Alexis Hornbuckle recalls the somewhat difficult fitting-in process when she was acquired in a midseason trade last summer, a time when roles had already been defined back in training camp and redefined as the season progressed. Topping that was the fact that she joined a Minnesota Lynx team midway through a year marred with injuries and inconsistencies.
“It’s different coming in and filling in,” the fourth-year guard points out. “Your focus is more on learning plays and fitting into something that’s already gelled, and you are trying to find your niche.”
With that year behind her, Hornbuckle completed a “fun” training camp with her Lynx teammates this past spring. “It’s nice having her from the very beginning for her teammates to get to know her game and what she does,” claims Head Coach Cheryl Reeve.
Hornbuckle’s game — much appreciated by her teammates and coaches and most likely detested by opponents — includes using her “retractable arms” (which reminds you of a cartoon character) to her advantage. “I call them ‘go-go gadgets,’” she says proudly.
“I see a ball, and if I’m in reaching range, I’ll go get it. Sometimes I don’t know how. Somehow, someway, I’m getting a finger on the ball. That’s a good thing of having the reach of somebody 6-3, 6-4, even though I’m only 5-10,” she says with a smile.
“Hornbuckle has a natural swag,” adds Reeve. “She is a player who competes and gets after it. She is not going to back down from anybody. It’s that toughness I like.”
The fourth overall pick of the 2008 WNBA Draft, Hornbuckle led the league in steals as a rookie and finished 15th in steals last season. She became the first player in league history to win WNBA and NCAA titles in the same calendar year, playing in all nine postseason games for Detroit’s 2008 WNBA championship team, and earlier as a member of Tennessee’s consecutive national titles in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Hornbuckle can also score, especially from long range: She shot 40 percent for the Tulsa Shock last season. She hopes Lynx fans will see her marksmanship along with her other attributes this season.
“What I bring to this team is energy,” surmises Hornbuckle. “I’m going to try to get steals, and I want every rebound possible. I’m the type of player [who] wants to make defensive plays but at the same time wants to create [opportunities] not only for myself but also for my teammates.”
This attitude explains why Reeve this season has assigned Hornbuckle the team’s reserve point guard duties off the bench. “She’s my true backup point guard next to [Lindsay] Whalen,” notes the coach. “She’s gained the trust of her teammates in training camp.”
Ben Revere: finally in the bigs to stay?
The path to the major leagues is like being on an elevator — lots of ups and downs. Just ask Ben Revere.
After spending most of the year in the minors, the outfielder was called up during the Minnesota Twins’ late season run to another Central Division crown and started six of the 13 games he played in, but then was left off the playoff roster.
Again this season, Revere began the year in the minors but twice has been called up in a span of two months. The first came on May 4, when the young man went one-for-five and scored a run in a game against Boston two days later only to be sent back to AAA Rochester a couple of weeks later.
Then on June 2 Revere was again summoned to the bigs and strung together an 11-game hit streak with a .372 average, a 10th-inning game-winning single against Cleveland, a double and five RBIs in the process. In a June 10 nationally televised game vs. Texas, Revere made two spectacular, hit-robbing catches in centerfield. His 103-year-old great grandmother watched it from her home, he told me afterwards.
“He flies and covers a lot of ground,” remarked Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire.
“This is his time,” adds regular centerfielder Denard Span, who is currently out of action with a concussion.
More importantly, Revere is taking full advantage of his time in the majors, no matter how long it may be. “I experienced it for the first time last year,” he recalls. “Now, I got the nerves out and I go in there and play my game like I’ve been playing.”
This time, however, Revere finally may be in a Twins uniform and get off that proverbial elevator.
“It won’t be hard for me to send him down because I won’t send him,” pledges Gardenhire. “I want him on my baseball team, and I will find a way [to keep him on the roster].”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.
