After a hard-fought victory over the Los Angeles Sparks, Alanna Smith and Natisha Hiedeman spoke of the chemistry on this Lynx roster. I asked Smith a follow up asking her to reflect on her WNBA journey and what it’s like finding a basketball home.
“This is what you play for,” she said, “when you find a group like this.”
Smith has been one of the Lynx’s best free-agent signings in recent memory. Coming from Chicago with fellow teammates Courtney Williams and Sika Kone, Smith signed a two-year, $300,000 deal in the offseason after a breakout 2023 campaign. Last year, she had a career-high in points (9.2), rebounds (6.6), assists (1.8), steals (1.3), blocks (1.3), and minutes played (26.5). The Lynx signed Smith hoping that her offensive capabilities and defensive versatility would continue to develop if they complemented her skillset with the roster around her.
Smith’s statistical jump last year was mainly because Chicago gave her regular playing time. She started 35 games and played in 38 out of a possible 40. Before last season, Smith had only started in one game and played in 64 over the first four years of her career.
In Smith’s new role with the Lynx, she has broken almost all of the career highs she set last year. She’s averaging 11.9 points per game, 5.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.9 blocks, and 1.6 steals. Smith’s continued development and jump have played a large part in Minnesota’s turnaround this season.
Offensively, Smith has significantly boosted a Lynx roster that desperately needed shooting last season. Smith is shooting a career-best 42.5% from three, up from a previous career high of 29.4% last season.
Those threes come off a high volume of pick-and-fade plays, which lead to her often getting wide-open looks when coupled with her innate ability to find open space on the floor. Together, they have allowed her teammates to assist on 94.1% of her three-point baskets. As seen below, she fades after a screen and hits a three, the perfect example of the spacing Smith creates for the Lynx offense.
Setting up the three-point shot off the pick-and-fade allows Smith to keep defenses guessing. She also finishes nicely around the rim within five feet from the basket (63.8%), with 81.8% of those makes being assisted.
Smith’s skill set is not as a post-up player, meaning she cannot effectively receive a pass in the paint and create her own shot. However, Smith’s offensive skill set blends perfectly with what the team needs and the Lynx ask of her. As seen below, Smith can slip to the basket off of a pick-and-roll play and create easy baskets with her off-ball movement.
With MVP candidate Napheesa Collier doing most of her work inside, Smith has gelled seamlessly into her offensive role of a stretch floor center who can play off of Williams and Hiedeman in the pick-and-roll game and pick-and-fade plays. Her ability to find space also opens the floor up for Collier and allows her to play in isolation.
However, Smith shines defensively and has made the biggest impact with the Lynx. With a career-best 91.2 defensive rating and a career-best +13.9 net rating, coupled with her traditional stats, she has already led to 1.3 defensive win shares in just 15 games. For perspective, in only 15 games, Smith would have ranked fourth on the total defensive win shares for the Lynx last season.
Smith has brought elite rim protection to a team that opponents shredded inside in 2023. She allows 24.7 points in the paint during her 28.6 minutes per game, which reflects a 0.86 points in the paint per minute with Smith on the court. For context, last season’s starter and current backup, Dorka Juhasz, allowed 22.9 in 24.2 minutes, resulting in 0.94 points in the paint per minute.
The difference is subtle. But it means that in a 40-minute game, Smith would allow 34.4, whereas Juhasz would allow 37.6. That suggests that over a game, there’s nearly a 3.2-point swing just in centers per 40 minutes. While defense is a team game, this drastic change is mainly due to Smith’s ability to communicate and drop on coverage to protect the rim.
The clip above shows Smith’s innate ability to direct her teammates into the correct position and use her verticality to defend shots. That’s somewhat surprising for an undersized center (6’2”, 183 lbs). However, Smith can make up for her lack of size due to her tenacity and positioning. She can also attack post-up passes and poke at larger post players’ dribbles.
Smith was speaking about the comradery and teammates when she said, “This is what you play for.” She continued exclaiming, “We genuinely care about each other as people, not just as basketball players. …That’s very rare.” Lynx fans are showing up in droves to watch a unique team that is leading the Western Conference at 12-3.
