Lindsey Harding: The Future Is Now

Before the Lynx faced off against the Seattle Storm Friday night, I sought out rookie Lindsey Harding. With the season nearing the All-Star break, I wanted to check in with the Rookie of the Year candidate to get her thoughts on the first half of her first year in the WNBA.

SL: Obviously, the record is not where you would like it to be right now, but how do you feel your transition to the WNBA game has gone so far?

LH: I think, definitely, that I had a great opportunity to come to Minnesota and probably get the most playing time for a rookie. The thing that is different is just learning my teammates, learning a whole new coaching style, a whole new style of basketball game--this game is a lot quicker, bigger and stronger--so, at times, that adjustment can be a little difficult as well. We’re almost halfway through the season, so with all the work I’ve done the rookie jitters are pretty much gone.

SL: We’ve heard a lot about this being a young team and that you have a lot to learn this season. Like you said, the season is about half over, so what is the biggest lesson you feel the team has learned to this point and the biggest lesson you have learned personally?

LH: You can’t teach experience and that’s something this group doesn’t have. That’s going to take some time, whether it’s through this year or whatever. The other teams have point guards who have more experience, they have post players who have more experience then we have, so that’s the biggest thing we’ve learned. So, we’re not letting the youth get to us. We’ve had a lot of close games--under ten points--and we lost, but we know that we’re right there. We’re right where we want to be. In Seattle, we lost by seven points, so that’s a three possession game. We are three possessions away from a win, so we’re learning that each possession counts. We don’t have that luxury to take time off. I think that’s the biggest thing and seeing how close we are and not giving up. Last year, they might have been blown out, but this year we’re not. We’re really close.

SL: You somewhat answered my next question, but with the record being what it is, why do you feel that the team hasn’t thrown in the towel and continues to fight?

LH: Well, that’s the thing. You know, with my mentality, not having a winning record--coming from Duke and that’s what I’ve known--we know that in this league, anyone can beat anybody at any given time. If we have a certain amount of people scoring and a certain amount of people playing defense, we know that we can win against anybody. I just think our coaches have been great on ‘We’re not getting up on you. We’re here to coach you.’ That’s why we haven’t given up on each other…we’re so close. It’s different if you’re losing every game by 20 or 30 points and you’re just like ‘Good God,’ but we’re really close. We’re like ‘Oh, I should have made that shot’ or ‘I should have blocked that.’ Everybody has one thing they could’ve done that could have changed the outcome of the game, so that’s good looking forward.

SL: Coming from Duke, like you said, you’re not accustomed to losing. How have you dealt with the losing record to this point?

LH: You’ve got to get it and go. Move on. I can’t sit there and dwell on my sorrows because we’ve got another game coming up. We definitely have a break coming up for a week or so before we play again, so we would love to come out with a win. The biggest thing I’ve learned though is just to learn and go. After our first loss I was mad--after our first exhibition loss I was mad--and they were like ‘Lindsey, it’s ok. You’ve got to move on.’

SL: With the level of play at which you have performed so far, do you think that you are the rookie of the year?

LH: I don’t know. I haven’t even thought about that. That definitely would be an awesome honor to receive that because of all the hard work, but right now, I’m just trying to run this team. I’m just trying to get us W’s in the winning column.

Although Harding had a tough shooting night, she was a main reason for the Lynx win. After that rough first half, she played beautifully in the second, never once backing down from Seattle’s Sue Bird. The rookie stood up to the veteran and, on this one night, led her team to a confidence-building win.

Head Coach Don Zierden was very happy with Harding’s game in his post-game press conference. “I thought, in the second half, Lindsey Harding played like we need her to play. If Lindsey Harding plays like that consistently for two halves, as a fan, I want to come out and watch this team because I think with Lindsey Harding and Seimone Augustus, you’ve got some really fun guards to watch.”

Zierden continued with “I think, by listening to the crowd there a little bit at the end, I think the fans feel that way too.”

What impresses most about Harding is that even on a night such as this, where she was a huge key to the win, she goes out of her way to praise her teammates. “They stepped up and they played. It was my job to find who was filling it up in the second half. Ohlde started feeling it, so I’m going to go to Ohlde. Shay can come in, so ok, I’m going to go to her. I’m picking and choosing who I’m going to each time and when everyone is scoring, it’s so easy. I can pass it anywhere and it makes my job easier. I can pass it off or score it and it’s good.”

What is really good is that Seimone Augustus has found her running mate for years in Lindsey Harding.