Lynx guard Wright is back and catching up

By Charles Hallman

Staff Writer

She won’t let on where her rehabilitation stands on a scale of 10. The only thing Monica Wright would report that she’s getting there.

“In my mind, I’m a 10,” the fifth-year Minnesota Lynx guard recently told the MSR. After an unexpected arthroscopic surgery on her left knee just before training camp on April 25, the 5’-10” player didn’t make her 2014 season debut until June 15. After her return from off-season play overseas, Wright recalled experiencing unusual soreness in the knee, and the subsequent MRI result was “a huge surprise,” she admitted.

As expected, upon her return, Wright also experienced her rhythm off a bit in her “mental training camp,” wanting to get back to full strength as quickly as possible. “I [didn’t] want to hurry up the [healing] process or rush myself back [too soon],” she continued. “I didn’t have time to go through the same process as everybody else. I’m trying to play catch-up.”

After a 17-point performance July 3 against San Antonio, a local reporter asked visiting coach Dan Hughes if he was surprised by Wright’s play. “What was Monica Wright? The second pick in the [2010] draft? Come off the bench? That’s a luxury most of us don’t have,” responded Hughes to a very puzzling question that at best was insulting to both player and coach.

When the MSR later asked Hughes to assess Wright, considering that she hadn’t played competitively for a while and coming off knee surgery just a couple of months earlier, he replied, “I just think it’s a matter of time for her getting court time to the point where she’s comfortable. She [looked] comfortable today. She’s a good player.”

“It was a weird question,” added Wright when told of the reporter’s query. “Whoever asked that, it was weird.”

Wright also debuted a new “do” this season — braids. “I like braids,” she said.

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

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