After an offseason of rest, Seimone Augustus feels like herself again

Cheryl Reeve makes it a point in the first few days of training camp to make the rookies and younger players feel comfortable. The Lynx coach might slow things down and over explain, just to make sure everyone is on the same page.

That, Reeve said, is so the coaching staff can make better evaluations of the younger players.

“Rather than losing them the first day,” she said.

Those days might not be fun for the veterans, who have been through several camps and heard Reeve’s lessons many times. Reeve said she asks the Lynx veterans to simply bear with her.

Most oblige, usually.

“I think it was Seimone that was like, ‘Oh, all this talking,’ ” Reeve said. “That’s just part of it. She’s not used to being here this early. It’s like, ‘This is what we do, Seimone, when you’re not here.’

” This was the first time in years that Lynx guard Seimone Augustus was around for the start of Lynx training camp. In past years, she was finishing up her season in Russia, most recently with Dynamo Kursk.

But Augustus decided to take this winter off, just as forward Maya Moore did, and guard Lindsay Whalen has done each of the past two seasons.

The offseason off marked her first since turning professional in 2006.

Signs that Augustus, a six-time all-star, three-time Olympian and 2011 WNBA Finals MVP, needed the time off were everywhere. She said she called her mom, agent and others after arthroscopic knee surgery, to say she needed a break. Then came conversations with former Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett. “He said, ‘Youngin’, you’ve got to listen to your body,’ ” Augustus said. “If you don’t listen to your body, you don’t listen to KG, I don’t know what else to tell you.”

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