For nearly six months, the Lynx were taller than they'd ever been. At least in theory.
After the team - with no player taller than 6-2 - got repeatedly outbattled in the post during its inaugural season, Lynx coach/general manager Brian Agler pushed the button last October on a six-player trade. All-Star guard Tonya Edwards and two reserves got shipped to Phoenix for three players, including 6-5 Marlies Askamp.
Agler's decision to acquire the sixth-best rebounder in the league (7.2 rebounds a game) appeared to signal a concession that his team needed more height to succeed in the Western Conference, where players 6-5 or taller are commonplace.
Askamp never made it to Minnesota. Two weeks before the 2000 WNBA draft, Agler dealt the German player to Miami for three draft picks, including the 10th overall selection, which he used to select 6-2 Maylana Martin from UCLA. On April 25, he drafted 6-3 Jana Lichnerova from St. Joseph's but waived her five days into training camp.
Did Agler decide height was not the reason after all for his team's problems last season, when the Lynx finished 15-17 and out of the playoffs? Actually, he never believed it was the problem in the first place.
'I don't think we were beaten last year because we didn't have anybody who was 6-5,' Agler said. 'There were some other factors, and that was part of the reason we made some of the changes we did.'
Those offseason changes have led to seven new faces on the revamped Lynx, who are in Utah tonight to play an exhibition game against the Starzz. Utah was the tallest team in the league last season, with 7-2 Margo Dydek and 6-5 Elena Baranova, yet the Lynx defeated the Starzz in three of four meetings. Now, after drafting 6-4 Naomi Mulitauaopele this season, Utah has added height in the post.
Last season, Minnesota was outrebounded by an average of 3.7 boards a game, worst in the league. But Agler maintained the rebounding woes didn't necessarily stem from a height problem and said he has dealt with the issue in other ways.
'Size is one factor in rebounding, but I don't think that's the answer,' he said. 'I think style of play had a lot to do with it. It's obvious we had to address the issue. Whether we've totally addressed that now is hard to say.'
This season, the tallest Lynx players are Kristin Folkl, Angie Potthoff, Andrea Lloyd-Curry and Martin, all 6-2.
'We're not the biggest team in the world. We're just not,' Lynx forward Katie Smith said. 'So we're going to have to work hard together. If we do that, anything can happen.'
Added Agler: 'We don't have the typical great-looking airport-type team, where you walk off the plane and they're 6-6 and 6-7. We don't have that. But we want to play to our strengths.'
- Lloyd-Curry, a veteran center who has been held out of the Lynx's first two preseason games, is expected to play against the Starzz tonight. Guard Sonja Tate, battling tendinitis in her right knee, remains questionable.
