The Associated Press announced it's WNBA awards Tuesday, and the Lynx were very well represented:
Crystal Dangerfield is Rookie of Year, Cheryl Reeve top coach in media WNBA awards
The Associated Press announced it's WNBA awards Tuesday, and the Lynx were very well represented.
September 15, 2020 at 3:33PM
Coach Cheryl Reeve was named the coach of the year, Crystal Dangerfield was named rookie of the year and Napheesa Collier was named to the all-WNBA second team.
The league has yet to announce it's winners, but the AP awards are often an indication of how those will turn out.
Reeve managed to steer the Lynx into the fourth overall seed despite losing center Sylvia Fowles for all but seven games, losing captain Karima Christmas-Kelly early to an Achilles injury, not having 2019 All Star Odyssey Sims with the team until late in the season and injuries that kept guard Shenise Johnson, Lexie Brown and Rachel Banham sidelined at different times.
Dangerfield appears to be a near-consensus pick for rookie of the year. She played in every game before being given a game of rest in the regular season finals. She led the Lynx in scoring (16.2) and also averaged 3.6 assists.
Collier averaged 16.1 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 blocks in a season that saw her have to change roles after Fowles was lost to a calf injury.
Las Vegas forward A'ja Wilson was named the AP's player of the year, L.A.'s Candace Parker was defensive player of the year, Las Vegas' Dearica Hamby was sixth woman of the year and Breanna Stewart of Seattle was the comeback player of the year.
AP's first-team all-WNBA was Wilson, Stewart, Parker, Chicago guard Courtney Vandersloot and Dallas guard Arike Ogunbowale.
The second team consisted of Collier, Phoenix guards Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins-Smith and Connecticut forwards Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner.
Here is the all-rookie team: Dangerfield, Satou Sabally (Dallas), Julie Allemand (Indiana), Chennedy Carter (Atlanta) and Jazmine Jones (New York).
Widely known that Minnesota sports fans are among the most suffering in the nation, this holiday season has the chance to become special, given the recent success of the Vikings, Wolves, Lynx and Wild.
