Napheesa Collier’s been one of UConn’s most important and best all-around players since her sophomore season in Storrs, and led the Huskies to the Final Four of the tournament this year as one of two seniors on the team. Now she’s headed to the Lynx as the 6th overall pick in the WNBA Draft. Collier’s 6’2 size and 6’6 wingspan allowed her to score 21 points per night on 62 percent shooting and grab 11 rebounds as Connecticut’s leading bucket-getter and most imposing paint presence.
Napheesa Collier finds perfect home with the Minnesota Lynx
From one winning culture to another, Collier will thrive in Minnesota.
Despite her strong numbers, it was a season of snubs for Collier, who wasn’t named a Player of the Year finalist. A quartet of expected first-round picks in Asia Durr (Louisville), Arike Ogunbowale (Notre Dame), Megan Gustafson (Iowa), and Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon) were given finalist nods, which left plenty in Connecticut unhappy.
WNBA teams know well who Collier is and the physicality she brings, though. She played on Dawn Staley’s FIBA World Cup USA team in training camp, scored 22 points, grabbed 20 boards, and dished seven assists in three games. Her best game came in an intersquad scrimmage when she scored 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting with nine rebounds and four assists, matched up against Nneka Ogwumike. She’s pro-ready.
Collier’s skills are more fundamental than those projected higher than hers in the draft, though nothing she does is basic. She’s an elite inside scorer, and terrific passing out of the post and finding cutters, a skill she credits former Husky Gabby Williams for teaching.
Why Lynx fans should be excited for Collier
In Collier, the W is getting a post threat with soft touch. She was second in the country in two-point makes, per Her Hoops Stats, and No. 11 in percentage from that range at 65 percent. She also ranked No. 32 in free throw attempts, using her 6’2 frame to draw contact on the interior. That’s how she averaged 21 points per game
Collier’s a board-crasher too, ranking inside the top 30 in rebounds per game at 10.8, including 3.2 on the offensive end. She’s an elite big, but a skilled passer as well. Collier’s 1.77 assists-to-turnover ratio ranks inside the top 200 as she dishes 3.6 assists per night. Surrounded by shooters, Collier knows when best to pass out of contested shots for her teammates to fire from distance. She should fit seamlessly as an undersized small-ball forward when teams want to push the tempo.
Time will tell if that’s something she can only do at the pro-level in spurts, or if she can evolve into a Candace Parker or Elena Delle Donne type of guard/forward.
Why Lynx fans should be worried about Collier
The WNBA is becoming more of a three-point shooting league each year. Last year’s champion Seattle Storm team fired 24 per game, nearly three more than the league leader in 2017 and 2016. In 2015, the Tulsa Shock led the W with 18.6. Times are changing.
Three-point shooting hasn’t been a major part of Collier’s game though, as she shot just 21 percent on 1.4 tries per game in 2018-19. For her career, she’s made 31 percent of the 143 she’s taken, but her shooting’s sloped downward with age. Even her free-throw numbers have dipped from 83 percent her sophomore year to 70 percent her senior year. But Collier’s confident her new improved shot mechanics will turn her into more of a perimeter threat.
“Last year I had this hitch that kind of jerked backwards at the top of my shot,” Collier told SB Nation. “I’ve really been trying to smooth that out and make sure it’s one, fluent motion.”
Collier will need to improve as an outside shooter to become an all-star caliber player in the W, and she knows this. Her corrected mechanics will help, and she may even simply improve with opportunity in the W. At UConn, she’s mostly asked to camp the paint.
The question of how much she improves in those areas could determine if she can be a WNBA team’s best or second-best player.
Get to know Napheesa Collier
Pregame song? “Sometimes I listen to Queen, sometimes I listen to Drake. It depends on the mood I’m in.”
Favorite WNBA and NBA player and why?: “In the WNBA, it’s always been Maya Moore because we’re from the same hometown, so I grew up following her. She has been my favorite for as long as I can remember.
I really like Kevin Durant’s style of play. I tried to play like him when I was younger because he’s so long and can really do everything.”
Most used app on your phone? “Probably iBooks. I read a lot. I like mysteries and a lot of fiction stuff. I liked Unbroken, like World War II stuff, romance stuff.”
Cats or Dogs? Which kind? Dogs. I like mid-sized dogs like golden retrievers and goldendoodles.
Favorite meme? “Oh my gosh, I love memes. You know the white guy that blinks really hard? Yeah, I really love that one.”
If you didn’t play basketball, what would you want to make a career doing: “I’d want to be a book critic so I could read for a living.”
