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WNBA Season Preview 2019: Washington Mystics are back and better than before

By Brendon Kleen

MINNEAPOLIS, MN- MAY 10: Natasha Cloud #9 of the Washington Mystics looks on during the game against the Minnesota Lynx on May 10, 2019 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN- MAY 10: Natasha Cloud #9 of the Washington Mystics looks on during the game against the Minnesota Lynx on May 10, 2019 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The return of Emma Meesseman headlines our look at the Washington Mystics as we preview the 2019 WNBA season.

The version of the Mystics we see at the end of May to begin the 2019 season is nothing like the battered and fractured group that limped into the WNBA Finals last season.

Back is Emma Meesseman, the 2015 All-Star who will provide a steady interior presence Washington sorely needed against Seattle in last year’s Finals. Hopefully, the Elena Delle Donne who starts the season will be far closer to full health than the version from last year’s postseason, who was getting a full treatment from training staff and then some just to be able to play in games.

After a Finals sweep, Washington expects to be right back in the thick of things this year behind their veteran core.

Projected rotation

Coach Mike Thibault has said he will bring Meesseman off the bench as she fulfills the last of her national team obligations in Belgium, which caused her to miss all of 2018.

Starters

G – Kristi Toliver, Natasha Cloud

F – Ariel Atkins, Delle Donne

C – LaToya Sanders

Reserves

G – AJ Alix, Aerial Powers

F – Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, Tianna Hawkins

C – Meesseman, Myisha Hines-Allen

After a season-ending ligament injury to first-round pick Kiara Leslie, the Mystics don’t quite have the depth they imagined. Worse yet, their roster is heavy on traditional bigs who not only can’t play at the same time but play the same position as Delle Donne, their best player.

Moving one of those players for depth in the backcourt might be a priority for Washington.

Key questions

Which young players step up?

Without Leslie or veteran contributor Monique Currie, who retired this offseason, the Mystics will need more from their youngsters. That production could come from Atkins, Hines-Allen, Walker-Kimbrough, or most importantly, Alix.

We’ve seen in past seasons what can happen when too much of the offense falls to Toliver, who is best as a secondary playmaker. That will mean Washington’s young backcourt needs to step up, as it did in last year’s playoffs.

What is Meesseman’s impact?

It will be an interesting balancing act early on for Thibault as he figures out the best way to integrate Meesseman while maximizing the contributors from last year’s Finals run. Of course, the 26-year-old center raises the ceiling of the team and frees Washington to deal someone like Sanders for depth at another spot, but waiting on her arrival from Belgium will require Thibault coaching a few different types of groups.

How the Mystics look early will be different than their makeup late.

Predictions

The Mystics will get enough from Meesseman to keep Delle Donne healthier heading into the playoffs as the fourth seed at 23-11, and lose in the second round of the playoffs on the road to the second-seed Dream.

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