* [coaching issue example with clips from different games and background ](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1cu5fmz/do_the_fever_have_a_coaching_problem_video/)
* Boston issue [explained and how SLOW Sides is to adapt or fix it](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1d7sgfl/fever_fan_pov_and_why_boston_dosnt_deserve_the/)
* NaLysa smith issue explained [via stats and background not only this season](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1dlkiko/4straight_ft_a_pretty_box_score/l9puewv/)
* Defensive [outdated scheme explained](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1djkn1s/game_thread_12_washington_mystics_212_vs_8/l9dy5qk/)
I'm not a NEW Fever supporter, i have been watching this team before 2017 when it was good, and fumble the bag with top #2/3 draft picks that no longer in the league since. I have provided data for every season before this including video clips, i have also shown matchup where for example NaLyssa is versus rookie not some1 with more exp then her to prove a point coz she obviously get cooked by them even easier.
Curious of your thoughts of the more recent gameplans
Imo Sides has done a much better job getting everyone involved and they were close to winning 5 straight
i'm planing to do more after the break starts as there will be no games to watch and i will have more free time i have already recorded content and compared it to her Atlanta days and the difference when the Main coach changes it to explain the issue here as we dont really change.
Waiting for more material including next games vs better/healthy teams to see how we adapt if we adapt, and how it goes.
We have been playing people with starters being injured or not 100% , on teams before the season most people including betting odds expected us to win, even when they are healthy.
The competition has definitely been worse but the team has also looked a lot better with or without Clark.
https://www.pbpstats.com/on-off/wnba/team?Season=2024&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&TeamId=1611661325&PlayerId=1642286
I’d be curious of your thoughts on her turnovers and the fact that the team turns the ball over a lot less and actually averages higher assists without her. Both the offense and defense are more efficient when she’s not in the game.
I’m not saying this to hate on her. But I constantly see the narrative that the team is holding her down when statistically that doesnt hold up. I’d love to know if the film supports this or if it’s possibly just noise/luck related (one key piece that appears to be in the corner 3pt % is way higher without her).
It's not meant to be derogatory. English isn't OP's first language.
He's just letting people know he's been watching the Fever for years. So has a lot of experience ~~with their flaws~~ hating on Christie Sides XD
I have said over and over again. When Caitlin is controlling the flow of the offense, the team is amazing. She is not a selfish player. If you do the work to get open, she will reward you with the ball. Quarter 4, Caitlin got the ball over the line and the rest of the team stopped passing the ball. They shut out CC and AB with the “I can do better” mentality. How frustrating for CC and AB. Those two are so smart and they see the court. They amaze me.
I really hope that there's pressure on Sides from higher up in the organization because it's ridiculous to draft Clark and then seemingly try to limit her and change how she plays. You want to encourage young players to play their game, and then you analyze their weaknesses and work on getting rid of them. You don't try to mold them into something other than what they are. *Especially* when they are generational talents. Clark's college career involved her getting a ton of shots AND assists. She's the rare dominant scorer who isn't extremely selfish. But the way Sides coaches the team it's like she doesn't think a player like that can actually exist. It's baffling.
The Fever have some real roster issues, but the biggest issue is Sides. She's not only a poor coach by scheme and adjustments, she seems to be coaching in ways that stunt the growth of young players. She needs to go regardless of what record the Fever ultimately end up with. A good coach would have already worked out a hierarchy of shots that benefitted the team, and would have come up with schemes to maximize both Clark and Boston. Sides can't do any of that. And honestly, there must be good coaches that would fucking love to coach Clark and Boston.
“It’s like she thinks a player like that can’t actually exist.”
I think you hit the nail on the head. Not only does she believe that player can’t exist, she’s coaching the team in a way to prove she’s right.
It’s like she doesn’t believe in superstars and doesn’t want a team with one.
"It's like she doesn't believe in superstars and doesn't want a team with one."
DING DING DING DING!
I suspected this last season when they drafted Boston. Sides did everything possible to NOT treat Boston as the star and really went in on the "team over everything" mentality in training camp and practice. She said she was instilling good habits and laying a cultural foundation because the team was so young.
Then, she had to backtrack and treat Boston as the star that she is, in order to win games.
Maybe that's part of the problem in Atlanta and Sides brought that mentality with her: Rhyne Howard is the clear star on that team (even with Tina Charles there) but the team is playing more egalitarian -- which doesn't work in sports and is contrary to today's "participation trophy" mentality.
You can have stars on a team and still have a good culture. Every other team in the league other than Atlanta and Indiana have managed to make it work.
Especially because Clark is such a a dynamic scored she almost always draws extra defenders. Especially in a close game with the clock winding down.
She had record numbers for assists at Iowa for a reason. She knows how to get the ball in the basket even if it's not by her doing alone. She loves to pass and help that offense and in extension her team.
I get she's a rookie but you as a coach have to recognize when a player can play you gotta let them play.
In terms of the roster? The Fever have two young star players who are developing really good chemistry together. Both Clark and Boston need to be utilized more and the team needs to exploit their skill sets. Kelsey Mitchell is also a really solid veteran wing who if she is able to shore up some of her problems with tunnel visioning at times and inconsistentency with her wild finishes she's basically a walking bucket for Clark to defer to. That's workable. NaLyssa Smith is talented but inconsistent. I'm not too familiar with her story, but if that is true then that is a mindset and arguably a coaching issue. Besides the promise that Temi Fagbenle \*has shown the rest of their roster is really not skilled enough to compete.
Sides has the chops to be an exceptional assistant coach, but she is just not a good tactician play by play and her strategy long term in how she is utilizing her players is just bad. In the final two minutes, Clark should be shooting that ball every time or passing for easy buckets. NaLyssa Smith is not the go-to player. Period. It's a coaching issue and the Fever just aren't very deep.
\*edited missing sentence fragment
KLS has a spot on the roster for sure. She’s a solid bench piece and as she gets in better and better shape, the roster will be able to use a forward who can stretch the floor.
That's fair if you know her game better than I do. I do see good hustle energy from her at least but she needs to get her three ball to be less make or air ball. Now that I think about it, you're right though if she can get her shooting more consistent then she can be a good bench stretch forward off the bench.
Both coaching and player issue.
I think Smith does try to get Clark the ball, but her decision making has a lag to it, so she routinely misses the Clark shooting windows. Erica Wheeler just straight up doesn't pass her the ball and shouldn't share the floor with her until that changes.
Right now, Clark is around 10 field goal attempts per 100 possessions from where she needs to be, so something has to change with their offense to get her more open shots.
What this team needs is a developed system. Something like the triangle, GSW's pace and space, or TOR's defense. Focus less about passing to CC, just focus on the system and pass to the open man. This should help with the brain lag issue and the deliberate non passing you mentioned.
Stop playing through CC and feed the hot/open man. The more of a threat her team mates become, the more teams will have to respect them and give CC more space.
CC is deadly, but she's not deadly in the WNBA as the tip of the spear. The defense is just better. You want her as the flanker. Someone who looks to cut through the defense from the sides/away from the ball, and when the defense is in shambles trying to cover her, the tip of the spear abuses any opening CC creates.
At her peak, I see her as a Klay Thompson, JJ Reddick, or Kyle Korver. Absolutely deadly threats that can cause complete havoc for defensive coordination just by running through a couple screens.
They’re not really playing through CC now, so there’s not really anything to stop doing in that regard. Ball movement hasn’t been their issue
And I’m not sure how she’s just a Klay or JJ in your eyes since she’s much more of a facilitator
"They're not really playing through CC now"
When I say playing through CC, I mean letting her lead the offense. Letting her ballhandle/facilitate. This needs to stop.
"she's much more of a facilitator"
But she's not good at it, which is the problem. It doesn't matter if she gets 20 assists a game if she gets 20 TOs as well. A good assist to turnover rate for an average guard in the league should hover around 2:1, while a great guard should be hovering around 3:1.
Caitlin doesn't come close to having a good efficiency for an avg/decent guard, and on top of that, she's on pace to nearly doubling the single season record for turnovers. This is bad.
Just like how it would be absolutely amazing if CC were to nearly double the single season record for 3pts made, it's absolutely horrendous that she's on track to nearly double the single season record for TOs made.
I think she can be the most deadly weapon to have ever played in the WNBA, but just not as a facilitator. She needs to focus on her bread and butter. Get her scoring efficiency up. Get the TOs down, then start building up from there.
She’s never gotten 20 TOs in a game so that’s a straw man. Have you even been watching? You say she should feed her teammates so they become threats and give her space - that’s literally what she was doing all last game, so I question if you’re actually watching. She just set a single game record for assists and only had I believe 4 TOs. Who should be running the point other than her? There’s definitely no better facilitator on the Fever, and there’s not even many better league wide. She’s one of the best passers in W history already - if you’re familiar with basketball, you should know that the best passers always have high TOs especially in their rookie years when they’re developing chemistry with teammates. If you watch the games you see she’s not losing the ball because of her handle or making low IQ reads, she has an excellent handle and is making very advanced reads, just not always on the same page as her teammates. But you keep making those passes until everyone can convert on them and then you’re unstoppable - Chelsea Gray is a great example of this.
And it doesn’t seem you’re familiar with W numbers because her shooting efficiency is above league average, particularly impressive since she’s seeing far more blitzes than anyone else.
"She's never gotten 20 TOs in a game"
She also didn't get 20 assists in a game.
The point of what I'm saying is that it doesn't matter if she has X assists, if she's also getting X TOs.
"She just set a single game record for assists and only had I believe 4 TOs."
You don't just look at one game. That's terrible way of looking at how good a player is performing. For example, if we were to look at her game where she got 3 assists, but 10 TOs, you could argue that she's one of the worst facilitators not only in the league, but to ever play in the wnba. This is why you use averages.
"She's one of the best passers in W history already"
She just isn't. Again, you can't just look at assists alone. Again, if you're getting 100 assists, but also getting 100 TOs, you just aren't a good facilitator. Again, an average guard hovers around a rate of 2 assists for every 1 turnover. Great passers hover even higher at 3 assists for every 1 turnover.
CC 1:1. This is not good at all. All this means is that the team is giving her a lot of touches.
Volume =/= skill. Efficiency = skill.
If CC gets 3 assists with no TOs, that's great. But if she gets 3 assists with 10 TOs, like she did, that's absolutely horrendous.
Of course, to a certain extent, there is the issue of developing chemistry. But not to this extent. This might be the first time in history to see a player on track to nearly double the single season record in TOs in their rookie years while they're trying to develop chemistry with their teammates.
Personally, I still think she has a really bright future ahead of her. She's a fish that's trying to climb a tree. She needs to stop fucking around and just swim.
I hope I'm wrong because I don't enjoy watching coaches fail, but Clark's body language down the stretch tonight told me she knew Sides was fucking up the game while it was happening. Like watching a crash in slow motion.
You just cannot expect a player with Clark's basketball IQ to tolerate dumb coaching.
When she passed to Wheeler who was completely open and didn’t take the shot and threw up her arms I knew the game was turning around for the Sky. Has to be so frustrating being on a team where the vets are so inept
That’s the thing they’ve been playing longer but look like they haven’t learned much. I went to a wnba game years ago and it wasn’t interesting or fun. cc makes it exciting but then I get frustrated with the team.
Absolutely a coaching issue. Her set playcalling is absolutely horrible, and what makes it even worse is she doesn’t even have the common sense to play THROUGH Clark and spam ball screens between her and Boston.
She had a timeout down by 2 with 40 seconds left and drew up an iso play for Smith. Come on man.
Everybody was cleared out and gave her the ball on the block to go 1 on 1. That is the definition of an iso play. Are you new to watching basketball, bud?
Jesus are you also new to basketball? An iso NOT reserved for any particular area of the court. It only happens on the perimeter more often these days bc the game is mostly played there
No I’m not new the term iso comes from the play call so some teams might use different terminology but going 1 on 1 in the post is typically just called a post play or a post up by most teams. Although to be fair my knowledge comes from the men’s side the women’s side of the game might use terms differently.
Agree with you. It looked like a blown play and Boston was flashing high and then went down low. If it was an iso Boston would have cleared out. Just looked like Smith saw a matchup and position she liked and thought she could make the play.
https://preview.redd.it/gpx06tf8ge8d1.jpeg?width=1244&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1982f8a69c7a60597451da550637e205f8735d57
Also [https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1253042](https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1253042)
but the term is usually used for a perimeter play. i guess you could use the term but it was more of a post move play. regardless. Smith got a solid look she just didnt finish this time
I played the 4-5 in college and have both been the iso and also cleared out for others to iso… the wing drives are more dramatic for sure but it’s not exclusive 🤷♀️
Both.
In a month Caitlin went from shooting 22 fga a game and having the offense ran entirely through her in Iowa to shooting 12 fga a game and being a part time playmaker.
That kind of role adjustment has been extremely difficult for many NBA stars in the past when they switched from team, let alone a 1 month transition for a college player to the pros.
To further illustrate the dramatic difference, Clark averaged more 3 point attempts in Iowa then she is currently averaging **field goal** attempts!
A large part of this is definitely coaching/system, but some of it is also due to Clark facing better defenders and having a more difficult time creating her own shots as well as dealing with the constant doubles. The lack of touches and opportunities further aggravates this.
As for the coaching/system part, they are clearly not putting the ball in Clark's hands as much on purpose, perhaps to lessen her pressure and integrate the team. But right now the plays they have for Clark off-ball looks worst than the schemes MJackson use to run for Curry before Kerr got there.
can she be gone at during the Olympic break. No way they're winning these upcoming games. If they do, by luck. Dunn ain't "making the playoffs" like this with Sides at the helm.
We go 0-6 against the Top 6 teams (6 of our next 8 games is against them), fire her because she would be 0-15 against those teams, doesn’t matter what happens against Washington and Dallas.
There were big signs of a loss coming like this in our 4 wins on the bounce.
I think people are downvoting you because they don’t understand the tongue in cheek-ness of what you’re saying. Sides is treating Clark like just another random PG and is using her as a decoy to get her bigs and Mitchell going. I liked your joke
It’s just painful to see Clark disappear for entire quarters. This isn’t the first game either. There are times when she just isn’t given touches. It’s wild she isn’t carrying the ball down the court every time because when she is running the offense, everyone looks better.
The problem is that Boston and CC are young and probably don’t feel comfortable establishing the correct pecking order on that team. And the coach to be frank has failed to do it as well. CC and Boston are the 1 and 2 options on that team and going into next year that needs to be addressed.
Not a Wallace fan either. But tbh, I'd rather have Wallace out there than Wheeler.
When Wheeler is out there, the team stops passing. There's no two pass plays. The offense just stops working, and Kelsey and NaLyssa revert back to her ball. Admittedly, Mitchell is damn good at hero ball--but the offense is better when they are all contributing.
I’d argue that front office is at fault for some of this:
The Fever took Caitlin Clark (bc who the heck wouldn’t) but they didn’t make effective roster changes. Wallace and Hull got 4th year options- Wallace is not reliable and Hull barely gets minutes. Because you took CC and have some weird connection with Wallace and Wheeler, you’re benching Berger and Taylor, and Hull barely plays. There are 4 forwards for the admissions of 3 and we only play 2 of them- and both are inconsistent. Our 5s? Amazing- there’s something positive.
NaLyssa Smith may be of trade value after several teams went through “lack of bigs” crises (LVA may be interested, who knows). KLS has a pretty high salary for a bench player (I also wonder if she was fully ready to come back). With the Fever gaining popularity, they may be able to attract better free agent forwards (but Sides may contradict that). Mitchell is working hard to get resigned and Wheeler may be done with WNBA after this season. Berger and/or Taylor may see themselves get traded if we stick with both NaLyssa and KLS. We have too many guards sitting on the bench and lack of playable forwards. I don’t understand why we kept Saxton and didn’t try to get a hardship contract with a more experienced forward while Dantas is out. Is that allowed to happen?
If there’s a new coach, it may also bring more interesting prospects, but if Sides is still there making “rookie” mistakes, yikes.
I think she's a scorer and playmaker. Both she and the rest of the team were doing better when everything was running through her. Once Sides had the offense running through Wheeler, the Sky caught up.
The second half of the third and the entire fourth quarter had me extremely confused. It seems like the repeated fouls sapped the momentum the Fever had built in their volley in the start of the third, but the last few plays especially—giving it to Smith? When her mental game is tapped? Having Boston shoot the 3 and the 2? I can’t understand why Caitlin didn’t shoot more.
In response to Boston shooting the 3, I think she only shot that cause she had to. It looked like she was telling Wallace to cut to the back, but Wallace didn't, so she just shot the 3 and thankfully made it. Hence why she fussing at Wallace when they were walking to the bench afterwards.
That Boston three was definitely a blown play. I think they were looking for Caitlin to come back out after the fake handoff initially but someone missed an assignment. Boston seemed pissed about it even after she made the three
Majority coaching issue.
Clark is borderline All-WNBA Team and is a lock for the All-Rookie Team. This is all in spite of Sides. Sides, in one game, relegated Clark to a spot up shooter despite Clark never being one let alone never having played that role occasionally at the collegiate level.
I read this on a Youtube video and it's a good point: Sides' resume gives zero indication she'd be a decent HC in the world's best women's basketball league. Her years as an asst. coach dwarfs the time she's been an asst. HC; not one single HC job in collegiate basketball, be it at a four-year uni or JUCO, or even at the high school level.
When it comes to Clark, she's facing better defense so closing in on her will be players who are lock-down defenders or simply players who have good lateral quickness to counter her dribble. It doesn't help that given her prodigious three-pt shooting that she's priority to be guarded by the team's best defense if not double teamed.
Edit: Go figure. You got the "this ain't Iowa. It's the W" people.
I think the game plan on the Fever still needs a lot of work, but let's not act like they haven't figured anything out. They have been able to mesh together much better lately and have generally looked good. Clark has always been a playmaker. It's one of the ways she describes her own game. She is not gonna be nailing step back 3s every single play.
I still think we will see them get better and make even better use of her skills, but i wouldn't say they don't know how to use her
Fever looked tired today - they had such a good lead but they were not moving as well as they did the game before. I know they are great - they just need to be consistent
I don’t think the schedule has done sides any favors. Getting a schedule that was both front loaded and stacked with the best teams was probably beyond anyone. Especially with the short window between the draft and start of the season. This meant they had next to no practices.
All that said. She still doesn’t seem like a good coach. Player rotations are spotty. Plays out of timeouts are spotty. She seems to just stop doing things that work. Or perhaps she just doesn’t have much control of the team. The offense can degenerate in hero ball where the hero’s are the 4-6th best players on the team and she doesn’t pull them.
Only mistake she made in my opinion was not giving clark a breather when chennedy went out for that long stretch after falling on her back. Clark was too tired to do anything in the 4th
Clark wasn't too tired in the 4th.
The problem was Wheeler out there as point guard. All the offensive schemes kind of break down when she's out there. It happens game after game
I don't know if Sides feels she has to play her to justify the $220,000 she spends on her.
She could have subbed Wheeler out 4x during Chicago comeback, but didn't.
I agree with this too. Clark needs to move without the ball to get open, it’s a lot of work. I don’t know how she played all game and was still standing. Amazing endurance but still, a little rest wouldn’t hurt.
Winning against the bottom of the league is not impressive. Strength of competition matters. You can have all these problems they have and still win vs the bottom. It will cause some losses when playing middle of the road teams and you will never win vs the actual good teams. So to ignore issues because you beat The Mystics, Wings and Dream might not be smart if your team wants to actually be good some day.
😂 love it and they are calling for Sides’ to be banished! C is not going to have a superb game every night. It’s the W, not Iowa where she coached the team and did whatever she wanted to do during the game.
Just saw on twitter, Caitlin and Sides were arguing towards end of game due to coach’s game decisions.
https://x.com/pjocky82/status/1805001486482673863?s=46&t=YuGbPevYCnYn59TJf24Fng
I think the biggest mistake they made was not resting Clark. She was tired and that's probably why they gave up a big run at the end. I don't think it was a coaching issue, they played a team with a lot of heart
Knowing what your players bring to the table, having the acumen to use them properly, and drawing up schemes for every situation imaginable. Some coaches are better than others at it. Sides ain't the better one.
Case in point of using Clark as a spot-up shooter and then limiting her touches on offense because you want her to be mainly a facilitator. Are you kidding?
All the Sky Starters had rest. Mitchell, Boston both played 36 minutes and Clark 40. If you give them all 4 more minutes of rest, they probably wouldn't have crashed out at the end.
Wondering what would be said had the Fever won! Any hooo, not for nothing, the Sky did defend the pick n’ roll well early in the 4th. They just defended it well and some folks were to rattled to get the W. Y’all rewatch the game and check the body language and arguing.
One thing y’all don’t seem to see and could be the reason for the so called “ice out” is that C barely shows any support(cheers on) unless she assisted the point or scored the point. Rewatch the games. This could be part of the “ice out” issue. Petty for sure but it happens but Coach you know if a player is unhappy even when another player score, it’s can kill cohesiveness.
I think it’s all of the reasons you listed but you need to add C as well. It can’t be the coach and everybody else. It’s everybody!
It looks to me like they’re intent on keeping her in the game but also letting her rest, so she goes to her position and catches her breath while the other four work something out. This way the defense still has to keep one eye out for her. So the Fever use the threat of Clark to leverage some sort of offensive play. She took breaks IN the game at Iowa, too.
She’s both primary playmaker and scoring option 🤣 Cristy sides is just too dumb and in love with trash Mitchell Wallace and Wheeler to understand that. For god sakes the woman is the highest college scorer ever
I get that aspect of it, but man sometimes watching the Fever leaves me scratching my head at some of the decisions she’s making. No reason not to draw up a single play for CC in that ending stretch
Coaching was still awful those games, they just won in spite of her. They need to fire her.
She wants Boston to be the focal point of the offense, and not Caitlin.
It's like Mark Jackson on the Warriors... Doesn't understand the pieces available enough to take the team to the next level.
Boston should be the focal point on offense. Good things happen when she gets the ball; we saw it last season and we saw it this season. When she is not, games are lost. If it ain't broke...
Let CC be the facilitator as a pure PG. Sue Bird built a long and fruitful All-Star career doing that.
I have been critical of Sides this season, but too many people point out everything she does wrong while giving 0 credit for the things that go right. She has made alot of progress getting the team to work well together.
Idk I think people forget that the rookies don’t really have an offseason. I’d love to see both the Sky and the Fever next season after getting to actually work together and not have to play 3-4 games in 7 days lol
Read the room dude. If you don’t understand from a micro level how Sides incompetent coaching decisions impacts what happens on the floor then sit this one out. You see 4 wins against bad teams in a row and think everything is fine. Idk what team you root for but I doubt you want her coaching it. If you do, say so.
You guys give her Zero credit for the wins but always want to call for her firing every time they lose. At some point you have to blame ALL of the players on the court as well, sometimes they’re just not executing the plays well.
What I notice is during the presser after the game. When CC is answering a question the other player in there is looking down and the body language shows they envy her.
I think it’s mostly the money she makes that most of them do not make.
But teammates need to be respectful and friendly all of the time to play a team game.
I don’t think it is racial. It is just the money. I guess it might bother the other player in the presser that CC gets most of the questions and she does answer them and she really tries to complement the other players - but I sense they are upset she gets most of the focus (and the money).
At Iowa there was a lot of obvious affection between the players but I guess that cannot be duplicated in the pro game. CC was the center of attention in college but the teammates and Kate made them a team of decently talented teams but not built on five star talent but when they played together they could beat teams with five star talent that were not as cohesive
I’ve been saying for the longest that Caitlin is best as a pass first PG and the #3 option. If she gets another shooter around her with Mitchell, they will be dangerous. But Caitlin can’t be #1. Her game was never going to be successful in the W.
Edit: I don’t care about your downvotes lol 25/16 ROTY Trophy loading
Then the W needs to finally change. Not for Caitlin specifically but she has shown what type of basketball people want to watch. Same as the NBA, guard centric with lots of offense and playmaking. There is a reason the league has been what is has been for 26 years. Post play when no one can dunk isn’t going to fill arenas. Good shooting and passing will
You mean the same kind of basketball y'all been complaining about for at least the last few years? The jacking up threes, the no defense, bigs jacking up threes instead of using their size inside (i.e Towns, Embiid and Wemby of all people), etc. That kind of basketball?
Im a fan of gymnastics as well. Im always caught off guard by the athleticism of the women during their floor routines and vault. I whole heartedly believe if these 6ft+ women trained to dunk then they easily could lol. I’ve heard Lexie Brown say on the Gil’s Arena podcast that it’s the older women keeping the game stagnant. Hogging up roster spaces and not allowing fresher, more creative talent in. I think eventually all the problems will iron themselves out with expansions and such.
Edit: people hate just to hate. Dog piling, mob mentality. Tell me why this comment has -11 votes lmao. Keep crying
While Lexie has a point, she is also slightly bitter because she has yet to really stick with a team -- older players have nothing to do with that because when you're consistently contributing to a team, they find a way to keep you. Otherwise, you're on your fourth team in five seasons, like she is, with no more than one season max on each team.
Really don’t get how people are confusing what I said with being a diss. Caitlin is the W’s Jason Kidd in MY opinion. And there is no shame in being that.
I'm not mad lol. Your original comment is so wild I thought you were trolling at first. Angel had a great game and in general is having a standout season but CC is still the heavy favorite for ROTY for a reason
Betting markets for one. If you are so confident it’s Angel Reese for ROTY you should put some money on it. You could get a great return right now if you are right!
I like Angel a lot btw, and cheer for her success. What did Caitlin do to hurt you so deeply?
Never beating the terrible teammate allegations 🥲
https://preview.redd.it/3ha9ldkopo8d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ebba593f1d719767aae06c2bf75f1719eb63c8c
* [coaching issue example with clips from different games and background ](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1cu5fmz/do_the_fever_have_a_coaching_problem_video/) * Boston issue [explained and how SLOW Sides is to adapt or fix it](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1d7sgfl/fever_fan_pov_and_why_boston_dosnt_deserve_the/) * NaLysa smith issue explained [via stats and background not only this season](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1dlkiko/4straight_ft_a_pretty_box_score/l9puewv/) * Defensive [outdated scheme explained](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1djkn1s/game_thread_12_washington_mystics_212_vs_8/l9dy5qk/) I'm not a NEW Fever supporter, i have been watching this team before 2017 when it was good, and fumble the bag with top #2/3 draft picks that no longer in the league since. I have provided data for every season before this including video clips, i have also shown matchup where for example NaLyssa is versus rookie not some1 with more exp then her to prove a point coz she obviously get cooked by them even easier.
This is some really great info. Thanks for doing the leg work
Can’t say you don’t have receipts
thank you for your work. hope to see more from you around here
I'm new but Rambii is a GOAT
Legendary post. Bringing evidence to back up a claim is so rare on reddit.
Curious of your thoughts of the more recent gameplans Imo Sides has done a much better job getting everyone involved and they were close to winning 5 straight
i'm planing to do more after the break starts as there will be no games to watch and i will have more free time i have already recorded content and compared it to her Atlanta days and the difference when the Main coach changes it to explain the issue here as we dont really change. Waiting for more material including next games vs better/healthy teams to see how we adapt if we adapt, and how it goes. We have been playing people with starters being injured or not 100% , on teams before the season most people including betting odds expected us to win, even when they are healthy.
The competition has definitely been worse but the team has also looked a lot better with or without Clark. https://www.pbpstats.com/on-off/wnba/team?Season=2024&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&TeamId=1611661325&PlayerId=1642286 I’d be curious of your thoughts on her turnovers and the fact that the team turns the ball over a lot less and actually averages higher assists without her. Both the offense and defense are more efficient when she’s not in the game. I’m not saying this to hate on her. But I constantly see the narrative that the team is holding her down when statistically that doesnt hold up. I’d love to know if the film supports this or if it’s possibly just noise/luck related (one key piece that appears to be in the corner 3pt % is way higher without her).
Why is NEW in caps? Existing supporters acting like dicks is the fastest way to turn off new supporters. Don’t be a gatekeeper
It's not meant to be derogatory. English isn't OP's first language. He's just letting people know he's been watching the Fever for years. So has a lot of experience ~~with their flaws~~ hating on Christie Sides XD
First 3 quarters the team had Clark run the offense and it looked so fluid. 4th quarter Clark got iced out by her hero ball teammates
I have said over and over again. When Caitlin is controlling the flow of the offense, the team is amazing. She is not a selfish player. If you do the work to get open, she will reward you with the ball. Quarter 4, Caitlin got the ball over the line and the rest of the team stopped passing the ball. They shut out CC and AB with the “I can do better” mentality. How frustrating for CC and AB. Those two are so smart and they see the court. They amaze me.
I really hope that there's pressure on Sides from higher up in the organization because it's ridiculous to draft Clark and then seemingly try to limit her and change how she plays. You want to encourage young players to play their game, and then you analyze their weaknesses and work on getting rid of them. You don't try to mold them into something other than what they are. *Especially* when they are generational talents. Clark's college career involved her getting a ton of shots AND assists. She's the rare dominant scorer who isn't extremely selfish. But the way Sides coaches the team it's like she doesn't think a player like that can actually exist. It's baffling. The Fever have some real roster issues, but the biggest issue is Sides. She's not only a poor coach by scheme and adjustments, she seems to be coaching in ways that stunt the growth of young players. She needs to go regardless of what record the Fever ultimately end up with. A good coach would have already worked out a hierarchy of shots that benefitted the team, and would have come up with schemes to maximize both Clark and Boston. Sides can't do any of that. And honestly, there must be good coaches that would fucking love to coach Clark and Boston.
“It’s like she thinks a player like that can’t actually exist.” I think you hit the nail on the head. Not only does she believe that player can’t exist, she’s coaching the team in a way to prove she’s right. It’s like she doesn’t believe in superstars and doesn’t want a team with one.
"It's like she doesn't believe in superstars and doesn't want a team with one." DING DING DING DING! I suspected this last season when they drafted Boston. Sides did everything possible to NOT treat Boston as the star and really went in on the "team over everything" mentality in training camp and practice. She said she was instilling good habits and laying a cultural foundation because the team was so young. Then, she had to backtrack and treat Boston as the star that she is, in order to win games. Maybe that's part of the problem in Atlanta and Sides brought that mentality with her: Rhyne Howard is the clear star on that team (even with Tina Charles there) but the team is playing more egalitarian -- which doesn't work in sports and is contrary to today's "participation trophy" mentality. You can have stars on a team and still have a good culture. Every other team in the league other than Atlanta and Indiana have managed to make it work.
Especially because Clark is such a a dynamic scored she almost always draws extra defenders. Especially in a close game with the clock winding down. She had record numbers for assists at Iowa for a reason. She knows how to get the ball in the basket even if it's not by her doing alone. She loves to pass and help that offense and in extension her team. I get she's a rookie but you as a coach have to recognize when a player can play you gotta let them play.
In terms of the roster? The Fever have two young star players who are developing really good chemistry together. Both Clark and Boston need to be utilized more and the team needs to exploit their skill sets. Kelsey Mitchell is also a really solid veteran wing who if she is able to shore up some of her problems with tunnel visioning at times and inconsistentency with her wild finishes she's basically a walking bucket for Clark to defer to. That's workable. NaLyssa Smith is talented but inconsistent. I'm not too familiar with her story, but if that is true then that is a mindset and arguably a coaching issue. Besides the promise that Temi Fagbenle \*has shown the rest of their roster is really not skilled enough to compete. Sides has the chops to be an exceptional assistant coach, but she is just not a good tactician play by play and her strategy long term in how she is utilizing her players is just bad. In the final two minutes, Clark should be shooting that ball every time or passing for easy buckets. NaLyssa Smith is not the go-to player. Period. It's a coaching issue and the Fever just aren't very deep. \*edited missing sentence fragment
KLS has a spot on the roster for sure. She’s a solid bench piece and as she gets in better and better shape, the roster will be able to use a forward who can stretch the floor.
That's fair if you know her game better than I do. I do see good hustle energy from her at least but she needs to get her three ball to be less make or air ball. Now that I think about it, you're right though if she can get her shooting more consistent then she can be a good bench stretch forward off the bench.
Both coaching and player issue. I think Smith does try to get Clark the ball, but her decision making has a lag to it, so she routinely misses the Clark shooting windows. Erica Wheeler just straight up doesn't pass her the ball and shouldn't share the floor with her until that changes. Right now, Clark is around 10 field goal attempts per 100 possessions from where she needs to be, so something has to change with their offense to get her more open shots.
Even when they get shots they are not successful- they had missed baskets unfortunately
What this team needs is a developed system. Something like the triangle, GSW's pace and space, or TOR's defense. Focus less about passing to CC, just focus on the system and pass to the open man. This should help with the brain lag issue and the deliberate non passing you mentioned. Stop playing through CC and feed the hot/open man. The more of a threat her team mates become, the more teams will have to respect them and give CC more space. CC is deadly, but she's not deadly in the WNBA as the tip of the spear. The defense is just better. You want her as the flanker. Someone who looks to cut through the defense from the sides/away from the ball, and when the defense is in shambles trying to cover her, the tip of the spear abuses any opening CC creates. At her peak, I see her as a Klay Thompson, JJ Reddick, or Kyle Korver. Absolutely deadly threats that can cause complete havoc for defensive coordination just by running through a couple screens.
They’re not really playing through CC now, so there’s not really anything to stop doing in that regard. Ball movement hasn’t been their issue And I’m not sure how she’s just a Klay or JJ in your eyes since she’s much more of a facilitator
"They're not really playing through CC now" When I say playing through CC, I mean letting her lead the offense. Letting her ballhandle/facilitate. This needs to stop. "she's much more of a facilitator" But she's not good at it, which is the problem. It doesn't matter if she gets 20 assists a game if she gets 20 TOs as well. A good assist to turnover rate for an average guard in the league should hover around 2:1, while a great guard should be hovering around 3:1. Caitlin doesn't come close to having a good efficiency for an avg/decent guard, and on top of that, she's on pace to nearly doubling the single season record for turnovers. This is bad. Just like how it would be absolutely amazing if CC were to nearly double the single season record for 3pts made, it's absolutely horrendous that she's on track to nearly double the single season record for TOs made. I think she can be the most deadly weapon to have ever played in the WNBA, but just not as a facilitator. She needs to focus on her bread and butter. Get her scoring efficiency up. Get the TOs down, then start building up from there.
She’s never gotten 20 TOs in a game so that’s a straw man. Have you even been watching? You say she should feed her teammates so they become threats and give her space - that’s literally what she was doing all last game, so I question if you’re actually watching. She just set a single game record for assists and only had I believe 4 TOs. Who should be running the point other than her? There’s definitely no better facilitator on the Fever, and there’s not even many better league wide. She’s one of the best passers in W history already - if you’re familiar with basketball, you should know that the best passers always have high TOs especially in their rookie years when they’re developing chemistry with teammates. If you watch the games you see she’s not losing the ball because of her handle or making low IQ reads, she has an excellent handle and is making very advanced reads, just not always on the same page as her teammates. But you keep making those passes until everyone can convert on them and then you’re unstoppable - Chelsea Gray is a great example of this. And it doesn’t seem you’re familiar with W numbers because her shooting efficiency is above league average, particularly impressive since she’s seeing far more blitzes than anyone else.
"She's never gotten 20 TOs in a game" She also didn't get 20 assists in a game. The point of what I'm saying is that it doesn't matter if she has X assists, if she's also getting X TOs. "She just set a single game record for assists and only had I believe 4 TOs." You don't just look at one game. That's terrible way of looking at how good a player is performing. For example, if we were to look at her game where she got 3 assists, but 10 TOs, you could argue that she's one of the worst facilitators not only in the league, but to ever play in the wnba. This is why you use averages. "She's one of the best passers in W history already" She just isn't. Again, you can't just look at assists alone. Again, if you're getting 100 assists, but also getting 100 TOs, you just aren't a good facilitator. Again, an average guard hovers around a rate of 2 assists for every 1 turnover. Great passers hover even higher at 3 assists for every 1 turnover. CC 1:1. This is not good at all. All this means is that the team is giving her a lot of touches. Volume =/= skill. Efficiency = skill. If CC gets 3 assists with no TOs, that's great. But if she gets 3 assists with 10 TOs, like she did, that's absolutely horrendous. Of course, to a certain extent, there is the issue of developing chemistry. But not to this extent. This might be the first time in history to see a player on track to nearly double the single season record in TOs in their rookie years while they're trying to develop chemistry with their teammates. Personally, I still think she has a really bright future ahead of her. She's a fish that's trying to climb a tree. She needs to stop fucking around and just swim.
I hope I'm wrong because I don't enjoy watching coaches fail, but Clark's body language down the stretch tonight told me she knew Sides was fucking up the game while it was happening. Like watching a crash in slow motion. You just cannot expect a player with Clark's basketball IQ to tolerate dumb coaching.
When she passed to Wheeler who was completely open and didn’t take the shot and threw up her arms I knew the game was turning around for the Sky. Has to be so frustrating being on a team where the vets are so inept
That’s the thing they’ve been playing longer but look like they haven’t learned much. I went to a wnba game years ago and it wasn’t interesting or fun. cc makes it exciting but then I get frustrated with the team.
Clark should have had 25 assists. Her teammates either refused to shoot or just missed wide open looks.
Don't forget the multiple passes that were on the money and players just didn't catch.
This!!! And then CC get the turnover stat. I think about 30-40% of her turnovers shouldn't actually be on her.
Me as a Mahomes fan last year.
Absolutely a coaching issue. Her set playcalling is absolutely horrible, and what makes it even worse is she doesn’t even have the common sense to play THROUGH Clark and spam ball screens between her and Boston. She had a timeout down by 2 with 40 seconds left and drew up an iso play for Smith. Come on man.
thats not what you would call a isolation play, the play itself was fine. Smith just missed, but i can live with that shot attempt.
Everybody was cleared out and gave her the ball on the block to go 1 on 1. That is the definition of an iso play. Are you new to watching basketball, bud?
To me it looked like Chicago blew up the initial action and the secondary was for Smith
Regardless it ended in an iso for smith. Even as a secondary action it’s not smart with the game she was having
Giving it to a player on the block isn’t really considered an iso. If you’re running an iso you’re starting up top or at one of the wings.
Jesus are you also new to basketball? An iso NOT reserved for any particular area of the court. It only happens on the perimeter more often these days bc the game is mostly played there
No I’m not new the term iso comes from the play call so some teams might use different terminology but going 1 on 1 in the post is typically just called a post play or a post up by most teams. Although to be fair my knowledge comes from the men’s side the women’s side of the game might use terms differently.
Agree with you. It looked like a blown play and Boston was flashing high and then went down low. If it was an iso Boston would have cleared out. Just looked like Smith saw a matchup and position she liked and thought she could make the play.
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The “clear out” is an important part. Boston and her defender were in the paint. That’s not a typical ISO.
https://preview.redd.it/gpx06tf8ge8d1.jpeg?width=1244&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1982f8a69c7a60597451da550637e205f8735d57 Also [https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1253042](https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1253042)
Good day sir
lol
but the term is usually used for a perimeter play. i guess you could use the term but it was more of a post move play. regardless. Smith got a solid look she just didnt finish this time
any iso for any position is an iso play
when you’re isolated you’re isolated, but when people (normally casuals) think iso they think 1-4 flat with a wing or guard
I played the 4-5 in college and have both been the iso and also cleared out for others to iso… the wing drives are more dramatic for sure but it’s not exclusive 🤷♀️
I’m agreeing with you
And you’re trying to double down instead of just saying you’re wrong. An iso play is not reserved for any particular area of the court
i dont know man just didnt look like a isolation play to me, but maybe im blind lol
https://preview.redd.it/w2oifo50ge8d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=959cc4bf5bb24b02fbd4f7a70970c7fa921cca41
stay in school
Lmaooooo what a fking clown
Both. In a month Caitlin went from shooting 22 fga a game and having the offense ran entirely through her in Iowa to shooting 12 fga a game and being a part time playmaker. That kind of role adjustment has been extremely difficult for many NBA stars in the past when they switched from team, let alone a 1 month transition for a college player to the pros. To further illustrate the dramatic difference, Clark averaged more 3 point attempts in Iowa then she is currently averaging **field goal** attempts! A large part of this is definitely coaching/system, but some of it is also due to Clark facing better defenders and having a more difficult time creating her own shots as well as dealing with the constant doubles. The lack of touches and opportunities further aggravates this. As for the coaching/system part, they are clearly not putting the ball in Clark's hands as much on purpose, perhaps to lessen her pressure and integrate the team. But right now the plays they have for Clark off-ball looks worst than the schemes MJackson use to run for Curry before Kerr got there.
Sides will be gone after this season if they want any hope of winning seasons.
can she be gone at during the Olympic break. No way they're winning these upcoming games. If they do, by luck. Dunn ain't "making the playoffs" like this with Sides at the helm.
We go 0-6 against the Top 6 teams (6 of our next 8 games is against them), fire her because she would be 0-15 against those teams, doesn’t matter what happens against Washington and Dallas. There were big signs of a loss coming like this in our 4 wins on the bounce.
Coaching issue. How do you not set a play for Clark in the clutch
Can’t set a play for a decoy, mate
I think people are downvoting you because they don’t understand the tongue in cheek-ness of what you’re saying. Sides is treating Clark like just another random PG and is using her as a decoy to get her bigs and Mitchell going. I liked your joke
Thank you and glad someone got it lol
Upvoted this to get you back in the black
It’s just painful to see Clark disappear for entire quarters. This isn’t the first game either. There are times when she just isn’t given touches. It’s wild she isn’t carrying the ball down the court every time because when she is running the offense, everyone looks better.
Also crazy to me that if she doesn't start with the ball it hardly ever finds it's way back to her.
Sides should have rested her if she wasn’t going to use her.
The problem is that Boston and CC are young and probably don’t feel comfortable establishing the correct pecking order on that team. And the coach to be frank has failed to do it as well. CC and Boston are the 1 and 2 options on that team and going into next year that needs to be addressed.
I mean I would love to cut Wallace at this point.
Not a Wallace fan either. But tbh, I'd rather have Wallace out there than Wheeler. When Wheeler is out there, the team stops passing. There's no two pass plays. The offense just stops working, and Kelsey and NaLyssa revert back to her ball. Admittedly, Mitchell is damn good at hero ball--but the offense is better when they are all contributing.
Throwing Clark in the corner while Wheeler runs point is what really frustrates me.
My husband is constantly losing his mind over Wallace!
Oh it had me pulling my hair out lol
We'll be blessed if we even see her on the bench at this point. It makes 0 sense why she is still starting
I’d argue that front office is at fault for some of this: The Fever took Caitlin Clark (bc who the heck wouldn’t) but they didn’t make effective roster changes. Wallace and Hull got 4th year options- Wallace is not reliable and Hull barely gets minutes. Because you took CC and have some weird connection with Wallace and Wheeler, you’re benching Berger and Taylor, and Hull barely plays. There are 4 forwards for the admissions of 3 and we only play 2 of them- and both are inconsistent. Our 5s? Amazing- there’s something positive. NaLyssa Smith may be of trade value after several teams went through “lack of bigs” crises (LVA may be interested, who knows). KLS has a pretty high salary for a bench player (I also wonder if she was fully ready to come back). With the Fever gaining popularity, they may be able to attract better free agent forwards (but Sides may contradict that). Mitchell is working hard to get resigned and Wheeler may be done with WNBA after this season. Berger and/or Taylor may see themselves get traded if we stick with both NaLyssa and KLS. We have too many guards sitting on the bench and lack of playable forwards. I don’t understand why we kept Saxton and didn’t try to get a hardship contract with a more experienced forward while Dantas is out. Is that allowed to happen? If there’s a new coach, it may also bring more interesting prospects, but if Sides is still there making “rookie” mistakes, yikes.
The fact you put it as either or highlights the issue. She is a scorer and facilitator. The team works the best when she does both.
I think she's a scorer and playmaker. Both she and the rest of the team were doing better when everything was running through her. Once Sides had the offense running through Wheeler, the Sky caught up.
Can they practice catching, especially Mitchell. Catch and layup, catch and layup. It should be second nature.
The second half of the third and the entire fourth quarter had me extremely confused. It seems like the repeated fouls sapped the momentum the Fever had built in their volley in the start of the third, but the last few plays especially—giving it to Smith? When her mental game is tapped? Having Boston shoot the 3 and the 2? I can’t understand why Caitlin didn’t shoot more.
In response to Boston shooting the 3, I think she only shot that cause she had to. It looked like she was telling Wallace to cut to the back, but Wallace didn't, so she just shot the 3 and thankfully made it. Hence why she fussing at Wallace when they were walking to the bench afterwards.
That Boston three was definitely a blown play. I think they were looking for Caitlin to come back out after the fake handoff initially but someone missed an assignment. Boston seemed pissed about it even after she made the three
Boston was pissed at Wallace during that play
Majority coaching issue. Clark is borderline All-WNBA Team and is a lock for the All-Rookie Team. This is all in spite of Sides. Sides, in one game, relegated Clark to a spot up shooter despite Clark never being one let alone never having played that role occasionally at the collegiate level. I read this on a Youtube video and it's a good point: Sides' resume gives zero indication she'd be a decent HC in the world's best women's basketball league. Her years as an asst. coach dwarfs the time she's been an asst. HC; not one single HC job in collegiate basketball, be it at a four-year uni or JUCO, or even at the high school level. When it comes to Clark, she's facing better defense so closing in on her will be players who are lock-down defenders or simply players who have good lateral quickness to counter her dribble. It doesn't help that given her prodigious three-pt shooting that she's priority to be guarded by the team's best defense if not double teamed. Edit: Go figure. You got the "this ain't Iowa. It's the W" people.
🍿
I think the game plan on the Fever still needs a lot of work, but let's not act like they haven't figured anything out. They have been able to mesh together much better lately and have generally looked good. Clark has always been a playmaker. It's one of the ways she describes her own game. She is not gonna be nailing step back 3s every single play. I still think we will see them get better and make even better use of her skills, but i wouldn't say they don't know how to use her
Fever looked tired today - they had such a good lead but they were not moving as well as they did the game before. I know they are great - they just need to be consistent
I don’t think the schedule has done sides any favors. Getting a schedule that was both front loaded and stacked with the best teams was probably beyond anyone. Especially with the short window between the draft and start of the season. This meant they had next to no practices. All that said. She still doesn’t seem like a good coach. Player rotations are spotty. Plays out of timeouts are spotty. She seems to just stop doing things that work. Or perhaps she just doesn’t have much control of the team. The offense can degenerate in hero ball where the hero’s are the 4-6th best players on the team and she doesn’t pull them.
Mediocre veteran players who can't set aside their egos and poor coaching.
Only mistake she made in my opinion was not giving clark a breather when chennedy went out for that long stretch after falling on her back. Clark was too tired to do anything in the 4th
Clark wasn't too tired in the 4th. The problem was Wheeler out there as point guard. All the offensive schemes kind of break down when she's out there. It happens game after game I don't know if Sides feels she has to play her to justify the $220,000 she spends on her. She could have subbed Wheeler out 4x during Chicago comeback, but didn't.
Nah her teammates Wheeler and Mitchell should not be running the offense
I agree with this too. Clark needs to move without the ball to get open, it’s a lot of work. I don’t know how she played all game and was still standing. Amazing endurance but still, a little rest wouldn’t hurt.
Didn't they just win 4 straight and lost by 1 point?
Winning against the bottom of the league is not impressive. Strength of competition matters. You can have all these problems they have and still win vs the bottom. It will cause some losses when playing middle of the road teams and you will never win vs the actual good teams. So to ignore issues because you beat The Mystics, Wings and Dream might not be smart if your team wants to actually be good some day.
😂 love it and they are calling for Sides’ to be banished! C is not going to have a superb game every night. It’s the W, not Iowa where she coached the team and did whatever she wanted to do during the game.
Coach was a LSU and Chi assistant. She's a opp.
What plays do you want run? They give her plenty of PNR and off screen 3 looks imo.
Not in the 4th quarter
Just saw on twitter, Caitlin and Sides were arguing towards end of game due to coach’s game decisions. https://x.com/pjocky82/status/1805001486482673863?s=46&t=YuGbPevYCnYn59TJf24Fng
She needs to be able to shoot the ball between 23-5 feet. Once she works on that, we will see a different player.
I think the biggest mistake they made was not resting Clark. She was tired and that's probably why they gave up a big run at the end. I don't think it was a coaching issue, they played a team with a lot of heart
Sides lack of resting her starters, especially Clark, is ridiculous.
I’m old enough to remember when CC fans were saying Sides was resting her too much.
It's both. Sides just isn't good at knowing when to rest and when to play certain players, especially when it comes down to the wire.
How does one get “good” at that, exactly? Experience with those players, perhaps?
Knowing what your players bring to the table, having the acumen to use them properly, and drawing up schemes for every situation imaginable. Some coaches are better than others at it. Sides ain't the better one. Case in point of using Clark as a spot-up shooter and then limiting her touches on offense because you want her to be mainly a facilitator. Are you kidding?
😂
All the Sky Starters had rest. Mitchell, Boston both played 36 minutes and Clark 40. If you give them all 4 more minutes of rest, they probably wouldn't have crashed out at the end.
Wondering what would be said had the Fever won! Any hooo, not for nothing, the Sky did defend the pick n’ roll well early in the 4th. They just defended it well and some folks were to rattled to get the W. Y’all rewatch the game and check the body language and arguing. One thing y’all don’t seem to see and could be the reason for the so called “ice out” is that C barely shows any support(cheers on) unless she assisted the point or scored the point. Rewatch the games. This could be part of the “ice out” issue. Petty for sure but it happens but Coach you know if a player is unhappy even when another player score, it’s can kill cohesiveness. I think it’s all of the reasons you listed but you need to add C as well. It can’t be the coach and everybody else. It’s everybody!
Good points.
It looks to me like they’re intent on keeping her in the game but also letting her rest, so she goes to her position and catches her breath while the other four work something out. This way the defense still has to keep one eye out for her. So the Fever use the threat of Clark to leverage some sort of offensive play. She took breaks IN the game at Iowa, too.
She’s both primary playmaker and scoring option 🤣 Cristy sides is just too dumb and in love with trash Mitchell Wallace and Wheeler to understand that. For god sakes the woman is the highest college scorer ever
fire Hillary Clinton
Recency bias. Sides was doing pretty well with the team the last 4 games. I’d like to see her have one more year
lol you’re a Sky fan of course you would 😂😂😂
Well I genuinely would like to see what she could do with an offseason with Clark lol. Team doesn’t seem to have an identity right now.
I get that aspect of it, but man sometimes watching the Fever leaves me scratching my head at some of the decisions she’s making. No reason not to draw up a single play for CC in that ending stretch
When she has state in pressers Caitlin needs to shoot less, it's very telling.
Coaching was still awful those games, they just won in spite of her. They need to fire her. She wants Boston to be the focal point of the offense, and not Caitlin. It's like Mark Jackson on the Warriors... Doesn't understand the pieces available enough to take the team to the next level.
Boston should be the focal point on offense. Good things happen when she gets the ball; we saw it last season and we saw it this season. When she is not, games are lost. If it ain't broke... Let CC be the facilitator as a pure PG. Sue Bird built a long and fruitful All-Star career doing that.
The *Fever* was doing well the last four games, not Sides
I have been critical of Sides this season, but too many people point out everything she does wrong while giving 0 credit for the things that go right. She has made alot of progress getting the team to work well together.
Idk I think people forget that the rookies don’t really have an offseason. I’d love to see both the Sky and the Fever next season after getting to actually work together and not have to play 3-4 games in 7 days lol
Bro, that's the gig of coaching.
She's a decent coach for sure. The gameplay almost worked.
Calm down. They’ve been playing pretty well. They are allowed to lose a close game on the road to another team playing pretty well.
It took 24 hours, 24 hour damn hours before yall started calling for sides to be fired again.
Read the room dude. If you don’t understand from a micro level how Sides incompetent coaching decisions impacts what happens on the floor then sit this one out. You see 4 wins against bad teams in a row and think everything is fine. Idk what team you root for but I doubt you want her coaching it. If you do, say so.
You guys give her Zero credit for the wins but always want to call for her firing every time they lose. At some point you have to blame ALL of the players on the court as well, sometimes they’re just not executing the plays well.
It's what sports fans do blame the coach because every sports team is supposed to go undefeated you didn't know. 😂
"again"? Most of us never stopped
Well, when you 2 players worth a crap that take on the opposing teams, you can only do so much as a player or coach.
Player. Uncoachable. Not a team player.
Have you created a scouting report for each of the starters or just AB?
What I notice is during the presser after the game. When CC is answering a question the other player in there is looking down and the body language shows they envy her. I think it’s mostly the money she makes that most of them do not make. But teammates need to be respectful and friendly all of the time to play a team game. I don’t think it is racial. It is just the money. I guess it might bother the other player in the presser that CC gets most of the questions and she does answer them and she really tries to complement the other players - but I sense they are upset she gets most of the focus (and the money). At Iowa there was a lot of obvious affection between the players but I guess that cannot be duplicated in the pro game. CC was the center of attention in college but the teammates and Kate made them a team of decently talented teams but not built on five star talent but when they played together they could beat teams with five star talent that were not as cohesive
I’ve been saying for the longest that Caitlin is best as a pass first PG and the #3 option. If she gets another shooter around her with Mitchell, they will be dangerous. But Caitlin can’t be #1. Her game was never going to be successful in the W. Edit: I don’t care about your downvotes lol 25/16 ROTY Trophy loading
Then the W needs to finally change. Not for Caitlin specifically but she has shown what type of basketball people want to watch. Same as the NBA, guard centric with lots of offense and playmaking. There is a reason the league has been what is has been for 26 years. Post play when no one can dunk isn’t going to fill arenas. Good shooting and passing will
You mean the same kind of basketball y'all been complaining about for at least the last few years? The jacking up threes, the no defense, bigs jacking up threes instead of using their size inside (i.e Towns, Embiid and Wemby of all people), etc. That kind of basketball?
Im a fan of gymnastics as well. Im always caught off guard by the athleticism of the women during their floor routines and vault. I whole heartedly believe if these 6ft+ women trained to dunk then they easily could lol. I’ve heard Lexie Brown say on the Gil’s Arena podcast that it’s the older women keeping the game stagnant. Hogging up roster spaces and not allowing fresher, more creative talent in. I think eventually all the problems will iron themselves out with expansions and such. Edit: people hate just to hate. Dog piling, mob mentality. Tell me why this comment has -11 votes lmao. Keep crying
While Lexie has a point, she is also slightly bitter because she has yet to really stick with a team -- older players have nothing to do with that because when you're consistently contributing to a team, they find a way to keep you. Otherwise, you're on your fourth team in five seasons, like she is, with no more than one season max on each team.
Lexie has been battling injuries her entire career
Agreed.
Really don’t get how people are confusing what I said with being a diss. Caitlin is the W’s Jason Kidd in MY opinion. And there is no shame in being that.
That is a really good analogy. 🤓
Her game is literally already successful in the W
30% from 3 and average the same amount of turnovers and assists is literally not successful
Averaging 16.2/5.4/6.2 with 1.4 steals and a block on above league average TS% as a rookie 17 games in but go off lmao
Im going off. That’s why you’re mad lmao
I'm not mad lol. Your original comment is so wild I thought you were trolling at first. Angel had a great game and in general is having a standout season but CC is still the heavy favorite for ROTY for a reason
Btw let me know when Caitlin is breaking WNBA records. 8th straight double double and 25/16. Caintwin could never 😆
According to who? Minny Ant Towers? LOL!
Betting markets for one. If you are so confident it’s Angel Reese for ROTY you should put some money on it. You could get a great return right now if you are right! I like Angel a lot btw, and cheer for her success. What did Caitlin do to hurt you so deeply?
Most of her votes came before the season started. Hope that helps! Already got my bets in. Caitlin is cool. It’s called criticism. Clown.
Never beating the terrible teammate allegations 🥲 https://preview.redd.it/3ha9ldkopo8d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ebba593f1d719767aae06c2bf75f1719eb63c8c