Exclusive: Minnesota’s Alanna Smith Sees Massive Potential in ‘IQ-Based’ Lynx Role Next to Napheesa Collier

The Minnesota Lynx have achieved an impressive start to the season with Sunday’s 92-79 victory over the Atlanta Dream improving their record to 4-1 through five games. Among the various factors contributing to this early success is the production of Alanna Smith, who joined the team on a two-year, $300,000 contract in free agency.

Smith, averaging 16.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.2 blocks, and 1.6 steals, has begun the season that is on pace to be by far the best of her WNBA career. She’s playing 31.4 minutes per game, enabling her to make the impact she’s felt capable of doing since entering the league after her career at Stanford before being drafted No. 8 overall by the Phoenix Mercury in 2019.

“I’ve said this to a few people now that I’ve been playing this type of basketball for a long time. I think since college, to be honest,” Smith told EssentiallySports’ Grant Afseth. “So, of course, I’ve developed over the years, but I haven’t had the opportunity to play. That was my biggest problem in this league was not getting the opportunity.”

After four seasons with the Mercury before playing one season each with the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, Smith views her previous opportunities as building resilience as opposed to the start of this season being the result of some major developmental leap.

Last season, she started 35 of 38 games with the Sky, averaging 9.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks in 26.5 minutes per game. This was the most productive season of her career to date, after she’d been waived after nine games with the Indiana Fever the season before.

“In terms of development, yeah, there’s definitely been development and a lot of personal development and growth and character building, but I think, yeah, I’ve had the ability to do what I have been doing this season and even last season, Smith added. “I just didn’t get opportunities. I don’t want to say like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve developed so much from these previous experiences,’ because I don’t think my game has like improved out of sight, to be honest, but it definitely has helped me, like, build a lot of grit and perseverance and resilience in the process.”

At 6-foot-4 with a versatile skill set on both ends, Smith presents intriguing options for Minnesota to deploy creative lineup combinations. She has the size to play at the center position while being capable of making plays in the paint offensively, stretching the defense by stepping out to shoot and protecting the paint.

Smith has the defensive versatility to guard in space, enabling her to play next to a big like Dorka Juhasz or other frontcourt talents and enhance the lineup as a connective presence with that versatility while enabling the unit to play with more size.

Smith credits Minnesota’s style, which leans on a read-and-react attack, with bringing the best out of her game. The learning process of continuing to adapt to this style has been fun for her with the results continuing to impress. She’s scored in double figures in each performance this season with multiple made 3-pointers in all but one outing.

“I just think that the system really suits my style of game. It’s a lot of IQ-based stuff, and being able to read-and-react, and that’s kind of a strength to my game, so it’s been really fun learning and adapting and also just playing with players who play a similar style to me, too.”

The organization identified Smith as being analytically one of the WNBA’s best players last season based on her impact with the Chicago Sky. In 157 minutes, the Lynx have outscored opponents by an impressive 15.3 points per 100 possessions when she’s on the court. Minnesota has proven to be a tough defensive squad that values offensive versatility around Napheesa Collier to create a winning formula, with Smith being instrumental in those results.

EssentiallySports’ Grant Afseth also caught up with Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve. She told Afseth, [Smith] was one of the best players in the league last year, analytically. So we’re just hoping to try to continue to help her grow, and be the player that she knows she can be, and obviously we know she can be,” 

Reeve strongly trusts Smith to make the right play on both ends, playing to the strengths within her skill set to ultimately make a positive impact on the floor. Between the ability to screen and roll, knock down jump shots, make passing reads, and defend effectively, Reeve sees a player in Smith that holds “really high” value.

In her conversation with Grant Afseth, Reeve added, “I was asked this early on how it was going with Alanna, and I shared this with Alanna, that from the first day when you, when you say, ‘I don’t worry about her,’ I don’t worry about what she’s doing, I trust everything she’s doing.

“It’s one of the highest praise you put on someone. Her instincts, where to be defensively [and] offensively, her screening and rolling her understanding, a combination of a three-ball… her passing IQ, her defensive IQ, her value, it’s really high, she added.

Having that trust from the coaching staff has released pressure on Smith. There’s a sense that Minnesota doesn’t dwell on mistakes. Rather, there is a mentality to just shift to the next play, which enables the unit to play freely and focus on getting the job done.

“Oh, I mean, it’s a lot of pressure off of me too… I think this system is built on being able to play with a certain level of IQ, and I love that Cheryl trusts me and my level of IQ and it just makes it easy to play free,” Smith said. “If you make a mistake, it doesn’t matter, onto the next, like, I think you’re able to play free and have a little bit of fun with it.”

Minnesota has benefited significantly from identifying Smith’s potential and continuing to build a strong defensive identity. Allowing only 91.2 points per 100 possessions, there hasn’t been a more impactful defense in the WNBA at the beginning of the season. Only the Seattle Storm have managed to hold a defensive rating below 95.0. Smith has been leaned on as a defensive leader with it being an area she takes pride in.

Smith continued, “Defense is just a lot of effort, you know? And if I can lead the way in playing with effort, like, I’m so happy to do that. If everyone jumps on the bandwagon of effort, it’s just so much better to play with five people on the court that are giving 100 percent effort all the time. When we play good defense, our offense looks good. It just makes sense to have that side of the game be as best as you can be.”

The spacing Smith provides the Lynx is helpful to the team’s success when she’s on the court, but consistency beyond the arc is needed to make the defense pay. Despite her best and most efficient perimeter shooting season being just 29.4 percent with the Sky in 2023, she’s remained confident in her potential but understands she hasn’t yet reached her potential in this facet. With a focus on her mechanics, she’s made 11 of her first 17 shots, converting at a rate of 64.7 percent on 3.4 attempts per game.

“I think for me, it’s a lot of just having my feet set before I shoot; sometimes, I tend to pull the trigger really quick,” Smith said. “So making sure that my feet are set and then just confidence… I know I’m a shooter. In previous seasons, I maybe haven’t shown that, and I’ve told myself this season is the season to just be consistent in the game.”

Minnesota’s offensive focal point is Napheesa Collier, who has averaged 23.0 points and 4.0 assists through five games. Smith’s complementary skill set proves instrumental in opening up the floor and making it easier for Collier to maximize her offensive talent.

With Collier capable of playing not only as a threat in the post but also out on the perimeter and the team having multiple ball-handling options, the Lynx can punish the defense in multiple ways. Minnesota has outscored opponents by 25.3 points per 100 possessions in 131 minutes when Smith has played next to Collier.

“It just makes us really hard to guard. You can’t guard us one way because we can throw so many different things at you. Not only that, we just have a lot of versatile players, like Phee being able to handle, but also being able to post, and then you’ve got Diamond, who’s a big body but a guard; we just have a lot of players that are problems for a defense.”

Minnesota sets the tone with tough defensive execution, but Smith envisions impressive potential offensively built around the depth of shooting threats the team deploys. Minnesota is shooting at a league-best 38.6 percent clip from beyond the arc thus far.

“Yeah, a lot of people are talking about our defense right now, and that’s like the front-runner of why we’re doing so well at the moment. But I think offensively where we have the potential to be really, really good, we have high IQ players, and we have players that can shoot the p*** out of the ball… We have people who can shoot that shit, so it just opens up the floor so much when you’ve got shooters on the floor. You’ve got five of them on the floor. So I think you’ll see a lot more from our offenses as we grow more chemistry and just get used to playing together.”

As Smith continues to grow into her role in Minnesota, she remains focused on foul discipline to ensure she can stay on the floor as much as possible while avoiding foul trouble. Overall, the early results have been exciting for her, and there is strong excitement for what the future holds as she continues to maximize the impact within her role.

As the Lynx continues to solidify a talented team with a winning formula around Collier, Smith’s continued impact and ability to prove consistent within her role will be an important factor. She’s proving to be a highly impressive addition to the team by the front office.