Mercury Update: A Taylor-made rookie

Since play resumed after the Olympic break, the Phoenix Mercury have been quite mediocre, posting a record of 3-4 across seven games.

After bursting out of the break with a rousing rout of the Chicago Sky in Kahleah Copper’s return to the Windy City, the Mercury, somewhat understandably, suffered from a flat first half on the second night of a back-to-back against the Indiana Fever. A visit from the Sky resulted in another win before Phoenix headed to the ATL, where they split a two-game set against the Atlanta Dream; Phoenix was lackluster in the first game, before responding with a more intentional effort in the second game. The Mercury then turned in less-than-competitive efforts against the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx. And things aren’t getting any easier, with the Las Vegas Aces coming to the Valley on Sunday, Sept. 1.

Even as the Mercury have muddled through this mediocrity, they’ve benefited from wins on the margins of the roster, with their reserves—highlighted by recently-reacquired rookie Celeste Taylor—providing positive play.

A Taylor-made impact

It’s not uncommon for WNBA rookies to have odd inaugural seasons. They might be drafted by one team, spend training camp with another, sign a seven-day contract with yet another team and then, if they’re fortunate, end up on a rest-of-season contract. Celeste Taylor’s journey, however, has taken the zig-zag, up-and-down and back-and-forth character of the WNBA rookie experience to the extreme. She’s signed, re-signed and suited up around the WNBA solar system.

Drafted No. 15 overall in this year’s draft by the Indiana Fever, she saw action in five games before getting waived on June 25. On July 12, she signed a seven-day contract with the Mercury, debuting that night against her former team. The 24 minutes she played in the loss significantly exceeded her total playing time while in Indiana. During this stint with Phoenix, she played four games, scoring a career-high six points in the final game, a victory over the Sky. When her contract expired on Aug. 16, the Connecticut Sun immediately inked Taylor to another seven-day contract. One night after helping the Mercury beat the Sky, she was in uniform for the Sun, playing more than 10 minutes as her newest team defeated the Dallas Wings. She’d play in one more game for the Sun before her contract expired on Aug. 23, allowing the Mercury to quickly sign her up for another seven-day deal. Back in a Mercury uniform that night, she established a new career-best, scoring nine points in the win over the Dream.

Her latest contract is set to expire Friday, Aug. 30. Phoenix is permitted to sign Taylor to a third and final seven-day deal. They should do so—with alacrity. Although her playing time has remained limited and the sample size is thus small, Taylor has been a positive player for Phoenix since play resumed. While she has averaged less than 10 minutes in five games, the Mercury have outscored opponents by a team-best 17 points when she’s on the court. Her impact, in part, is due to her unsustainably strong shooting, especially from 3. Questions about her viability as a WNBA player stemmed for her inconsistency behind the arc. In August, she’s made half of her 3-pointers; albeit only attempting six.

However, her 2-point scoring is sustainable, as she has shown confidence attacking closeouts, cutting to the basket and leaking out in transition. Overall, she appears to acutely understand her offensive role: take open 3s or look for easy buckets around the basket.

Valued as a WNBA prospect because of her skills as a disruptive perimeter defender, Taylor’s been quieter on that end, not compiling a significant number of defensive playmaking stats. That doesn’t mean her willingness to pressure and pester opposing ball handlers isn’t making a difference. In her limited time on the court, the Mercury have a 90.5 defensive rating; since the Olympic break, the teamwide defensive rating is 100.9.

A burgeoning bench mob?

Taylor’s experience and impact exemplifies that of the Mercury’s reserve corps.

Given little opportunity after she was drafted No. 16 overall in the 2016 WNBA Draft, Natasha Mack put in the work overseas before joining the Mercury this season, ably filling in for an injured Brittney Griner to start the season. While she’s played about 12 minutes per game as a reserve, she has been particularly solid of late, shooting better than 60 percent from the field with an astounding rebounding percentage of 29.5 percent. The Mercury have outscored opponents by 15 points in her 85 post-break minutes. It’s a similar story for Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, who is playing in the WNBA for the first time since a single appearance in 2021. She has seen action in five games since the break, playing a total of 36 minutes. But, like Taylor, she’s shooting lights out when she gets the chance, going 57.1 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3.

Signed to a rest-of-season contract on Aug. 25, Monique Billings also is part of this group, bringing her signature high-energy play to Phoenix after spending much of the season on a hardship contract with Dallas. In her Aug. 18 debut with the Mercury, she played 23 minutes, scoring 13 points and grabbing eight boards. Against Minnesota on Wednesday, she received her first start with Phoenix.

The starters need to star

But no matter how good their stories are or how hard they work, mostly young, relatively inexperienced role players do not make a winning, much less a contending, team in the WNBA. That requires stars.

Fortunately for Phoenix, they have quite a few; they just need to play like stars, especially at the start of games. Of late, Phoenix too frequently has fallen behind in first quarters. In August, the team’s most-used starting group—Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Natasha Cloud, Kahleah Copper and Sophie Cunningham—has been outscored by eight points across 31 first-quarter minutes. In post-break first quarters, every starter except Griner is shooting less than 36 percent from the field and less than 31 percent from 3. The team also is turning it over nearly five times per game in first quarters, a disproportionate chunk of the 14.3 turnovers they’re averaging in August games.

If the Mercury can consistently start games stronger, the solid play they’re getting from the margins of the roster can be better amplified, resulting in more wins, both now and in the postseason.