Cheryl Reeve on Bumper To Bumper

Minnesota Lynx Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve joins KFAN's Dan Barreiro to talk about the upcoming Lynx season, new ownership of the franchise and the U.S. Women's National Team!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Cheryl Reeve is in studio for thefirst time with us in quite some time.
And that's not your fault. Thisfault is it. But it's more
my fault. Now, have youbeen in with pa or Well, you've
done that. We've done some powertrips, haven't you. Yeah? Power
Trip? Yeah, and you've donea Mischell's Game with them a while ago.
I'm really bad at it. Iplayed once and I got zero.

(00:22):
Yeah, I might have gotten morethan zero. I didn't get one more
than I actually liked the challenge andI really enjoyed listening. Yeah. It's
easier to do when you're not instudio and the pressure of it much better.
It's the same with watching game showswhen you're at home. So you're
like, oh, I got everyanswer, we go, Well, would
you would you be as quick withthat if you you know, we're not
if you were there and actually gotthe bright lights in front of you,

(00:44):
welcome back. It's there's a lotof people that when we're on together,
they say, we love listening toyou and Berrero, Well, it's good
radio. I and and and Iuh, I always appreciate your honesty.
I mentioned on the way in.I don't know if you were listening.
But I said, we try toget you in trouble. There's a couple
of times we've had you talk NBAstuff and then I think you've like reached
a point. A couple times yougo, Okay, that's as far as

(01:06):
I'm going to go because I've alreadysaid too much. So we're hoping you
don't know that. I think thattrue. Maybe maybe maybe that's I'm projecting.
Maybe that's the the issue. Well. I also reached out this morning
to Lindsey and I text, Isaid, we're having Cherylan's studio. What
do you got for me? Yougot any questions for me? And she
she So we got that from her. Yeah as well, which we always

(01:29):
appreciate as well. He's got somestories. I know that, there's no
question about that. You you havenot Are you ever going to write the
book? Have you written a bookthat I've not written a book? Have
you thought about it? Uh?Yeah, I kind of wonder who would
read it. I think about that, you know, But then when we
all get together and we've got agroup, and I feel like I've been
doing this for a long time,when we sit around and we go,
man, we should write a book, because there's some really good stuff in

(01:52):
here. But but no, Ihaven't gone down that path. I've had
a few people that have said theywanted to be a ghost writer. Yeah,
oh absolutely, Yeah maybe maybe sometimes, well maybe maybe later, you
know, because you're still working toohard. I say, I can't imagine
any time at this point. Imaginewhat you got to do though, is
you got Do you have good recall? I mean, because that's the key
to it. You've got to beable to remember the stories. And I
guess you could embellish them later.Who's going to know but that you got

(02:15):
to be able to recall what yougot. Yeah, probably have even more
than you realize. Yeah, yeah, you know sometimes if you kind of
go, remind me which season itwas, and then I'll have a bunch
of stories for you. All right. I mentioned Whalen. I tried to
count up the well, I'll justask you, do you know how many
point guards? How many guards youhave tried at the point guard position?

(02:37):
Since I can name them retired,you can't. I can name them like
the era. So immediately subsequent toWhalen's retirement, we signed Danielle Robinson to
be our transition and you know,preface all of this was saying, following
a legend of Hall of Famer isis a really difficult thing. And I
would be asked often while Lindsay wasplaying and be nearing the end, they

(03:00):
said, what's the succession plan?And I said, name name somebody that
has a succession plan for you know, it's just it doesn't exist. And
so you know we're we're kind ofuh, you know, after after Danielle,
you know, we had Odyssey Simms, we had Crystal Dangerfield in the
bubble season. Uh, we hadLeisia Clarendon. Uh, and then last

(03:21):
season we had Lindsay Lindsay Allen.That was a that was a starter for
us. So uh, committee,I counted up nine. I don't know
if there's one point or another counts. Yeah, kind of what's an important,
pressive number. It's embellishing the storya little bit. Cheryl doesn't like
any point guards since Lindsay. No, that nine of them. No,

(03:42):
it's what it shows is how hardit is to replace. It is that
person and you there's that's what's interestingto me. You you obviously knew that
or that that was going to bedifficult, but does it feel even more
painful when you say, Okay,this many years later and I know we're
going to talk about some acquisitions inthis awsome season that you hope will end
this deal of having to keep changing. But it just to me, the

(04:04):
longer you get away from it,and the greater the number that are trying
out there, it just it justemphasizes the point and it's got to be
part of your frustration, part ofyour challenge. Well, I think what
it speaks to is if you lookat the w NBA and the era that
Lindsay Whalen played in and you hadyou know, Sue Bird. You know,
everybody knows about Chelsea Gray, butwe had the guard play during that

(04:28):
era was really strong, really reallystrong. And when Way retired and Sue
Bird, you know, begins toage, Courtney van der Slute, you
know, same thing. I lookat USA Basketball. The USA Basketball tells
you everything about our league, right, who is the point guard for USA
Basketball? What was the succession planbehind Sue Bird? And so of course

(04:48):
we know about Chelsea Gray, butthere are a lot of players. There's
a lot of teams that currently don'thave what we would call it tier one
point guard. There's a lot ofthem. And that's what I remember sharing
with Glenn as we were mapping outour path forward. Here's the good news,
Glenn, nobody else has. There'sonly three other teams that have that

(05:09):
level of a PG, and thoseteams will be hard for us and and
so, but we've kind of Ithink survived the position. It's been other
areas of strength, just like itis for USA basketball, and just like
it is for you know, let'scall it eight of the w NBA team.
So what's that about? Is thatjust a trend where something cyclical?

(05:30):
Thing that I mean, you lookat some of the point guards that are
coming right, you know, weknow the one that down in Iowa.
Are you allowed to talk about herby the way I think so you can
evaluate a yeah, I mean Ican tell you that, like you asked
me if she's gonna be a greatplayer in the league, and well,
I think there's no question, sadbecause actually that Whalen had an interesting thing
to say about her. I wantto run by you, okay, But
to your point, it it's Iguess there you could say that about any

(05:55):
league that there's whatever reason, coincidence, whatever. Yes, I wonder sometime
times like you know, in theNBA, the pure point guard, which
was more about distributing than scoring,is relatively a thing of the past.
That's been the trend for a while. Does that Is it out of necessity?
Yeah, yeah, but it is. It is a It is a
bit of a movement, I thinkin terms of the game itself. And

(06:17):
so I don't think we're necessarily thoseof us that are looking. We call
them lead guards now as opposed topoint guards, because a lot of people
don't want to be point guards.So now the lead guards they like that
better, I guess. But youhave a lot of really good point guards
that are that are in college.Now. We mentioned Caitlin, you know
Page obviously really good. There's youknow a kid who's sitting out at Notre

(06:41):
Dame, Livia Miles, really talented. Notre Dame's got Hildalgo. Uh,
there's there's I mean, easily,this next wave of guards that are coming
to the league is very exciting.Now is there enough for all of us?
No, but but it's going togrow. And so for whatever reason,
I'm sure it's true in the NBA, is due in the NFL,
meajsor League baseball, sometimes you justhave ebbs and flows to a position.
Don't know the reasons for it,but the timing for us was good in

(07:04):
that it's not like we were oneof only, you know, a couple
of teams that didn't have a guardand everybody else did and so that was
that's been It's been something obviously thatwe've been we've been working on and I
like the direction of the twenty twentyfour team. Tell me about et cetera.
Yeah, talk about Courtney Williams first. Yeah, Well, Courtney,
what's exciting about her. She's she'snot a young player, you know,

(07:27):
she's a player that's got some yearsbehind her, and and those years behind
her were mostly as a two guard. And Courtney's been an exceptional She's an
exceptional analytic player in terms of howshe impacts winning, one of the best
rebounding guards in the league. That'sreally endears her to our group. We
really find value in that Courtney isa tremendous pick and role player. Her

(07:48):
decision making and pick and roll hasalways been really good. And then last
season the Chicago Sky by whatever howeverit happened, she became their lead guard
and we we we saw her dothat and we said, my goodness,
you know, maybe she just stumbledupon something really really good, uh that
versatility wise to be able to playthe one with the two. And so

(08:11):
she'll be our lead guard, youknow, she'll be the person that we're
going to look to to. Ithink that the knowledge that she's gained,
her patience, you know, theway she sees the game. She's very
natural. What I like about hertoo, is she's no nonsense. She's
just going to show up, coach, what do you need me to do?
You know, there's not going tobe a lot of nonsense and you
know, just this is what itis and saying there's a lot of that

(08:33):
that can be but but not inthis case, which is which is nice.
And you know, I mean she'snot going to necessarily be great at
any at everything, but there arethe things that she's good at we need.
And I think for Nafisa Collier tohave a player like Courtney Williams and
pick and roll, she's gonna helpfee get some easy baskets. And you
also you sign her, but thenyou also acquire Natitia Heideman, another guard.

(08:58):
So what's the vision for her?What attracted you to her? And
where does she fit in. Yeah, and that's a player that we watched
the Marquette for a few years andyou know now in her fourth or fifth
season, that same thing, abilityto shoot the three, She's got some
athleticism, She'll give me some ballpressure at the at the top of the
offense. I think the the forher, it's it's more of a balance

(09:26):
of can she shoot it, canshe drive it? Can she play make?
She's on the verge I think inthis next four or five years of
her career of really maturing into somebodythat's going to be I think a really
good contributor, so somebody that wecan see with us for a few years.
Athletically, I think we've improved,you know, that was a target
for us. Defensively, We're goingto be a little bit better if we

(09:46):
can coax you know, Courtney inthe consistently playing on ball defense like we
need. I know she's going torebound for us, you know. But
that's an area like we were justa little bit better defensively, you know,
at a couple of wins to whatwe had gone and maybe we're in
the fourth spot, but obviously everyteam could say that if we just did
this or that we win a fewmore games. You mentioned Kylier, who

(10:09):
is she and what is she gonnaend up being? Man Barrera when we
were over in Belgium, like I'veknown how good Fee is, Like I've
known right watching Fee this past seasonfor the Minnesota Links in a year after
she you know, started her familyand and and went through, you know,

(10:31):
a lot to prepare herself. Tosee the level she reached. In
the conversation she was in, shewas the third best if you're into analytics
warp wins above replacement player, shewas third best in the entire league.
She was fourth in MVP voting.But then we went over to Belgium with
some of the best players in theleague. This is the Olympic qualifying tournament
that you were already qualified but youchose to go, which we'll talk about

(10:54):
later as well. But that's solisteners who might not be aware of.
Yeah, So we were over andBelgium's wone the top three or four teams
in the world, and so someof our stiffest competition, and we had,
like I said, we had somegreat players over there, and Fee
is just a second timer in termsof national team. Last twenty twenty one

(11:16):
was her first Olympics and so kindof the young gun on the team didn't
play a whole lot from that timeuntil just a few years later. When
I tell you that she was sheput the team on her back for us
to be able to beat and tohang in there with Belgium fourteen thousand people.
It was nuts. It was Fee. It was Fee who we were
looking to. It was Fee thatthe team was looking to, not just

(11:39):
me as her coach that's familiar withher. She was just that good.
And then the players walked out ofthat tournament going they were calling her MVP,
you know, like that's what's nextfor Fee. And the great thing
is that there are ways that shecan keep improving. And so whether it's
a you know, a consistent threeball where she's taking it more to be

(12:01):
able to then you know, openup to ability to go off the bounds
honestly, another level of rebounding.If she goes to another level of rebounding,
then she's going to surpass, surpasssome of these great players like Stewie
or Asia Wilson in terms of whatthey're what they're doing. So those are
some great names to be in thecompany of and that's when the Pisa Collier
is and this was just you.You finished up. It's like feve eleven.

(12:22):
Right, Yeah, we just gotbad. I just got bad exactly.
And she I was given some notesby you guys that she shot sixty
one and a half. She's pointfive percent from the floor. Yeah,
and ended up with fifty seven pointsas well. Well. I don't know
if we need to spend a lotof time in this, but what was
went into the decision making to goeven though you'd already the team had already

(12:43):
qualified. What was the thinking there? It's required, it's required, and
so there's there are two countries thathave already qualified, the host France and
then the one who won the WorldCup, but they require you to participate
in the qualifying tournaments. Okay,I'm gonna read you a quote. This
is you from I wish we hadthe audio of this, but I don't.

(13:03):
I don't know that the audio weever existed. I wish it had
had. This makes you, Yeah, this is you from last September ten.
This was after the regular season endinglost the fever. Do you remember
that night? I assume you probablydo. Regular season so twenty oh,
yeah, this was last season.This is just last last season. Yeah,

(13:24):
absolutely, So here's the way.Well, that's what I want to
talk about. So here here acouple Abbey's in studios. He was present
for that. So here here's you. After the game you lost eighty seven
seventy two. This was at tenthPlace, Indiana, and you say,

(13:46):
in the first quarter, we cameout and we said, we don't trust
you, coaches, we don't trustyou. We don't trust that that team
wants to be in the paint.It's rooted in trust. How do you
come out in the first court andgive up twenty points in the paint and
then you turn around and ask,oh, you want me to help?
Later you say on oh, oneof your players McBride it said, look,

(14:07):
this loss doesn't take away from whatthe team did over the season,
and that the team needs to flushthe loss. You were asked about flushing
it, and you said, flushit. I'm flushing this. There's no
such thing as flushing what we diddefensively the last two games. No,
you need to sit in it becauseyou had an opportunity to do something special
and twice we didn't do what weneeded to do. So there's no flushing,
sit in it and feel it,and then later if things don't change,

(14:31):
could be sure play around. Wehave no clue. The team we're
about to play in the playoffs hasa big time clue. So I'm reading
all this at the time, andthen I wanted to refresh my memory about
it now because you read it exactlyas it was intimating, you know,
So I think, yeah, itwas pretty good enough discussed in my voice.
So the ongoing question is is youknow, and I think we've talked

(14:54):
about this a little bit, isthat that approach is supposed to be verboten
relatively speaking, in any sport,doesn't matter. You'll never hear anything like
that out of the mouth for exampleof Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings head coach.
You will hear a little bit ofit from Finchy, which you might
actually recently recently effect. Yeah,but the prevailing wisdom now is, yeah,

(15:20):
well, you can do it ifyou want. You can go pop
on the bit if you while,you go reeve on the bit if you
want. But the players don't respondto it the same way. Whether they
should or not is no longer relevant. They say they don't and if coaches
don't accept that and make those changes, they end up losing. To which
you say, what, I think, there's just so much more to it

(15:43):
than that. I think there's conversations, there's relationships there, there's so much
more work beyond a postgame presser.I mean, I don't think it works
for everybody. It's probably not thefavorite part for the players, you know,
or for me in a post game. Lindsay Whalen probably has some stories

(16:06):
about some of our our post gamesthat have stuck with her, you know,
through the years. But I thinkprobably the biggest thing is, I
think whether it's Kevin O'Connell, Finchy, Ryl Reeve, being yourself is the
most important thing that we can do, and consistency in that. If you're
not consistent in your behavior, thenI think it becomes problematic. And so

(16:30):
for you it's this is who Iam. Well in the course of the
time you I do it every game. That's going to obviously not you know,
so let's not you know, it'sit's an occasional. I don't think
I spent an entire you know,Abbey's here was in all of our press
conferences probably can count. That wasprobably the one time all season, and
so I think probably Finch will tellyou there's there's times in a season that

(16:52):
it's that's what's called for. Doyou buy the notion that generally players have
been brought up in a different environmentto the point where it's harder for them
to accept messages that, like theplayers you had back in the in the
glory years, understood about you oraccepted in part because they grew up in

(17:17):
a time where it was more moreoften they were going to hear messages conveyed
in that way. Do you evenbuy that? Oh, I think it's
true. I think it's but Idon't know if it's as recent as you
know, the group that you're talkingabout, but maybe before that even you
know, so I'm twenty plus yearsin the W I mean, gosh,
twenty four seasons coming up, soI think it goes back a little further

(17:41):
than that group, prior to mebecoming a head coach in twenty ten.
But yeah, there's no question.I mean, you know, you see,
you know, some of the alltime greats, the way that they
coached, and we called it coachinghard. Coaching them hard now is inappropriates
like parenting, right. I wasparent at hard. I'm not sure about
you, Dan, but we Imean, now it's now it's unacceptable,

(18:04):
right, So it's the same andso you know, it's just you do
have to adapt, you know,if you if you can't adapt then and
you were still in that space ofwhat we did, you know fifteen twenty
years ago. You know you're notgonna well, you know I heard and
I don't remember where this sound whenthis SoundBite was from when he said it.

(18:25):
G know, ari Ama had oneof those philosophical conversations. Fact we
had him on. Lindsey helped usget him on. When he came,
he was outstanding. Yeah, wecould have gone on for three hours as
it was, he gave us wellclose to an hour. I think maybe
fifteen minutes. And on a differentoccasion he said, look, the fact
that he was asked about that veryissue, and he said, yeah,

(18:48):
they're they're changing. But the truthis this is hard, whether people want
to accept it or not, youknow, breaking through, having success,
figuring it out, it's hard.So we can lie to them and say
it's not, but in fact that'sthat doesn't change no matter how much the
kids themselves, the you know,the youngsters and you know adults in some

(19:11):
cases what you're dealing with now WNBAare dealing with, which I thought was
interesting because I do think it comesoff as when I talk about it,
it's okay, you know, oldguy, you know, yelling at clouds
about back in my day. Theseguys, these these players could take it,
and they understood, and they wantedto get better and they accepted that
that was part of the deal.Double t. Trent Tucker has said,

(19:33):
you know, in his early inhis career, you know, he had
I think he had hub Be amongothers, hu Be Brown. He's like,
you didn't you did? You didn'ttake it personally. You understood this
was part. You didn't have tolove it, but you didn't take it
personally. And it just seems likenow it's harder and harder, maybe because
of the eras they were brought upin for players to accept all of that.
Yeah, and again I think itis it is. Holding Holding players

(20:00):
accountable is the single most important thingsthat players can do for coaches is that
you know, the teams that I'vecoached for most of my years here,
I always thank them for one thatI get to be myself and two for
letting us hold them accountable, becausethat's how you reach your greatest heights.
Right, So what that looks likehas changed, but you still have to

(20:22):
be able to do it. Ifyou're not willing to hold a team accountable
or personnel accountable, you're not goingto reach you know, those special moments,
those special times. It looks moredifferent than what it did. But
I also again going back to parentingthe ways that we were parented. So
when those kids were parented that way, then when they got the coach that

(20:45):
sort of coached the same way thatthey were parented, they didn't see a
difference. And so now if parentingis different and coaches stayed the same way,
now you've got a problem because they'regoing, what the heck is this?
I'm told I'm wonderful and I'm reallygood at this, that and the
other, and and you're trying totell me I'm not right and so and
I think some of I'm sure Ginoprobably pointed out is the single most important

(21:10):
thing we do is a selection ofpeople. And so they are values.
And that doesn't mean that you're selectingsomebody that says you know that, hey,
you can you know, beat theheck out of them. Verbally,
nobody. I don't think anybody reallyenjoys that style of coaching. That's not
what we do. That's not coaching, that's abuse. And so I think,
but also we say great players wantto be coached, they want to

(21:32):
be held accountable. So there's adifference. I think kind of what we're
saying for me, you know,going back to kind of you know,
circling back to the postgame presser,I think every player, if you brought
them in afterwards, said yes,you know, she's exactly right, and
and we got it. We gotto clean this up. You know.
The best teams, I think again, regardless of sport, what the best

(21:56):
coaches rely on is players holding eachother accountable as well. So it's not
just Cheryl yelling at them or pointingthis out. It's God, they're doing
some of the work for me becausethey want to hold each other to that
standard. Do you have that onthis team? I call that utopia.
I call that utopia. And I'vehad I tell you what I didn't have.

(22:18):
You know, we talked about sixfinals in seven years and four championships.
Not every one of those teams hadthat. The twenty eleven team.
I remember vividly being in timeouts andprobably even twenty twelve. Taj McWilliams.
Franklin was a big reason for that. That's one of our best signings that
people don't talk about, and becauseshe helped us with that part, that

(22:42):
willingness. Everyone thought Lindsay Whale andRebecca Brunson would be our leaders, right,
but they were coming from teams wherethey weren't the voices, and so
they were still learning how to dojust that. Taj has no problem to
this day. She'll tell her husband, she'll tell the hairdresser, the nail
she'll tell you, she'll tell well, everybody you know, what they should

(23:03):
be doing or what they should notbe doing. And so that was perfect
timing for what we had going.And so I remember we'd be in a
game, take a timeout, andthe time that the coaches spend together before
they go into the timeout, thehuddle with the players. I recall getting
into timeouts and beginning to maybe expressand then you look at them all they're

(23:26):
kind of going like, like,coach, we already know we're good,
and so you could skip that partand you can get to the forward thinking.
So they would solve their issues andso by the time we got in
there, we were like on tothe next thing. And you know,
it didn't it wasn't every season,right, you know, but but we
certainly had to have the self accountability. Yeah, there's there's no question you

(23:47):
don't. You don't reach a highlevel success without that. But that was
probably my best team group. Uh, we don't know yet in terms of
I think Nofisa grew as a leaderlast year. Kaylea McBride was tremendous last
year as a leader. I thoughther best leadership year for us of the
three. I think what we gotin signing Courtney Williams I'm excited about in

(24:11):
that regard because I think that's somethingshe embraces, you know, to be
able to take something that the coach, coach is saying and if it's not
happening. She prides herself and shehas a way about her that people will
listen. You know, it's it'snot you know, sometimes you get players
that kind of chirp at you,and you know, you just kind of
dismiss them. I think Courtney's goingto be a connector and so this particular

(24:34):
team I believe will have that Ithink Dorca Jujas last year, Diamond Miller
last year, they were such greatrookies. I say a lot because they
literally looked at their veterans and said, tell me what to do? What
do you need from me? AndKayla McBride her quote about them was they

(24:56):
were the energy we didn't know weneeded. And so having a great follower,
you know, allows you, andthat they were exactly that. And
they're going to grow in their obviouslyprofessional careers experiences and be able to you
know, keep progressing and then alsostart to share. So so I think
we're heading the right direction. I'dprobably too soon for me to tell you
no, but I but I likethe direction we're headed with it. Top

(25:18):
of the our pau Cheryl Reeve isthe in studio guest. We had a
lot more to get to with her. I want to talk some more Olympic
stuff. I do want to talkCaitlin Clark as well. It's a complete
lack of focus and intentionality and forus competing for a playoff spot, that's
not about learning. That's not aboutlearning. That's about doing what you're told,

(25:41):
what your job is, and trustyour coaches and do what you're supposed
to do. They did. AndyandaFever swept us again. Again. They
act like they had more to playfor than we did. Awfully disappointing.
There's no such thing as flushing wedid defensively for the last two games.

(26:02):
Hey, that's babying them. Flushit now. You need to sit in
it because you had an opportunity todo something special and twice twice we didn't
do what we needed to do.So there's no flushing. Sit in it
and feel it. See you later. See I didn't. I I'd give
my car. That's nothing compared tothat. That's brilliant. That's brilliantly that's

(26:27):
one of those press conferences that wasa little too close to the end of
the game. The voice you're hearingis the same voice you heard just going
off on her team from late lastseason. Cheryl reeve kind enough to join
us in studio. I'm talking abouthow the new ownership group might affect the

(26:48):
minisoe of Timber. Was probably notenough time on the impact for the links
and for you guys. So haveyou been around the new guys enough to
get a feel on everything going tobe the same, everything going to be
better? What your feel is becausewe're assuming it's coming. I know,
there's one more check that has toclear, pretty big one. I think
it's like half a billion, butapparently they have it, and then you

(27:11):
know the baton's going to be officiallymoved. You know, from from Glenn
Taylor to A Rod and Mark Lourie. What's your feel on that? What's
your goal? I've been really appreciativeof, you know, the uniqueness of
the situation. You know, Icall it kind of like a rent to
own, uh, you know,leadership. And Glenn Taylor has been so
consistent in his support of the MinnesotaLinks as we all know. H it

(27:36):
sets a high bar. And Ithink for A Rod and Mark, I
can tell you this that from thetime that they have gotten involved, if
I have needed anything, it's atext away if I want input on something,
they you know, Mark would beone of the first ones to call
and ask me questions about the wI mean, he was a porter and

(28:00):
the earlier years in New York whenthe New York Liberty were really really good
at that time in the league,and so there's some knowledge, but there's
also some teaching that has has occurred. So there's been you know, I
think this this period of time,uh to to clearly the the larger part

(28:22):
of their deal is the Timberwolves,and they've spent a lot of time on
the organization trying to figure out howthey they you know, they want to
conduct their business. We've been apart of that. The thing that I've
expressed to both Alex and Mark isthat we are at a time the w
NBA where they are going to haveThey're not going to have much of a
runway into their ownership, and soif they come into this thing kind of

(28:48):
you know, tip toeing around andnot sure who they want to be,
that's not going to be very goodfor us. This is not the time
for that. And so I appreciatethat that we've had their ears, you
know, and and you know,have been a part of it. We
have not had the presence at ourgames that we are used to to seeing
from ownership of the Minnesota Links,and so we will see how that changes.

(29:11):
Or have you have you talked themabout that? Uh? They know,
yeah, I don't know that,you know, we've sat face to
face and said, hey, whyaren't you with the games, But we
certainly have expressed it. They havemet with our players our players discussed having
seen them, you know, atnumerous Wolves games, and you know it
was really well documented their first seasonand you know how big a fans they

(29:33):
were and the really since and sobut they it's it's going to be their
choice how they own the links andwhat they I believe that their resource people.
I think they are going to putmoney behind things that will be helpful.
It's very difficult to accomplish great thingswithout that level of commitment. At

(29:56):
the same time, you know,there's look around the league, there's a
presence as our league is shifting,right, And that's the thing I told
them, our league is shifting.This is not you know, as easy
of a job as it was fiveyears ago. We're changing fast, and
if we do not have the levelof commitment that is needed, we will

(30:17):
get passed by and that'll be reallyunfortunate. So we're working really hard.
I mean financial, you mean emotional, you mean on what level? Yeah?
I think I think involvement. OK, and so do you have to
be sitting at every game? Idon't think anybody is saying that, but
they need you know, people thatare that are you know, free agents

(30:41):
in terms of people right now,players right now want to go to places
where they know they're being supported andthey have all the resources. I don't
know they're going to really care ifMark and Alex or at every game,
but do they have what they needat a high level. And we do
have that, and we've had thatbefore Mark and Alex. You know,
kind of the thing that I've beenwalking around saying about our league is,

(31:03):
you know people are touting practice facilities, et cetera. We've been doing this.
We were the first to do this. Glenn Taylor was the first to
say to an MBA team, theTimberwolves leadership when the Timberwolves leadership would say,
I don't want to share this facilitywith the Minnesota Links, and Glenn
Taylor says, I have two teamsand there'll be two teams in this facility,

(31:26):
and it's a dual branded facility.And it's been incredibly meaningful and so
we have been a gold standard fora long time, and so I think
continuing that is going to be important. And if they happen to want to
put more money in it than what'sbeen put into in the past, that's
what's being required right now. Thevaluation of WNBA franchises is skyrocketing very quickly,

(31:49):
same as it is for the NWSL. Right, think about just five
years ago there was a soccer leagueyou know, was folding and then now
all of a sudden, WSL is. You know, their franchise valuations are
you know, north of one hundredmillion, et cetera, and just going
to continue to double. You know, probably every five years you're going to
see this. And so it's areally fun time. Glenn bought low.

(32:15):
He bought low in terms of thestock of the w NBA, that stock
has risen tremendously, so so Glen'sa winner in that and he's just done
so much for us. And Iknow that Glenn wants to hand off,
you know, this transition. I'mthrilled for him that the Minnesota Timberwolves are
as good as they are and he'sexperiencing that success. He and Becky who

(32:36):
have just been so tremendous for ourcommunity and for obviously the w NBA and
the Minnesota Links and you know,the players have you know, so many
great things to say about them.For Glenn to hand it off to Mark
and Alex to take great care ofit and continue to grow it, do
you have any concern if you hadconversation with them on the financial side to

(32:57):
this extent that I don't even Ican't even begin to completely understand the so
called second apron. It pertains theNBA salary cap and being over and taxes,
et cetera. But it sounds asif we're gonna the wolves are going
to be up there, and itsounds like they are at least for now,
prepared to deal with that. Butis there any concern on your part

(33:20):
that it might come at your expensefinancially speaking, I have zero concern of
that. I think that I thinkin the past we've heard, as for
example, Sacramento monarchs who were ownedby the maloofs, And I think that
mindset is the thing of the past, where we say, well, we've

(33:42):
got to clean up our books,so we're gonna yeah, yeah, and
you know, we're so net positivevaluation wise. Maybe at that time years
ago, the valuation was closer tozero than it is now, and most
franchises are north of one hundred millions, So I think it's just a different
time. I don't know that thatnecessarily would would uh, you know,

(34:04):
sort of help that, cause I'venot heard that. I'm not concerned about
that, but I certainly I don'tknow the future. We got some texts
I I want to get in acouple of these as well, and I
mentioned Clark because it's almost impossible tonot to talk about her. I mean
she In fact, I meant tomention this yesterday. Did I see the
note that the Big ten tournament issold out almost or close to it?

(34:28):
And this is what this be likethe first time? Yeahkets left. Yeah,
And obviously a lot of that isis her way. Lindsey, I
believe, has said she is thegreatest college player ever. Do you agree
with that? Lindsay is not oldenough to maybe in her lifetime there have

(34:52):
been that. This has blows mymind. And this is not has nothing
to do with Caitlin Clark and everythingto do with Brianna Stewart, Maya Moore.
That's that era you could you couldstill name names, but you're going
to go back now to Cheryl Miller, go back, uh even further in

(35:13):
the in the two players that youknow, Pearl and Woodard, who scored
more than Caitlin. It just wasnot recording time organization. It's one of
my least favorite things we do insociety today is the greatest of all time
and and the that's just such ahard thing. Caitlin Clark is a hell

(35:35):
of a basketball player. She hasbeen tremendous for women's college basketball, women's
sports. What is the reason forperiod, for sports? Period? And
so what is the reason for that? You don't think Maya Moore was prolific?
Did Maya Moore get this level that? Let's just go to Kelsey Plom.
Kelsey Plom was closer in time.Kelsey Plom could flat out put the
ball in the basket. But wedidn't see droves of people lining up,

(36:00):
you know, ticket costs, etcetera, soaring to go see her play.
What's the reason for this? Ibelieve that there's a couple of things.
I think the state of Iowa hascreated this phenomenon the way that they
have turned out and now and there'sthere's greater eyes on women's sports because media

(36:21):
is doing better. We're on there, we're on TV, you could actually
find us, and so then morepeople are being exposed to it and they're
watching what's happening in Iowa. Andso they created this this phenomenon. I
believe that Caitlin Clark could be theSteph Curry of the NBA. Steph Curry
changed the NBA. And she's thatgood of a shooter. I mean,

(36:43):
she's that good and her game isso much beyond shooting. So I think
it's timing. I really believe thatif this was ten years ago, I'm
not sure that you're seeing. SoI think it's the timing of everything kind
of converging that it has made usreally really specialists, made it where ESPN
can't wait to put her games on, and maybe it creates competition for ESPN

(37:07):
as well. Maybe there are waysthat you know, this thing could really
grow business wise for all the playersof the WNBA. It's part of the
progression. And you're right, Idon't know the ten years ago it would
have. I think that that's agood sign. I think that people are
they're more conditioned for it. Theythey they have acknowledged it's on the landscape

(37:29):
to the degree that now, yeah, well, yes, this is part
of the sports landscape. I'm goingto watch this. This is great,
this is great theater, and she'svery good. More generally, it's interesting
because when it comes to players,the perception and I don't know if this
is fair regarding male players as inamateurs. Is that there's a problem,

(37:52):
and that the problem is that playersaren't coached to be part of teams anymore
too often, and in fact,part of the reason that European players are
standing out to the degree they dois exactly that that they're taught the game
different and that something is missing inthe AAU concept. A lot of people
have talked about this. I've talkedabout this with Tim Conley off air,

(38:14):
and he had a lot of interestingthings to say about it as well.
I don't know if does this applyto women. What do you see when
it comes to women? Are womencaught up in that same I'm talking about
young players, honestly, and thatsame sort of Is there an AU equivalent
in which this you're seeing the samesorts of patterns? You say, these
guys, they're they're these women,these girls are very talented, but they
don't know how to play. Yeah, do you buy that or is it

(38:37):
different? You know? I thinkwe hear it more from college coaches.
The number of times that I've heardthat there's more emphasis on maybe an individual,
uh, you know, a playerdevelopment person as opposed to playing.
I think that has changed. Ithink the build your brand priority of of

(38:58):
the of the younger. Uh.But you know, it's like, you
know, there's just so much moreout there for them to monetize what they
do. The priorities have completely shifted. I don't want to say that.
I feel like, I mean,we're getting the one percent right, so
we're getting the best of So Idon't know that I've experienced players that don't
know how to play. I understand. I mean we talk about AAU,

(39:21):
I hear a lot of that thatit's just, you know, coaches frustration
is that the players aren't playing enough, and that is really more individualized and
it's through the skill development. Let'sfinish up with a couple of things again
about your team, and maybe evenan impression or two about the Timberwolves.
So again, a lot of thisyou're putting together. I know you have

(39:43):
a vision because you have to.But are you in a place now where
you're willing to say, Okay,here's what this objective is for the coming
season. Is it to win anotherw NBA title. Is it to just
grass get into the postseason and makea run. What's realistic? What what

(40:05):
are you willing to accept what areyou demanding for this upcoming season? Yeah,
and we started this prior to lastseason when we went through free agency
a year ago. And you know, you swing for the fences and you
miss, and your direction is decidedfor you, which is you now have
to begin to build something sustainable,Sophy fouls retired, et cetera. And

(40:28):
so we started that process last year. We were thrilled with how things went
for us last year. We probablyperformed above expectations even analytically, you know,
so we got I gotta figure outwhat's real. You know, there
were some times we didn't play verywell at all, and there was other
side we were pretty pretty darn good. The Connecticut win in Connecticut in the

(40:50):
in the playoffs and the in thegame too, is really up there with
a lot of the wins that we'vehad in our playoff history. That that
I will remember because so many peoplewrote us off and the toughness that we
showed the end, so that showsus who we can be. But we
know we needed more pieces and andso I think the step that we took

(41:12):
uh in free agency, some ofthe ads coupled with another year wiser and
the Fisa Collier. You know,Kayla McBride is steady as she's been and
and you know the rookies in Diamondand Dorka adding another, you know,
a first round pick. I thinkwe're building something sustainable. What does that
mean? What would be acceptable tous? I think there's every year.

(41:36):
This is something Bill Lambert, youknow, talked a lot about when when
we were in Detroit together. Wewould and I would do it. In
Minnesota. We would circle up andwe would talk about there's twelve teams.
Everyone on the first day is saying, we want to win a championship.
That's the goal. I think,And and when I interviewed in Minnesota,
we talked a lot about the differencebetween a goal and an expectation. The

(41:58):
goals to win a championship. Expectationis to be in the playoffs. Right
we had to shift that mindset.The Minnesota mindset was it was a goal
for to make the playoffs, andwe said, no, we got to
get rid of that. So we'remaintaining the expectation. We're a playoff team.
I don't think that anyone is goingto put us in the category of
a contender right now. And that'sokay with us, I think us maximizing

(42:22):
the ability of what we have.Can we be a top four team in
this league? And the answer isyes, and so that's what we're competing
for. We want to be.You know, we were forty minutes from
the semifinals of the playoffs last year, and I don't think that's something that's
talked about enough that you know,the band broke up, you know,
the Dynasty team, and since then, you know, in the bubble season

(42:42):
we were in the semifinals of theplayoffs, we finished third in twenty twenty
one. You know, we wewe just continue to find success in the
upper part of the league. That'shard to do and I don't think enough
is talked about that. I know, it's not good enough to be on
Dan Bereras show unless we're competing fora champion tip and we talked about that.
That's a callback to an off airconversation, correct, But I think

(43:06):
that's the expectation for us, isthat, you know, this league is
really good. There's only twelve teams, and so you know, every there's
no bad team. But but whatwe think we can be is a we
can we can be a top fourteam in this league. What so give
us the Olympics schedule now in termsof the final roster, those challenges,
how you feel about you know,I mean you obviously have a lot of

(43:28):
international experience, but this is itnow. It's it's yours man, this
is your baby now. So tellme a little bit about that. Yeah,
well, what's left for us?So the big the February tournament that
we just came home from, thatwas a really big step for us as
we get, you know, reallyclose to Paris, you know, just
just a few months away from fromthat. In terms of an identity,

(43:51):
you know, final roster, youknow that sort of thing. It's hard
to know who's really going to beavailable, as you know, health wise,
as we begin the w NBA season, I think we're the committee is
really close with regard to getting areally good feel of what I want in
terms of how we want to play, and then the pool of players identifying

(44:13):
who they are. They've got somereally hard decisions to make. There's no
wrong answer. There's gonna be agood players left off, no doubt about
it. It's not wrong, it'snot political. It's just this is who
they think. And so we're closeto that we've got much. My input
is just simply what do I wantin a player? How do I want
to play? You know, Ithink if there's you know, typically at

(44:37):
the end of a roster, ifthere's a choice between this player that player,
you know, they'll they'll maybe wait, you know, my my comments
a little a little stronger. We'vegot another camp to get through. We're
going to be the final four,We're going to be in Cleveland together.
Those will be valuable few days andthen we then we embark on the w
NBA season. They'll name it,they'll name the Final twelve, uh somewhere

(45:00):
between the Final four and you know, the probably the early part of the
w NBA season. And then wego and we have the All Star Break.
We'll go compete at the All StarBreak, and then we'll fly over
to Europe and get to work andonly three pool play games. So again
they're talk about a runway. There'snot much for us. We've we've got

(45:21):
a different than most of the countriesthat we don't get a lot of time
together. Of all the camps andtournaments that we've been a part of,
I have a different team every time, and so it really is hard to
the Belgiums of the world. Whoare you know, months together that are
taking off. You know, Chinatakes off a whole entire month of their

(45:45):
professional season so they can train withthe national team. So they're you know
that they're making these big windows oftime that really just helps with chemistry and
just you know, when you playBelgium, you say they're a well oil
machine. You know, it's areal eye opener, you know when you're
when you're us and we're just arrivingand we're going. So is that because
of the practicalities here? Why whyisn't there as much Well, we don't

(46:07):
get the WNBA season, Yeah,European season, w season. We have
two windows. It's November and Februarythat we're competing, and then we sprinkle
in let's let's do it camp.Maybe we do a college tour in November.
That's not even you know, competingagainst you know, world, world
level competition. So I think it'sa product of you know, we're we're

(46:29):
not taking off you know, twomonths to do that. There was a
time early on, you know,at the beginning of this dynasty. By
the way, one of the greatestsports dynasties, ever is the USA women's
national team for basketball, and it'sone of the least talked about dynasties.
The success So it was started,you know back in the in the mid
nineties, where you know, thecoach that was named was literally coaching year

(46:52):
round and the team was together andthey trained. We just have gotten far
away from that model, and Ialways suspect that or earnings you know,
for for players has come come intoplay. How do you say, you
know the possibility you know that yougive the folks who are going to make
the final call on the roster someidea of how you want to play,

(47:13):
how do you want to play?What do you know about international play?
That does set it apart where yousay this is the way, this is
my vision of way we want togo about our business. Yeah, I
think, but I know more aboutthe strength of the w n b A
internationally. I think it varies bycountries. So we've seen all the styles
of play. Everybody talks about theiryou know, the skill and the three
point line, and it's less lowblock play, it's more perimeter play.

(47:35):
That's all true in the women's gameas well. I think it's more about
the strength of the w and theplayers, and that that I'm well versed
in, and the physical abilities.I think one of the things off of
the last Olympics that I was apart of, and even taking from Gino's
time when we were in Rio beforeTokyo and learning from each of those,

(47:57):
and our greatest strength as a countryis our depth, and so I want
to be able to use our depth. And that means that you can play
in a way that you don't haveto save yourselves. You're not you know,
your greatest players aren't going to playthirty minutes and and we're going to
be able to come off the benchwith MVP candidates. You know that that
you can put constant pressure on ateam. And so defensively, we had

(48:22):
we had a strong identity at theWorld Cup that that was a non negotiable.
A lot of the players that didn'tget a chance to be a part
of that that came to an nextcamp said, oh, we heard,
we heard we're going to defend hand we want to. You know,
when you when you defend and youcan complete possession with the rebounds, it
allows you to beat your best offensively. And so being able to score easier

(48:43):
baskets, because you know that nightthat gives me or that the game that
gives me nightmares is the one thatall it takes is one game that maybe
your offense just didn't well. Yougot to be able to hang on,
you hang your hat on your defenseto be able to push you through those
sort of ugly nights. And sowe want to be that team that can
do that. Last item A goodhour with Cheryl Reevens Studio. What do

(49:07):
you uh? This will be thisone of those deep philosophical questions for you
to finish up. What do youknow about yourself now that you didn't when
you first took the head coaching shop? Here? What do I know myself
about myself now? Five seconds?I would say my ability to be patient

(49:31):
through Like, so, I cameoff with the Detroit years of being in
finals and being successful, only knownchampionships more than at that time, more
than half my career. I wasin the w NBA finals navigating times that
were not those years. I wasn'tnecessarire I'd be able to survive that.
And I have not losing your mind, not losing my mind. Yeah,

(49:51):
I've actually enjoyed and I'm energized bytrying to you know, get you know,
get again, something sustainable that wecan we can be successful year after
hear all we're asking for a guardianI've talked about it is pretty much ever
after every Olympic game that you play, what fifteen minutes, twenty minutes gargy,
what do you think? Yeah,after the period after you talk about

(50:15):
and then and then maybe halftime,maybe call it halftime before you talk to
your staff and even better. That'sall. That's all we We don't ask
a lot. That would be great. The time zone works that well for
you. Great to see you,Thank you so much. And I only
want tickets to one of the Idon't need a metal round ticket. I'll
fly over for one of the groupplays. Yeah, tickets, Yeah,

(50:36):
I say, there's eighteen night minimumsit is. Yeah, we could go
in and go out. Maybe youstay in Spain and there's nobody else is
doing it. Take the train inLondon. I'll figure it out. Group
play, that's all we're asking theMetal game or anything. We'll talk to
Cheryl Reeve in the studio for thehour