It’s time for another episode of the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast. Our Minnesota Lynx beat writer, Lucas Seehafer, joins Howard Megdal to discuss the Lynx’s troubling start, plus an epilogue after the flood of moves made by the Lynx on Friday.
Lucas on the surprising move to buy out the contract of Angel McCoughtry and the salary cap implications:
What adds another layer of complexity here is that she was on a protected contract … She had to be bought out, so whatever figure they agreed to still counts on the [salary] cap.
As far as what Angel was supposed to provide was a player that could play some of the frontcourt, some of the backcourt. Veteran leadership, a complement to Syl, maybe some ballhandling duties and playmaking duties.
She appeared in one of the preseason games … and then the game against the Mystics. She did not look like herself, she did not look comfortable out there. I asked Cheryl after that game if her knee was feeling fine, and Cheryl said she’d been cleared to play and you’d have to ask Angel that question.
Editor’s note: The amount of the contract buyout will significantly impact how close to the cap the Lynx are, and evidently it was a large discount in order to fit two standard contracts.
Howard on the current state of Lynx ball-handlers, and where it goes from here:
There have been three primary ballhandlers for Minnesota so far this year: Yvonne Turner, Odyssey Sims and Rachel Banham. None of them have cracked 24% in assist percentage, and the best of the three is shooting 32% from the field.
I’m going to offer the following idea: It is not possible for things to get worse from the point guard spot. And, moreover, I believe that Banham, simply by reverting to the mean, will get better.
Editor’s note: Sims has since been waived
Don’t miss this one, including the lightning round reaction to Friday afternoon’s moves.
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If the problem is point guards, why in God’s name did they let Crystal Dangerfield go?? You never even mentioned her