Taking stock of the Fever's five 2022 draft picks after one season in the WNBA

The Fever's five draft picks had to adjust to more than just better competition than they played in college. Their first season in the WNBA came with a host of differences many hadn't thought about before they were drafted. After often chartering flights in college, they had to get used to flying exclusively commercial for away games. They had to understand how to keep their bodies sharp while playing a more condensed season.

"Being a pro isn't all it's hyped up to be," forward Queen Egbo said at a late-season practice. "There's definitely the good and the bad. Obviously the good outweighs the bad, but there are gonna be days where you feel super good about your game, and there's gonna be times where you don't feel as confident."

How did she deal with the bad?

"I complain sometimes," she said with a laugh.

Along with Egbo, NaLyssa Smith, Emily Engstler, Lexie Hull and Destanni Henderson all had their high and low points throughout the summer. Here's where they stand entering their sophomore seasons.

NaLyssa Smith

The crown jewel of the Fever’s draft class did everything that could have been reasonably expected of her as a rookie, averaging 13.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game while shooting 38% from deep. Smith also led the rookies in minutes and was the only one to start every game she played.

None of that is to say Smith didn't have her flaws or rookie moments. Her 61% clip from the free throw line was lower than any season at Baylor, and too often she followed up dominant performances with disappearing acts. In June, she followed the best performance of her career -- 26 points and 11 boards on 11-of-17 shooting against Chicago -- with 4 points in a blowout loss to Dallas.

"I would say the biggest thing I learned is the game is physical. It's a lot more up-pace," she said. "It's a lot more mental than in college. You gotta be mentally strong in the W."

More:Fever forward NaLyssa Smith seeks consistency as rookie season winds down

Emily Engstler

All season long, Engstler knew who she was. It wasn’t her job to light up the scoreboard. She would rarely, if ever, carry the Fever on offense. What she could do was grab rebounds and bring a long, physical presence to the defensive end.

The next step for her will be to build on the offensive potential she flashed but didn’t often sustain. The Louisville product shot 36% from 3-point range, a figure that improved over the final six weeks of the season when she knocked down 10 of 15.

Developing that shooting ability will be crucial as Engstler continues to add to her game. Naturally a power forward, she saw minutes at small forward late in the season and could give the Fever some different options with big, defensive-minded lineups if she progresses.

“I need to develop a better left hand,” said Engstler, who will play in France over the offseason. “Ball handling is a big aspect of being a one, two, three guard or small forward. But also defensively, I have to guard threes and I’m gonna be doing it, hopefully, for a good amount of time overseas, and by the time we get back I’ll be able to do it in the league.”

Lexie Hull

For a month, Hull drifted through the season, unable to make her length, tenacity and athleticism add up to more than the sum of their parts. She didn't score her first points until the third game and topped 10 minutes once in the first 13.

But a wrist injury in Seattle changed things. Hull was sidelined for three weeks and was able to watch how top guards in the league score within the flow of an offense. She returned with more patience, more control of her athletic prowess and scored a career-high with 14 points Aug. 3 against Atlanta. Then she broke it three days later with 17 in Dallas while playing the same twitchy, aggressive defense that was her calling card at Stanford.

Another part of it was adjusting to interim coach Carlos Knox's style of offense. In college, Hull played in a more structured, play-oriented system. Under Knox, she was called upon to freelance and improvise more, make decisions in the flow of the game. That's her goal for next year: create more off the dribble within the flow of the offense.

More:Fever guard Lexie Hull returns from injury with increased patience, scoring ability

Queen Egbo

Less heralded than her Baylor teammate Smith, Egbo started 31 of her 33 games and provided the Fever with a low post presence on offense and rim protection on defense, although she had trouble with bigger, stronger players. Interim general manager Lin Dunn said it would be crucial for all the rookies to get stronger over the offseason, and that's especially true of Egbo, who should handle opposing bigs better with more muscle.

She showed potential to be a better shooter than she is right now, making 74% of her free throws, and she said she wants to extend her shooting range while she plays in Turkey over the winter. She didn't have an attempt from deep with the Fever.

"I want to be better at reading the game quicker," she said. "I feel like I'm OK when it comes to reading the game, but I want to be able to dissect and understand what teams are doing to us in the moment and not have to take a timeout or have to go back and watch film."

Destanni Henderson

Even more than Hull, Henderson improved her outlook over the season’s final weeks. A hot start gave way to a midseason slump during which the point guard out of South Carolina saw her minutes slip into the single digits for much of June and July. Increased playing time, buoyed by injuries to guards Kelsey Mitchell, Tiffany Mitchell and Danielle Robinson, led to some of Henderson’s most productive games of the year, peaking with a 16-point performance in Dallas, a game she nearly single-handedly sent into overtime with 5 points in the final minute.

In a matter of weeks, she had gone from a near-afterthought to a major cog in the Fever’s long-term plans.

“Coming into the league, playing the point guard position, that’s a vital position,” Knox said before the last game. “We wanted to make sure that we had an experienced guard ahead of her that she could learn from on the daily, and we had our ups and downs with it. But she hung in there and it’s her time. She is definitely the point guard of the future, so we wanted to make sure we got her that kind of experience.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Fever: Examining the state of the 2022 rookie class