WNBA: Under Sydney Johnson, the Mystics are a new, winning team

After a wholly unexpected 2-0 start, the league’s gravitational forces have slowly pulled the Washington Mystics down to the mean.

However, a 3-3 start is miles better than last year’s 0-12. Behind the headline-worthy play of rookies Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, the Mystics are playing just good enough to build choke-able leads—and then choke them away. That’s better than nothing, but a comfortable 83-77 win over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night will hopefully trend Washington back towards the win column.

About those leads…

Let’s get the bad out of the way.

Against the Connecticut Sun, the Mystics blew a five-point lead with less than five minutes remaining. They blew a nine-point lead against the Golden State Valkyries. Worst of all, they blew a 12-point second-half lead, which stayed close to double digits in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, in an epic collapse against the Las Vegas Aces. Their struggles with maintaining leads is an ironically perfect illustration of the Mystics intersection of youth and talent. They’re talented enough to build formidable leads against veteran-led rosters. They’re young enough to completely blow said leads as soon as they feel the pressure.

Jade Melbourne committed one of the cardinal sins for young players at the end of the Vegas game. Tie game, Mystics ball, 20 seconds left. The shot clock was off, meaning that the Mystics can hold for one shot and, worst comes to worst, go to overtime on a miss. Melbourne instead drove with about 10 seconds left, got blocked by Kiah Stokes, gift wrapping the ball, along with seven seconds, to the Aces. For newest Ace star Jewell Loyd, that was more than enough time to get off a game-winning 3. Those kind of mistakes will be part of the Mystics journey, and at the very least it’s better that they happen now rather than later.

No, we’re not going to stop talking about the rookies

As mentioned before, the Mystics engine is fueled by two rookies who are having historic starts to their professional careers.

Citron leads all rookies in points per game while shooting an unreal 47.6 percent from 3 on over four attempts per game. Her overall shooting splits lie at 53/47/89. If she somehow maintains that efficiency and makes literally one more free throw, she would be the second WNBA player to ever join the elusive 50/40/90 club, joining Washington legend Elena Delle Donne. She has 38 more games to go, but that’s definitely a story to watch for the time being.

Iriafen, who only trails Citron by two places on the rookie scoring leaderboard, is averaging a double-double with 13.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. She’s second in the entire league in rebounds, a feat that would feel more astounding if not for Angel Reese’s record-breaking rebounding last year. Unlike Reese’s rookie season, Iriafen hasn’t been struggling with efficiency. She has the occasional regrettable miss, but shooting over 50 percent from the field isn’t just passable—it’s impressive for a rookie. Her final college campaign at USC left areas of concern about her ability to self-create scoring looks in the post, but this version of Iriafen is better than any version we saw at Stanford or USC.

I don’t say this lightly: Citron and Iriafen look like the future of the Mystics.

What could improve?

One of the most optimistic things that could be said about the Mystics is that they’re 3-3, all of their losses have been by two possessions or less and they have players who aren’t nearly playing up to their own standards. If certain names can find some kind of spark, they could be playing even better than their already-impressive form.

Stefanie Dolson, who was an offensive engine for last year’s team, has had a noticeably absent impact. She’s down to less than five points per game and often seems like a complete afterthought in head coach Sydney Johnson’s offense. Mystics fans were certainly hoping that the younger forwards would eclipse Dolson at some point, but Dolson just doesn’t look like herself right now. Let’s be completely clear: Dolson is not playing bad basketball. It’s actually admirable that she’s willing to give up her own offensive load in the interest of Iriafen—something that will absolutely pay dividends for the Mystics future. However, if her lack of impact starts to seem permanent, she seems like the most likely departure for the Mystics at the trade deadline. As a floor-spacing center, she is of premium value in this league, and coaches of contending teams absolutely should keep an eye on her status.

Aaliyah Edwards and Shakira Austin make up the rest of Washington’s inconsistencies, but only because of injuries. Austin has been plagued with the injury bug throughout her career, and it seems like the new Mystics staff is making sure they don’t make anything worse by rushing her back onto the court. Edwards is similarly being eased back into play, although her history doesn’t suggest any lasting injury concerns. Edwards and Austin both played over 15 minutes on Wednesday against the Fever, which is an encouraging sign that they’ll be back to their normal minutes soon. Austin put up 13 points, two steals, and two blocks. Both players are hungry to get back on the court, and should bolster the Mystics depth significantly.