Collier in Minnesota

[southofnorth]

No dispute here. But All-Star selection should be based on current season performance, not reputation or previous years.

That’s fair. But it’s hard to ignore what veteran players like Candace Parker have done and are capable of. To be perfectly honest I thought players had to play a certain number of games to be considered for the All-Star game, but clearly I was wrong since Seimone Augustus and Diana Taurasi are on the voting site.

 

[Reypl21]

No dispute here. But All-Star selection should be based on current season performance, not reputation or previous years.

Tell that to Shoni Shimmel fans when she was in the W. All-star selection should be soooo many things. But at the end of the day it incorporates fan voting. Fans do not think logically, but they are the consumers. Candace has a lot of fans, she is going to be an All-Star.

 

[Plebe]

Nice write-up about Napheesa on the Lynx website:

Collier’s Contributions

Not a game goes by that Napheesa Collier doesn’t make several plays that help swing things in the Lynx’s favor. She has been absolutely incredible for them. While she doesn’t always score— her shot was a bit off and she scored just six points—she never lets that prevent her from playing winning basketball.

Collier had 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks, playing up a position at the power forward spot. Being guarded by more physical players is part of the difficulty of moving up a position, but she’s not giving up an inch on defense. Jessica Breland and Brittney Sykes (Atlanta’s starting forwards) were held to just 14 combined points and a lot of that had to do with Collier. (...)

Lynx Blow Out Dream In A Must-Win Game At Home

The Lynx got an extremely important win on Tuesday night, beating the Atlanta Dream 85-65 at Target Center.

lynx.wnba.com

 

[j66kicker]

Collier making her first trip back to CT Saturday (Voepel). Lots of quotes from Napheesa...

Minnesota Lynx's Napheesa Collier ready for Connecticut 'homecoming'

Rookie Napheesa Collier has had a chance to make an immediate impact in Minnesota. On Saturday (ESPN2, 2 p.m. ET), the UConn star returns to Connecticut.

www.espn.com

 

[Shades]

The Lynx came up with an easy way to vote for Collier for the All Star game.

 

[Plebe]

The Lynx came up with an easy way to vote for Collier for the All Star game.

That actually works for any player you type into Google.

 

[Bigboote]

Nice write-up about Napheesa on the Lynx website:

Collier’s Contributions
. . .
Collier had 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks, playing up a position at the power forward spot. Being guarded by more physical players is part of the difficulty of moving up a position, but she’s not giving up an inch on defense. Jessica Breland and Brittney Sykes (Atlanta’s starting forwards) were held to just 14 combined points and a lot of that had to do with Collier. (...)

But . . . but she’s too small to be a power forward in the WNBA.

She got some great rebounds — seeing that long arm come up out of the scrum was just like old times.

 

[Shades]

Game of the day!
Lynx @ Sun - 7/06/19
Uncasville, CT - 2:00 PM ET
TV: ESPN2, TSN (Pam Ward, LaChina Robinson, Cynthia Cooper)

Stream:

ESPN United Kingdom - Serving Sports Fans. Anytime. Anywhere.

Visit ESPN to get up-to-the-minute sports news coverage, scores, highlights and commentary for Football, Cricket, Rugby, F1, Golf, Tennis, NFL, NBA and more.

www.espn.com

Game page:

Minnesota Lynx vs. Connecticut Sun - WNBA Game Summary - July 6, 2019 | WNBA

Check the game summary of the Minnesota Lynx vs. Connecticut Sun WNBA basketball game on July 6, 2019.

www.wnba.com

ESPN Gamecast:

Lynx 74-71 Sun (Jul 6, 2019) Final Score - ESPN

Game summary of the Minnesota Lynx vs. Connecticut Sun WNBA game, final score 74-71, from July 6, 2019 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

 

[Shades]

Collier with 4 pts already early on.

 

[Shades]

21-20 MIN end of first

 

[Plebe]

Fun sequence there where Tuck hit a 3 over Collier and then Pheesa returned the favor.

Minnesota and Seattle are the walking MASH units. Minnesota has Augustus, Shepard, Christmas-Kelly and now Dantas all out with injury.

 

[Shades]

44-43 MIN at the half

Collier 10 pts (4-5, 1-1 FT, 1-2 FT), 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl in 17:56







https://twitter.com/minnesotalynx/status/1147579720952733696

 

[Shades]

Fun sequence there where Tuck hit a 3 over Collier and then Pheesa returned the favor.

Minnesota and Seattle are the walking MASH units. Minnesota has Augustus, Shepard, Christmas-Kelly and now Dantas all out with injury.

They've got two injury replacement players, Asia Taylor and Kenisha Bell. Definitely not as good as who they replaced.

 

[Shades]

 

[Shades]

58-54 CON end of third

 

[eebmg]

MN wins 72-69. Sims carried the Lynx in the 4Q with a number of clutch medium range shots.

 

[Shades]

74-71 MIN final

Minnesota snaps Connecticut's 14-game home win streak.

 

[Shades]

 

[eebmg]

Jeff Jacob's has a very nice impressive article on Naphessa

Jeff Jacobs: Low-key Collier is typically efficient in WNBA


Some of the best quotes I have seen . There is alot more.


“Napheesa is one of a kind,” Fowles said. “She makes my job easy. She wants to get it right. She wants to be the best. She didn’t have any growing pains as a rookie.”


Collier, drafted sixth overall, is the rookie with more votes than any other in the WNBA All-Star voting, ninth overall.

She is the UConn player with the most votes.

“I’m really thankful to all the fans and all the support I’ve been getting from everyone,” Collier said. “It’s a real honor.”


“The appeal of drafting a player from certain schools is that you know there is a certain standard,” Reeve said. “There’s that mediocrity thing that people get really comfortable with. When you have a player way above, it’s an easy fit for our franchise. I think she appreciates being pushed. And I appreciate Geno pushed her hard. I think I look easy compared to Geno.”

 

[Bigboote]

Collier was guarding Jonquel Jones, and Fowles was on Alyssa Thomas, most of the game. I was wondering what Coach Reeve was thinking, but then neither Jones nor Thomas had a great game, and Minnesota won. So whatever her thought process, it worked.

A rookie is giving up 4-5 inches to a vet holds her to 5 points on 2-10 shooting? That’s some rookie. I’ll bet next time, Collier doesn’t get blocked by Jones three times, either.

 

[Bama fan]

What a fine ambassador for UCONNWBB. Thanks the fans, says they are great, is so excited to be nominated. Not one mention of herself! Great kid from a great family and a great basketball program. Thanks, Pheesa.

 

[Shades]

 

[RockyMTblue2]

A Highlites Reel of her WNBA season just went up on the Tube:

 

[Geew1992]

Journal Inquirer

Serving towns east of the Connecticut River

www.journalinquirer.com

 

[BigBird]

What a fine ambassador for UCONNWBB. Thanks the fans, says they are great, is so excited to be nominated. Not one mention of herself! Great kid from a great family and a great basketball program. Thanks, Pheesa.

What parent wouldn’t be max-proud of her? What fan of the Huskies isn’t pulling for her?

 

[JavaMan]

Thanks to UConn pedigree, Napheesa Collier has
acclimated quickly to professional life with Lynx

By Shawn McFarland | Associated Press

Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve isn’t worried about testing Napheesa Collier’s limits. If anything, Reeve thinks the rookie may have it easy.

After all, she did spend the past four years being coached by Geno Auriemma at UConn.

“I appreciate that Geno pushed her so hard, because I think I look easy compared to him,” Reeve said with a laugh.

That was part of the appeal in taking Collier sixth overall in April’s draft. A standout career and senior season — which saw her average 20.8 points and 10.8 rebounds in helping the Huskies to their 12th consecutive Final Four berth — made her nearly impossible to pass on. The pedigree didn’t hurt, either.

Full Article [HERE]

 

[Carnac]

Thanks to UConn pedigree, Napheesa Collier has
acclimated quickly to professional life with Lynx

By Shawn McFarland | Associated Press

Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve isn’t worried about testing Napheesa Collier’s limits. If anything, Reeve thinks the rookie may have it easy.

After all, she did spend the past four years being coached by Geno Auriemma at UConn.

“I appreciate that Geno pushed her so hard, because I think I look easy compared to him,” Reeve said with a laugh.

That was part of the appeal in taking Collier sixth overall in April’s draft. A standout career and senior season — which saw her average 20.8 points and 10.8 rebounds in helping the Huskies to their 12th consecutive Final Four berth — made her nearly impossible to pass on. The pedigree didn't hurt, either.

Full Article [HERE]

"After all, she did spend the past four years being coached by Geno Auriemma at UConn.
That was part of the appeal in taking Collier sixth overall in April’s draft. It made her nearly impossible to pass on. The pedigree didn't hurt, either."

"The pedigree didn't hurt either." These quotes from Cheryl Reeve are similar to other coach's sentiments about UConn throughout the league. This is a point I try to emphasize every time there is conversation here in the yard about things a potential UConn recruit should consider in making their decision. Geno and his program is revered and highly respected by most coaches and GM's in the W. Having a UCONN pedigree means something on draft day in the W. Are we surprised that Collier is making the transition to the next level as smoothly and quickly as most thought she would?

She had the size and the skill set going in. All she needed to do was make the adjustments to play at that level against players that are older, stronger, more experienced, and in some cases faster. Collier said she was going in "being a sponge", wanting to soak up everything she could from coaches and teammates.

If you remember, Kara Lawson gave us a heads up after watching her participate in practice sessions for the USA women's team recently. She said Collier is "can't miss" at the next level, and that she more than held her own during those practice sessions. I respect Lawson's knowledge and observations about players. She knows the game as evidenced by her recent hire by the Boston Celtics.

Celtics hired Kara Lawson because she is as sharp as they come. Brad Stevens had crossed paths with Kara Lawson enough times to know what she brought to the table. That’s why the Boston Celtics head coach and the organization moved to hire the former Tennessee Lady Vols All-American as an assistant coach last month.

I check the box score after every Lynx game. Collier is usually the leader (or close to it) in minutes played. That stat alone tells you what Reeve thinks of Collier. Reeve's thinking: Collier needs to be on the floor for us to have the best chance to win. Funny thing, Geno thought the same thing (great minds think alike). Collier played 37 minutes last night in a 1 point win over the Sky.

Personally, I think that going to the next level with a UConn pedigree, and her friendship with Megan Walker is the reason Westbrook chose to come to UConn (smart girl). She swung and missed the first time. She had to get it right THIS time. Listening to the maturity in her voice and conversation tells us that she will be a great addition to the program (and a leader on the floor) when she becomes eligible.

 

[eebmg]

In the recently concluded game where the Lynx beat the Sky 73-72 on some late heroics by Sims and some poor play by the sky, Pheesa had a decent offensive game but missed some pretty easy mid range shots (2-2 from 3) but she was all over the defensive side of the ball (3 Stl's and 3 Blocks) . Whatever her stats are, she is always leading the Lynx in minutes

By the way, Gabby had one of her better games (12 pts on 6-12 shooting) and 5 assists (3TO) but some of her outside shots are really ugly. I hope this improves.

No Katie Lou. I thought she was eligible but perhaps he wants her to come back slowly through junk time?

 

[Orangutan]

No Katie Lou. I thought she was eligible but perhaps he wants her to come back slowly through junk time?

Yes, Lou was available. Chicago's rotations are going to be very interesting going forward with Lou & Faulkner back from injury and Ndour back from Eurobasket. If Faulkner takes the backup PG minutes, that moves Gabby to the wing and makes that spot even more crowded. Ndour gives Chicago another option at 4. There's really no easy spot to slot Lou in for some minutes.

I think Cheryl Reeve outcoached James Wade last night. Her team just executed better down the stretch and Chicago's late-game plays/shot selection were underwhelming.

Collier gives me the same feeling I had when she was at UConn. Every time she has the ball for the opponent, I'm pretty sure something bad is going to happen to my team.

 

[Shades]

Collier was 4th overall in All Star voting, but the media and player voting dragged her down to 9th place among forwards, knocking her out as a starter in the All Star game.