The Minnesota Lynx and Napheesa Collier are oft-mentioned throughout the annual WNBA general manager survey.
The 13 team general managers, including expansion Golden State, responded to 40 different questions on such topics as best teams, players, coaches, and offseason moves. The GMs can’t vote for their own team or personnel, and the percentages are based on the pool of respondents to that particular question rather than all 13 GMs.
The Lynx are favored to win this year’s championship (60%), and Collier was selected to win this year’s MVP (67%). She is seen as the league’s most versatile player (42%), best defender (33%), and shared best forward with Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson (33% each) and best leader (42% each).
Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve got top votes for best head coach (83%), best coach for in-game adjustments (50%), and tied with Vegas’ Becky Hammon as the coach who runs the best offense (45% each).
Chicago’s first-year HC Tyler Marsh was second (40%) when asked which new or relocated head coach will make the biggest impact on his/her new team. Unfortunately, the Sky didn’t receive a single vote for the W’s best young core despite having second-year players Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, and adding rookie first-round pick Hailey Van Lith.
Marsh is one of three Black league head coaches this season.
“I think this team is a great mixture of veterans and a great mixture of young players,” declared Sky Assistant Coach Tanisha Wright to the MSR after the May 10 shootaround. Chicago and Minnesota played a preseason game later that night.
This is our 29th year of covering America’s longest running women’s pro basketball league. It has been a majority Black league (over 60%), but this season might be its first to have a team with an all-Black coaching staff.
Marsh was hired over the off-season as Chicago Sky head coach. He in turn hired Wright, Courtney Paris, and Rena Wakama as assistants.
Asked how important it is to have an all-Black staff, Marsh told us, “I think it’s extremely important. I think visibility and relatability, and I think all that is important. But also — I don’t want it to get lost — is the fact that my coaching staff has a ton of experience, a ton of ability, a ton of value in what they do, but also in who they are.
“I’m always looking for opportunities to get better, to grow,” said Wright, a 14-year former WNBA player with three teams, including Minnesota, who played on a league champion team with Seattle (2010). This is her second assistant stint (Las Vegas, 2020-21) and was Atlanta head coach (2022-24).
Paris played in the league (2009-2020) and played on a W championship squad (2018). This is her second assistant position (Dallas, 2023-24).
Wakama has international coaching experience as the Nigeria Senior Women’s Basketball Team since 2023 and coached them to the quarterfinals in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s really dope,” added veteran guard Rachel Banham. “I’m sure that was a bit intentional. Tyler’s been great. Our coaching staff is awesome.”
Marsh continued, “There’s a ton of respect there for who Tanisha and Courtney were as players and who they are as people. Rena’s background from the college ranks into international basketball — these are three very capable Black women.
“They’re unapologetic about it, but they’re also amazing at what they do,” reaffirmed Marsh.
Donnie Marsh as the team’s basketball operations specialist and Aaron Johnson as player development coach are other additions to the Sky coaching staff.
“I wanted to surround myself with other individuals that value the same things, but didn’t necessarily have to think the same way,” explained HC Marsh. “We come from so many different backgrounds and experiences that everyone has a different story.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” he concluded. “I’m really appreciative and honored to be the head coach here.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.