For Lynx, Youth Is No Longer On Their Side
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Not to call anyone old, but age is no longer on the Lynx's side.
"Ahh, too late," forward Rebekkah Brunson joked.
The Lynx have one more preseason tune-up -- Monday night at Target Center -- before opening the regular season next Friday at home against Tulsa.
If you're watching the calendar, so are the players. So to speak.
"When you have a special group like this, you never know when it'll break up, when you'll lose pieces, when something will happen," said Brunson, an 11-year veteran. "So you have to take advantage of those things."
Outside of Maya Moore, the core group that has led this Lynx team to so much success over the years is now all over the age of 30. And while that comes with a lot of benefits, certainly, they also aren't getting any younger. And that adds a level of urgency.
"Because you never know," said guard Lindsay Whalen, also an 11-year veteran. "You never know how it's going to go. You don't know what's going to transpire. You don't know what's in the future."
Their age is something coach Cheryl Reeve hasn't shied away from using as a motivational tool.
"I think we definitely have an urgency to us," Reeve said. "I told them, 'It's not like we're 39 turning 40, we're just on the other side of 30, and we have some really good years left.' It's just that you don't want to take any of those years for granted. You don't want to have any regrets. And so there is a sense of urgency amongst that group to know that it is an extremely special time, and make sure that we seize the moment."
It's also a time when you start planning a bit for the future. Reeve has often spoken of a desire not to just win, but to have a Spurs-like run of sustained success. To do that, you also have to develop the core of the future.
"Very key," said 9-year veteran guard Seimone Augustus. "Very key. Every year is a new grind for us older players, especially playing year round. So to continue to develop the younger players to hopefully one day take my position, or Whalen's, as we begin to make our transition away from basketball, it's going to be great. And that's something that we pride ourselves on as well -- to be able to help keep the Lynx a very successful team even when we aren't here."
