The 2023 season of the Minnesota Lynx is now complete, after a 2-1 series loss to the #3 seed Connecticut Suns as the #6 seed themselves. The Lynx made the playoffs for the 5th time in 6 seasons since the last of the golden years when they won their 4th (well, really their 5th) WNBA title in 2017. But they finished below .500 for the 2nd straight year and failed to win a playoff series for the 5th time in those same 6 years. So, overall, the results were not inspiring.
Optimism comes from the integration of 2 rookies into the starting lineup, and also a surprising comeback from an 0-6 start. They are just the 2nd WNBA to make playoffs after losing their first 6 games. So you’d have to infer that integrating rookies Diamond Miller and Jorka Duhasz into the lineup was not an easy thing to do. By the end of the year they were performing pretty well. Miller was runner-up in rookie of the year voting. Meanwhile, Juhasz improved mightily over the course of the season and, as a #16 pick in the first round of the draft, she was one of the biggest surprises among the rookies.
Miller was expected to be a key player for the Lynx and she was, averaging 12 ppg. Everyone knows that she was inconsistent, however, and her shooting percentages of 40% and 31% on 3s will need to improve. She also was not much of a presence on defense and on the boards. Still, she was runner-up in rookie of the year voting, as we noted, and her future upside is undeniable.
Napheesa Collier returned to full-time duty after giving birth a year and she, as everyone knows. was the Lynx best player with 21 ppg and 8 boards, and 49 and 30% shooting. She is not a big 3-point threat of course, which brings us to the Lynx’ weaknesses.
The Lynx were among the worst teams in the WNBA on defense and in 3-point shooting. Both will have to improve if the Lynx are going to start winning playoff series again, and its not obvious that they’re going to get better with their current roster. Juhasz, Collier and Miller are probably set in the front-court and the main hope there is that the rookies improve on defense and in their shooting percentages. That leaves the backcourt. Kayla McBride has been a fixture for 3 years now, and consistently has scored about 14 ppg though her 3-point shooting percentage has dropped from 38 to 36 to 34 percent. Still, she is likely to return.
Then there’s the point guards. Lindsay Allen shot just 21% from 3 and her emergency replacement, Tiffany Mitchell, shot just 29. The Lynx will pretty clearly be in the market for a point guard who can run the offense and shoot the 3. Since 2017, the Lynx have had Danielle Robinson, Oddysey Sims, Crystal Dangerfield, Layshia Clarendon, Moriah Jefferson, Allen and Mitchell, as well as Rachel Banham, at the point guard without every finding the right player for the job. It’s doubtful that immediate help at the 1 will come out of the draft, so watch for yet another free agent signing. Beyond that, improvement is probably going to have to come from the current roster, and that means the youngsters Miller and Juhasz. The Lynx other returnees–principally Collier, McBride and Jessica Shepard are veterans and know quantities and break-out type seasons are not expected.
Can the Lynx correct their other bugaboo with minimal roster changes. Well, maybe. We’re talking about inconsistency, and Miller is the player most often mentioned in the same sentence with that word. But, big picture, inconsistency looks like this:
• Upset wins over the #2, #3 and #4 playoff seeds New York, Connecticut and Dallas over the period of a month in July and August.
• But, then, with the #5 playoff seed on the line 2 shocking losses to #8 seed Chicago and #10 Indiana in the last 2 games of the regular season.
• Then on Sept. 17 the Lynx shocked the Sun 82-75 to even their series at 1-1, and to return home for the rubber game in the 3-game series. But, in the finale on their home court, everything that had gone right in game 2 went south in game 3. The Lynx reverted to form, giving up 90 points for the 2nd time in the series. For the series, the Sun shot 46% from 3-point range while the Lynx shot 31.
In short, the Lynx are already good enough to compete with most of the WNBAs best teams on any given Sunday. But, they’re also capable of losing to almost anybody on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Can Cheryl Reeve get the Lynx to play closer to their optimal level more often next year? Time (and a point guard who can shoot the 3) will tell.