Second-year Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said the Lynx have designated four players to be the team leaders: Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen, Rebbekah Brunson and Taj McWilliams-Franklin.

"We are counting on [them] heavily," said Reeve at media day last month.

"What I like about Taj is, there are things that I had to say last year that I don't have to say now because Taj is saying them," Reeve said. "And I can focus on something else. And there is tremendous value [in that] if she never scores a basket.

"Taj is someone who understands how to be a great pro and has great attention to deal and that helps this group a lot."

McWilliams-Franklin, 40, is in her 12th WNBA season. Last year she played for the New York Liberty. The Lynx signed the 6-2 center as a free agent Feb. 18

Minnesota opens its 13th season at Los Angeles at 10 p.m. Friday. They tied the Sparks for fourth place in the Western Conference with a 11-23 record in 2010, but L.A. had the tiebreaker over the Lynx and advanced to the playoffs as the fourth seed.

ROTATION BIG FOCUS

Reeve said she wants to play her top players between 25 and 28 minutes. "The wear and tear is tough" in the WNBA," she said. "They will tell you they don't want to play 20, but they don't want to play 35, either. So we have to find that balance.

"If you look at our group, that is is my challenge this year is minutes, to try to distribute the minutes and more than anything go with the flow of the game, who is playing well?"

On Tuesday, in the Lynx's second exhibition game, they beat Indiana 76-70 in Indianapolis. And the scoring was about as balance as could be.

Whalen had 12 points and McWilliams-Franklin 12, and five other players had either nine or eight.

How about the minutes? Rookie forward Maya Moore played a team-high 31:06 minutes and had nine point. Augustus played 25:19. Everybody else played between 13 and 20 minutes except backup center Jessica Adair who played 5:17.

Last season Whalen averaged a career-high 33.6 minutes and Augustus, coming off abdominal surgery, averaged 33.3 minutes, just shy of her career-high of 33.6.

Reeve apparently has settled on a starting lineup: McWilliams-Franklin at C, Moore and Brunson at F, and Augustus and Whalen at G. Those five have started both exhibition games.

TWO CAPABLE ROOKIES

Reeve said Moore and Amber Harris, rookies from Connecticut and Xavier, respectibely are both great additions to the roster.

"Certainly with Maya there is no explanation needed there," Reeve said. "If you get a chance to watch practice, you can understand why she has been so successful. She just works so hard, [is] so aggressive, so determined. Amber for her, she has fit in nicely."

Harris, who is 6-5, had zero points and two rebounds against the Fever on Tuesday. A week ago, though, she had 10 points and 10 rebounds in 15 minutes beat Indiana 71-66 in St. Paul.

"We are bigger now, which is nice," Reeve said. "That was one of our goals in the offseason."

COACH ENJOYED OFFSEASON

Reeve said she watched some Gophers women's basketball games and a lot of Timberwolves games this past winter and also attended to the girls' basketball state tournament.

"Becoming a part of this community has been a lot of fun," Reeve said."There are really good people and I enjoy the outdoor nature of it. Although in January and Febuary I won't say I was outside that much. I actually vacationed during that time."