Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve will remain an assistant coach with the USA national women's basketball team through the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Reeve relishes chance to coach in Olympics again
She will be a national team assistant through the 2020 Olympics.
June 21, 2019 at 6:07AM
It is a partnership, Reeve said, that has both improved her as a coach and informed her as a general manager.
The announcement by USA Basketball came Thursday and it means Reeve — who has been an assistant on the national team since 2014 — will have the opportunity to help win even more gold.
Reeve was on the coaching staff for the 2014 team that won the World Cup gold and then won again at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The national team won the 2018 World Cup as well.
Reeve, Dan Hughes (Seattle Storm) and Jennifer Rizzotti (George Washington University) will all continue to act as assistants to head coach Dawn Staley, who is also the South Carolina head coach.
"Just seeing basketball outside of the U.S., you learn a ton," Reeve said after Lynx practice Thursday. "You watch other teams, how they do it. And, just different styles of play.
"If you do it right, you collect a bunch of knowledge. And that's what it's been, in terms of my experience. I look forward to the experience."
The association with USA Basketball also has helped Reeve in her role as GM of the Lynx; the team's top two draft choices — Napheesa Collier (No. 6 overall) and Jessica Shepard (No. 16) — had worked with Reeve at a Team USA camp.
"When you can coach a player ... and you get to see their response to what you're teaching and who they are, it's really valuable," Reeve said.
• Seimone Augustus, three weeks removed from arthroscopic surgery on her right knee, is doing some impact work outside of practice
Reeve said she and the other coaches and the medical staff will meet in a week to assess Augustus' progress and come up with a schedule to get her involved in limited practice activity.
• Shepard, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in the team's June 8 game vs. Los Angeles, had surgery Thursday.
It was performed by Dr. Nancy Cummings, the team's head orthopedic surgeon, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
Shepard was averaging 4.8 points, 5.7 rebounds.
The success of 2024 arrived by surprise, and coaches are focused on wringing as much from the opportunity as possible. “Finish what we got to finish” is the message for three more weeks.
