Retooled Lynx roster has different goals for Friday's first preseason game

The Lynx will play the first of two preseason games Friday night at Target Center against the Washington Mystics, the same team they practiced against Thursday.

It should come as no surprise coach Cheryl Reeve is approaching this preseason much differently than in years past. After all, there has been big roster turnover. There are five rookies — including four draft picks — on the team's training camp roster.

For so many years, preseason was about polishing a pretty much set roster. This time coach Cheryl Reeve and her staff will be looking at a lot of players, using several rotations.

"A lot of times in the past, we used those preseason games for winning and developing momentum with that group,'' Reeve said of those years when the Lynx were yearly WNBA title contenders. "Making sure that core group got their repetitions. This one is different. This one's more about playing a lot of people, evaluating.

"We want to win. That will be our mission. [But] in terms of where we are, that's how we'll use preseason games. Really valuable."

It will be the first games in a Lynx uniform for the four draftees in camp — Diamond Miller (the second-overall pick), Dorka Juhász, Taylor Soule and Brea Beal. It will be the fans' first look at an offensive style that will start many possessions with players on the outside, where penetration is key.

How will star Napheesa Collier function in that scheme? How will point guard Lindsay Allen — re-signed after a strong finish to last year — lead the attack?

Who will stand out?

With the young players in particular, who will take what they learned in the first week of practice onto the Target Center floor?

"It's being able to take what you've done all week and, given your opportunity, what do you do with it?" Reeve said. "Some people might look terrible in practice and look great in the game, because maybe drill work isn't their thing but they're gamers. So that shows itself. In general, these two preseason games are going to be really, really valuable."

Opportunity has been this training camp's theme, with roster spots available.

"I definitely feel I've gotten the chance," Soule said. "It's a matter of taking advantage of the opportunities I'm given. Going out there and being confident, not nervous."

The sense is Reeve has enjoyed camp so far. Perhaps the youthful energy is contagious. After practice earlier in the week, Reeve marveled at how open the team is to coaching.

"I'm getting to do drills that I wouldn't even think about doing with past teams," she said. "Because they were a little older, having been there and done that. They didn't want to do close-out drills. They didn't want to do shell drills. But there are a lot of young faces, and it's a clean slate. You can do any drill you want and they're eager to do it."

But the learning process can be difficult. Reeve said her team learned a lot from Thursday's practice against the Mystics, one of the league's better teams, on both the offensive and defensive ends.

"We are in a learning and building stage," Reeve said. "It's a chance to go live and try some of our stuff. We haven't gotten much in. But you want to be good at the stuff you do have in."

Miller said she had butterflies before Thursday's practice with Washington and expects the same Friday night in an arena she recently competed in as part of the Big Ten Conference tournament.

"It's another element, playing in Target Center," she said. "Extremely exciting."