New era, coach for Mercury in 2022
2021 WNBA Finals team gets a major overhaul
The loss in the WNBA Finals last season was only a tipping point of the overhaul to come for the Phoenix Mercury.
Once the team parted ways with head coach Sandy Brondello after eight seasons in early December, the changes were coming. With only four of the 11 players set to play at the season opener from the Finals roster from October, the Mercury is a different team from then.
Some changes were out of the team’s control as center Brittney Griner remains detained in Russia since mid February on drug charges. The Mercury’s game will certainly look different without Griner’s defensive presence and 6’9” stature in the post. Brianna Turner, last season’s starting forward, will not be in the season opener due to an overseas commitment.
While the Mercury dealt with unforeseen circumstances in the offseason, the team did everything it could to expand its arsenal. From the addition of last season’s leading scorer in Tina Charles to direct the frontcourt to trading for wing Diamond DeShields from the reigning WNBA champion Chicago Sky, the Mercury addressed the needs shown in the Finals.
“Adding Diamond, who two years ago was probably the most dynamic wing in our league, I think this year she’s anxious to get back on the court and get back to that level. We have no doubt that’s going to happen. Then you add Tina, who has consistently been the hardest post player to guard in our league along with BG obviously, you start fantasizing a little bit about the possibilities,” guard Diana Taurasi said. “You kind of have to get back to reality and I tell myself, now the real work starts. This is the real work. Can we all come together and make sure we’re all on the same page as early as possible and as quickly as possible to get where we want to go?”
Coming together this season now falls into first-year head coach Vanessa Nygaard’s hands as she takes over for Brondello. Nygaard has valued her players’ input as she continues to get to know her players and establish her new system.
“It’s great that she has experience in this league as a player, I was really pleased with the staff that she put together, especially Crystal Robinson because that was somebody I had familiarity with,” guard Skylar Diggins-Smith said. “The great thing about it is that she’s not really trying to change us as individual players and she’s really been open to some of the things that work well for us... It’s a lot of questions and a lot of dialogue, but that’s what you need early right now.”
For those remaining on the roster from last season, the title loss still lingers.
Even with a remarkable turnaround from the team when it mattered most in the season, the Mercury couldn’t bring home its fourth title in franchise history. Untimely injuries plagued the team down the stretch after guard Kia Nurse went down with a season-ending ACL injury and guard Sophie Cunningham was sidelined for three games with a calf injury, not allowing the squad to be at full strength in the postseason.
The Mercury boasted depth in last season’s team, but the team saw how the postseason favors the healthiest team. After tying the series at 1-1, the Mercury fought back in the series, but fell in Game 4 to Chicago.
“It was really hard to watch because I wanted to be out there and help in any way possible. I knew that my role had changed to being able to say, this is what I can see from being on the sideline and get my teammates any help that is possible. At times, you just felt like you wanted to get out there and take some pressure off someone. Defensively was where I really wanted to be. It was difficult to watch, and I think the best games I played last year were against Chicago,” Nurse said.
Nurse will continue to rehabilitate her ACL throughout the season but has been practicing with the team at training camp. At the start of camp, Nygaard said Nurse could be available midseason if her health allows it.
Nurse and Turner are two players from last season’s playoff team who will not be able to play on opening night, but role players such as Cunningham and Shey Peddy will be available to balance out the returning core. The depth will be boosted even more once DeShields returns from an overseas commitment.
But the depth will be tested without Griner aiding Charles in what could have been the most fearsome duo in the post. Griner consistently clamped down on defense with 1.9 blocks per game last season and was primed for another dominant season with Charles.
The Mercury will have to revert to the 2020 season when Griner left the bubble after the first 12 games due to personal reasons. In her absence, the Mercury went 7-3 in the regular season and 1-1 in the playoffs.
“Obviously, when she left the bubble, that was an adjustment. Our style of play kind of changed a little bit, I think, as far as us wanting to be an up-and-down running team and getting a lot of possessions in. Obviously defensive schemes and things like that will change, and I’m sure it’d be the other way around as far as how teams may play us. So, I think some of that is to be seen,” Diggins-Smith said.
With only a few days remaining in training camp, the Mercury signed former Washington Mystics center Megan Gustafson to a training camp contract to join former Desert Vista standout Kristine Anigwe and former Arizona forward Sam Thomas as the last remaining roster spots ahead of opening night. The Mercury waived 2022 draft pick Maya Dodson and two-year WNBA veteran Leaonna Odom on Th. The league granted roster relief in order for the team to pay Griner’s contract throughout the season and keep the team intact.
Teams will still have to adjust to now facing Charles on the Mercury’s frontcourt, someone the Mercury are grateful to have on the team as opposed to matching up against her. Charles continuously reinvents her game even in her 12th WNBA season. She upped her 3-point game last season with a career-high 137 3-pointers attempted after adding a longrange shooting aspect to her wealth of talents.
Nurse, who played with Charles on the New York Liberty in 2018-19, knew Charles well, but was still mesmerized by her improvement.
“Tina has a very deep bag of tricks and even from day one when I met her in New York from what I see now at training camp, I’m like, how did you add more to what you already had? It’s so fun to watch and it seems like it comes with such an ease,” Nurse said.
Regardless of Griner’s situation, Charles sticks to her original game plan when she signed with the team in early February.
“I was still going to come in and assert myself the same way regardless,” Charles said. “That’s just me. Just try to be a star in my role whether that was being on the outside knocking down shots, being on the inside at times, my approach was still going to be the same -- to be as dominant as I can in whatever my role was going to be for this team allotted and whatever minutes was going to be given to me.”