Double ankle surgery cost Napheesa Collier the first half of the season—an obstacle the Minnesota Lynx navigated much more smoothly than anyone could have imagined. Surrounded by veteran stars in Courtney Williams, Kayla McBride, and Natasha Howard, rookie phenom Olivia Miles led the Lynx to the top of the standings. The biggest surprise for the Lynx, perhaps, was how well Nia Coffey was able to fill in as the starting power forward for Collier.
Coffey is not nearly as productive as the two-time MVP runner-up, but she quickly became invaluable to the Lynx. She provided rim protection as well as tough perimeter defense and reliable 3-point shooting. With Collier back, Coffey has had to take a step back, and figuring out how to utilize her from now on is one of Cheryl Reeve’s biggest challenges, as she shared after a 108-100 win against the Indiana Fever.
“I’d say, the biggest thing for us right now that we’re focused on is rotations and usage of players,” Reeve told reporters in the postgame media availability, per a video on the Lynx’s YouTube page. “There’s some things we want to experiment with. We want to make sure that Nia Coffey, who was so terrific for us, and now, obviously, Phee’s return, how can we continue to find not just a post role for her, but also finding opponents and chances in games where we play her along with Phee and Tash or Phee and Dorka.”
Nia Coffey still deserves regular minutes
The Lynx started the season with an incredibly thin frontcourt rotation, especially once Emma Cechova tore her ACL. With Collier and Dorka Juhasz back from injury, they have much better frontcourt depth. That means smaller roles for Anastasiia Kosu and Coffey.
Kosu proved that she could provide quality minutes off the bench, but Coffey will be much more important as the Lynx prepare for a deep playoff run, and she deserves to still be a regular part of the rotation. Coffey is one of the Lynx’s best 3-point shooters, knocking down 39.3% of her 3.5 attempts per game, and a prolific shot blocker, whether that’s around the rim or at the 3-point line.
Coffey has recorded the sixth-most total blocks in the W this season, trailing only Kiah Stokes, A’ja Wilson, Emily Engstler, Kamilla Cardoso, and Breanna Stewart, and ranks seventh in 3-pointers made among forwards.
With one of the best forwards in the W and the reigning EuroLeague MVP now in the mix, balancing the frontcourt minutes will be difficult, but not allowing Coffey to get lost in the shuffle should be a priority for Reeve. She can play with any of the bigs, but there’s also potential with her at the three in a bigger lineup. Coffey spaces the floor well enough and can defend on the perimeter to take some small forward minutes—which would also help with the Lynx’s lack of wing depth.
McBride starts at the small forward spot, but there’s not much depth behind her aside from 32-year-old rookie Antonia Delaere. As a result, McBride leads the Lynx in minutes per game with 32.1. Playing McBride a lot ensures a ton of regular-season success. However, she is 34 and the Lynx need her ready to play even heavier minutes in the playoffs, so any opportunity to ease her minutes load should be welcome.
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