Monica Wright got a change of scenery midway through the season.

On July 20, the Storm traded backup point guard Renee Montgomery to Minnesota for the fifth-year veteran Wright. It was not a move made as an immediate fix but as part of the plan for the future.

Wright, who had spent her entire career with the Lynx, had arthroscopic surgery on her right knee prior to the trade and ended up missing the remainder of the 2015 season. But when grouped with Sue Bird and 2015 Rookie of the Year Jewell Loyd, her size and experience seems to be a natural fit for the Storm going into 2016.

“It’s been pretty easy,” Wright said. “Coming here, I was not ready for it. It was quick and abrupt but once I got here the team welcomed me with open arms. The front office, the staff, everyone was really nice right away. That made it easy.

“I love the system. I love the offense and defensive schemes. I think I fit in perfectly from what I’ve seen. I haven’t physically gone through it yet but I think it’s going to be a perfect fit.”

The 5-10 Wright is bigger guard with championship experience, having won two titles with Minnesota and a key component to the 2013 champions.

During the 2013 regular season, she averaged 9.0 points in 33 games off the bench with 2.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists and was even better in the postseason. In the three-game sweep of Atlanta in the WNBA Finals, Wright averaged 11.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.7 steals.

Despite on being able to contribute on the court, Wright continued to provide a positive influence on the younger members of the team from the bench, in huddles, and in practice. Most of the advice ended up being about what to do in the offseason.

“For the most part, I was trying to be someone giving good energy, especially in games,” she said. “Clapping, encouraging teammates, if someone had questions, doing the best I can to answer them. We have a lot of young players so some of the questions didn’t even pertain to basketball.

“Sometimes it was, ‘Oh, what if I want to ship my car here,’ or ‘what do you think of this overseas team.’ Some of the weren’t signed when I got here. They were just asking me about different teams, different countries. It’s interesting because I just went through this a couple of years ago and they’re going through it now. I’ve never really been in that role before but I embrace it.”

It has also allowed her time to get a feel for Jenny Boucek’s system on a schematic level, which should allow her to quickly adapt once she is able to return to on-court action. It was also exciting for her to watch the development of the younger players, which really presented itself in the 14-point comeback win over Washington on Aug. 30.

“It was a good game to see us, we were home after a long road trip, we were finally able to practice and after all that practice, we were finally able to mesh,” she said. “We took a huge step, I was late in the season but we took huge strides, huge steps. You saw people grow in a short period of time. Because we have a such a young team, I get really excited when I see growth.”

Once completely rehabilitated, Wright should be able to slide right into the lineup and fit right into a young and exciting group in 2016.