officially moved on from the youth movement centered around Brink and Rickea Jackson—a timeline that doesn’t necessarily align with Brink, who missed most of her first two seasons due to an ACL tear.
Brink shut those fears down quickly, earning more minutes and recording ten or more points and at least two blocks in three of her last four games.
But, as the Sparks’ 97-88 win over the Phoenix Mercury showed, there are still some growing pains and issues Brink needs to clean up: mainly turnovers and fouls.
Brink committed a game-high six turnovers against Phoenix
Brink has embraced her new role off the bench and knows exactly what her team needs from her when she enters the game—and what she shouldn’t do.
“My job is to come in and bring energy, and I thought I did that today,” Brink said after the game against the Mercury. “I had six turnovers, which is really terrible, so I’m going to work on that, watch film with the team, but I’m just really loving my role and just bringing energy every time I’m on the floor.”
Six turnovers are never good, but they are especially bad for a reserve who doesn’t have the ball in her hands a whole lot. Plus, most of Brink’s six turnovers were unforced errors.
One was a steal by Marta Suarez when Brink was waiting for a dribble handoff. Two were offensive fouls—one on a screen, and one on an offensive rebound. One turnover was a travel when she tried to drive from the 3-point line, and another one occurred when she stepped out of bounds on a baseline drive. The last one was the result of a bad pass after a block on Alyssa Thomas.
The offensive fouls, in particular, hurt the Sparks because, paired with her defensive fouls, they limit Brink’s availability. Five games in, Brink has committed 19 fouls already, which is one of the highest marks in the league at the moment. Toronto Tempo rookie Laura Juskaite leads the pack with 26 total fouls, and Cassandre Prosper, Diamond Miller, Jovana Nogic, and Natasha Howard have all committed 20 fouls so far.
Growing pains and mistakes are to be expected from a player who missed as much time in her first two seasons as Brink did and hopefully they will sort themselves out as the 24-year-old gets more comfortable.
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