Room To Grow....Hopefully

Sky 77

Lynx 66

Season #25 of Minnesota Lynx basketball tipped off on Friday night, with honestly the lowest expectations for this franchise since before the titles began happening. 

Sylvia Fowles retired, cutting the last cord to the championships. And even in her last year the goal was to at least be in the mix for a title. After all it was just 2 years ago that the Lynx had the 3rd best record in the league. 

This is not that situation. Realistically the ceiling for the 2023 Lynx is probably just making the playoffs at all. And most prognosticators don't even have them doing that. 

Game 1 did not do a lot to discourage that line of thought. 

Basically all that really needs to be talked about from this game is the 2nd quarter. The Lynx led after 1. At halftime they were trailing by 17. That's because they were outscored 22-3 in a ludicrous quarter where they couldn't make a shot, and could not stop turning the ball over. 

The 2nd half was a formality. A couple times the Lynx got in the vicinity of maybe making things interesting, only to immediately have a missed shot or turnover to kill momentum. They didn't even get the Sky lead back to single digits til less than a minute left. 

Chicago is the team that upset those 2021 Lynx in the playoffs, and went on to win the title. But they too have fallen back, so this was not a decisive loss to a top team. Losing this home game to a team that's seemingly an equal is a major buzzkill.

There were positives. Napheesa Collier, back after barely playing last year, was back to her "do everything" efficiency. And rookies Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhasz both flashed a lot of promise.

Feels like this could wind up a season of just flashing promise for better days ahead. I'm vehemently anti-tanking, but many will likely spend all year hoping for losses that could get this team either Caitlin Clark or Paige Bueckers. Not me. If it ends up that way, fine, but you don't know for sure if either will be a superstar in the pros, and the lottery guarantees nothing.

There is some dead weight on this roster, but also a lot of younger players with promise to be cornerstone players of the next title contender. This season can be a success if you get some definitive yes's on them.