Two of the primary drivers of the Lynx’s bus this season were selected for honors ahead of the opening tip of Minnesota’s semifinal series Sunday.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve earned two honors — WNBA Coach of the Year and WNBA Executive of the Year — essentially meaning she did the best job constructing a team, and then the best job maximizing said team’s abilities. Forward Napheesa Collier was named WNBA Defensive Player of the Year.
Reeve is the second person in league history to receive both honors in the same season, joining Curt Miller, who collected the double while in Connecticut in 2017.
Reeve has now won WNBA Coach of the Year four times, while this is her second Executive of the Year selection. She made a number of key acquisitions this offseason, bringing in the likes of Courtney Williams, Natisha Hiedeman and Alanna Smith, who perfectly rounded out the rotation alongside Collier and Kayla McBride. Then Minnesota dealt for Myisha Hines-Allen at the trade deadline.
Reeve then guided the transition of the turnover of half the rotation on the floor, coaching Minnesota to a 30-10 record and the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
Days like Sunday are when Reeve said she reflects on countless hours of work and conversation all offseason. There is no magic formula for success, but she thanked the many people in the front office and on the coaching staff who’ve played large roles in this season’s endeavors, which merely gave Minnesota the chance at these levels of success.
“You work hard and you do the things that you think are best for your team,” Reeve said. “Sometimes you get lucky and you get lightning in a bottle, as they say.”
And usually, as she noted, that’s due to the performance of the players — specifically players like Collier, who has established herself as the league’s top two-way player. The offensive end has shined through all season and taken centerstage thus far in these playoffs, as Collier averaged 40 points per game in Minnesota’s first-round sweep of Phoenix. But the forward may be even better on the defensive end.
“I’m only here because Napheesa Collier decided it was important to be Defensive Player of the Year, to put herself in the position to be runner-up (for league MVP),” Reeve said. “It is always about what your players do. So I can’t thank our players enough for their belief in our franchise and their belief in each other. It has been an incredibly special team to be around. Every day is fun.”
Collier’s Defensive Player of the Year award puts her in the company of Sylvia Fowles as the only Lynx players to ever receive the award. Collier was second in the WNBA in steals (1.9) this season and seventh in blocks (1.4). She was also third in rebounds (9.7), a metric often also assigned to defensive excellence.
Collier was the anchor of the league’s second-best defense, with Minnesota allowing just 94.8 points per 100 possessions. That number dipped to 92.2 when Collier was on the floor.
“I think defense is all about effort and about the way that you play. It takes a lot of brains, it takes a lot of studying the game and knowing your scouts. I think it’s just something that it takes effort, and working on both sides of the ball is essential if you want to be a good team. It’s something that I take pride in myself,” Collier said. “I’ve been really lucky that our coaches hold us accountable for that, because it’s what’s in the best interest of the team.”
Collier was also named first-team WNBA All-Defense. She noted her biggest strides on the defensive end this season came in the post, which she worked tirelessly with assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson — a dominant defensive force herself in her playing days — to master in the pursuit of slowing down many of the league’s best players, who happen to be bigs.
“So you have to make their shots as hard as possible,” Collier said.
Earning second-team honors was fellow Smith, another anchor for Minnesota’s domination on that side of the ball. That end was a major focus for the Lynx all year, dating back to Day 1 of training camp, which Collier said opened with a defensive shell drill.
“We take a lot of pride in our defense, and it’s something that I’ve worked hard to improve, because I know it’s what’s best for the team. Yeah, it’s something we’ve been focused on all year, so I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished,” Collier said. “Just lucky with the people we brought in this year being so bought into what we are as a core.”
