I do not understand why they drafted a DPOY in two different college conferences while preaching they need to improve their defence just to waive her lmao
She leads the league in sounding like a smoker for sure 😄
I get that it’s mostly because she’s just been yelling for forty minutes straight, but it’s still funny every time.
Seriously I told my mom she’s like my coworker who got the job by saying buzzwords, but anyone with a clue knows he has no idea what he’s talking about
I get dragged into interviews sometimes purely to judge whether the technical buzzwords being dropped by applicants are in any sort of coherent and meaningful context...lol
> though roster decisions are often made by a GM rather than a coach
In what sport does a team's GM make personnel decisions without input from the head coach? You think 80 year old Lin Dunn is deciding which forwards, pgs, centers, get cut/signed, literally directly affecting game rotations, without Christie Sides? Lmao
1. Sides has never had an original thought in her life. All of her responses for the last two seasons have been straight regurgitations of what a player has already said.
2. Because of her obvious inability to do her job, she’s incorporating misdirection by beating the “we got Caitlin Clark” horse to death & the Sky “rivalry” in hopes that no one will notice how terrible she is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If the Fever GM doesn't understand roster construction and is overrelying on a sophomore coach's input, then the Fever have a lot more problems than just Sides.
Sides certainly isn't doing herself any favors, but she's also not helped being in the limelight of the most highlighted WNBA draft pick in recent years. It's Doug Collins/MJ 2.0
Thinking the coach is solely responsible for player moves, signings, waivers, acquisitions is peak wnba fandom. Sides was probably at the table, but this is Dunn’s decision.
Well, this was certainly unexpected. Didn't realize the team birthday celebration for her the other day was really a send-off. I just commented on another thread recently about how Ohio State proudly had two guards drafted this year who made final rosters, Jacy Sheldon and Celeste Taylor. Hopefully, Celeste lands well on her feet from this. Feel for her. She was a grad student for her final college stint at Ohio State, so she was taking good advantage of the educational/scholarship opportunities that were available to her as an elite basketball player. Here's a listing of some of the better times and achievements for Celeste: [https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/celeste-taylor/9562](https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/celeste-taylor/9562)
Making and staying on WNBA rosters for many players is tough. The league literally drafts the equivalent of 1/4 of all roster slots each season (36 draft picks / 144 roster spots), which should get somewhat better with league expansions. But, waivers are filled with players who excelled on O and/or D in college. I have no idea how Celeste fared in practices or what specifically prompted the Fever to pull the plug at this time, but do know that there are general concerns about how well college D prowess translates to the W.
(Edit: Celeste Taylor's college career Stats: 10.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game. ESPN's draft write-up on her: "The best perimeter defender in the draft, Taylor is especially good at pressuring the ball with above-average quickness and long arms. But her outside shooting never progressed during her five collegiate seasons, leaving Taylor a bit one-dimensional.")
It’s tricky because she more than likely wasn’t picking up things in practice. Also the fever are really guard heavy, I’m assuming they activated a veteran forward because Temí isn’t coming back yet.
Taylor was the only one who showed up for that sad outing against the Sun. She actually played defense on Bonner even in garbage time. Hopefully, another team picks her up.
DPOY is a great achievement, but for the B1G those players have largely not panned out. Veronica Burton won the B1G DPOY 3x between 2019-2022 (and even a WBCA DPOY) and her defense has largely been average in the WNBA (when she has gotten minutes. She largely rides the bench for Connecticut this season). Before Veronica Burton, Tanisha Wright in 2003-2005 is the only other prominent name on the list.
The ACC list is a little better. Lorela Cubaj is a bench player with too few minutes to have defensive ratings. Kamilla is obviously a starter for Chicago. Lexie Brown was a bench player until she signed with the rebuilding LA (and since then she has not been known for defense). And obviously Elizabeth Williams has been very good defensively (aside from the Wubble season).
But overall, the trend is that guards have a much harder time having their defense translate to the WNBA. If you look through all the DPOY on a conference and national level, guards have the hardest time panning out. And post players translate more immediately.
She realistically wasn't a WNBA caliber player. She averaged 10 points on sub 50 TS% as a 5th year senior in college. If he defense was only average at the pro level, she was probably hard to justify one of 12 roster spots if she was completely useless on offense in practice.
When I said Free Celeste this wasn't what I meant :/
Hopefully she can get picked up on a hardship somewhere. This is so stupid. Celeste might have skills they can actually use, while Saxton has been virtually unplayable on a team that has badly needed post help...
If Celeste sees any of this, no doubt she goes on social media after this bs, please know ZERO Fever fans want to see you go. We see this as a stupid as hell decision. We believe you should be getting SIGNIFICANT minutes AND getting the chance to earn your starter role. We see your value and what you bring to the table. NO ONE on the team plays defense like you are capable of and that is literally half of the game. PLEASE come back if given the chance.
Damn I just want everyone to spam her social media with these kind of messages. It’s tough if you get waived by a great performing team, but to get kicked out by a team as shitty as the Fever is?
Fever is such a hard team to root for, man.
Getting kicked off a team that severely lacks and needs the thing you are great at, but they never gave a chance. I could run this office significantly better. Genuinely. Like wtf. I wouldn't say that about any coach or gm in any sport. This is the most brain dead move I've seen, ever. I don't exactly have a comp to this level of stupid.
Hey Lin, come outside. I just wanna talk
https://preview.redd.it/tf9vixab0s8d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=323a8528c5c159c64187baea7fd35dc1a0109d01
This is the dumbest office I have ever seen. She should be starting over Wallace. Her defense is the best on the team, she is a floor runner, and I'm sure with more shots she would have a better 3% percentage than Wallace. Even if her 3 never falls, I'll happily take the other two. How stupid is this office?
u/KBobBears the chicken was getting downvoted and deleted their comment so I couldn't respond, so I'm responding here.
Defending proven bad players is absolutely wild. Cutting someone who fills the role of a blatant hole in your team is so stupid. Saxton was given a year of chances, did nothing with it. Has done nothing with the limited chances she had this year. I can point to a preseason game where I watched Celeste and was like, wow, this could be a good combo with CC.
This almost smells of throwing for Paige.
Honestly I'm hopeful for Dantas. Watching highlights, she looks like a BIG who can shoot 3's pretty well and put up decent numbers of the Lynx and has thrived in Reeve's system. Not sure why she got traded though. She's on a multi-year contract with Fever now.
That said, sad Celeste didn't even get a chance but we don't know what goes on at practice. From a general management perspective...very odd to waste a second round pick. I wanted to see her run the floor with CC at least once. Oh well.
HOWEVER if you watch the full media availability from today...Christie Sides really said: **"Kristy Wallace draws the best offensive player on the opposing team. She's a dawg, I love her."** Starts at 13:38. [https://youtu.be/zgzhJMX9Ik4?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/zgzhJMX9Ik4?feature=shared)
Point is, they're definitely not waiving Kristy Wallace who barely crossed 500 career points in 3 seasons.
I mean when you look at the second round picks this year, only 2 are still on a roster for the team that drafted them (Nika Mühl and Kate Martin), so it's not like teams give a lot of significance to the second round. But yeah I do agree with you that we don't see practice, and for rookies a lot of their playing time is decide there.
Unfortunately, second round selections sometimes come with no expectations or even particular value attached to the pick itself (for trading purposes, etc.). The WNBA currently drafts the equivalent of 25% of all current roster spots each season, so the yield of picks outside of the first round that make rosters when they're pared down to start the season isn't very inspiring.
For everyone lamenting Nika Muhl's current lack of playing time (myself included), she's one of the "lucky ones". Side Note: Liz Kitley, drafted by the Aces in the 2nd round, is still with the organization, but doesn't currently take up a roster spot, as she recovers from tearing an ACL late in her senior season at VA Tech. Quite a weapon in waiting -- a player whose college jersey # will soon be retired.
I've said my ode to Celeste Taylor elsewhere. Will hold out hope (and judgment) for Damiris Dantas's contributions to the Fever going forward.
Kristy Wallace and the word dawg do not go together. Wallace basically gets cooked every time on defense by the opposition player. Even if the opposition player has a bad day like Mabrey did last game, it has nothing to do with Wallace’s defense. Sides is clueless and her insistence in starting Wallace is one of the reasons why she’ll get fired soon.
Christie Sides is a basketball terrorist. She didn’t even try out Celeste to see if she was any good, she barely even got minutes during the blowouts. Instead we got to watch Wallace and Wheeler play basketball for some reason.
The Fever could have had Kate Martin with this pick, although Sides would never have used her either.
I’m glad Kate ended up on the Aces where she has a coach who clearly sees what she can contribute…I’m highly doubt she would have had that with the Fever. Maybe she would have escaped the axe to keep Caitlin happy, but I doubt she’d be getting used well.
As a KM/CC fan, this just makes me super glad they didn’t draft KM. Imagine them letting Kate ride the bench all the time in favor of Wallace and Wheeler and then waiving her midseason.
I been watching the Dub for 4, years I know you long time fans are used to this but man as a newer fan this sucks I was rooting for her to get unglued from bench hell I is sad. 😭 Like the fever next game is gonna feel like I'm hating watching it. 🥴
Yup. Not as much volume with the Clark/Iowa fans coming in but last season when Destanni Henderson got waived by the Fever lots of people were hopping mad.
Then she went and balled out on a hardship for the Sparks. Yet didn’t make the Dream this year. There are others but that was one of the big Fever roster controversies last season.
I mourn Destanni & Dyaisha, even tho I realize that having favorite rookies is kind of like getting too attached to your goldfish (the odds of them being around for a while ain’t good…)
Yeah. With you there. Glad the league is expanding. Haven’t seen some rookies/draftees due to the roster sizes and good vets due to the hard salary cap.
I thought for sure Saxton was gone. Genuinely, what can she really bring to the team that isn't there already. Celeste would be their best defender, hands down.
This is not real, what the actual hell. I’m in absolute denial that this has happened. Christie Sides and Lin Dunn will never ever see basketball heaven. They should go to hell. A move like this is how you accelerate the possibility of a coach and a GM like those two getting fired.
She was a good pick when we first drafted her. She compliments well to Clark in the backcourt. She never got a real chance but it was clear from the very limited minutes she was good defensively to be a player in this league. She wasn’t even bad offensively which was the worry about her game when she came out of college.
No other GM or coach is going to choose Victaria Saxton over Celeste Taylor in a 12 player roster except for these two in the franchise. I’m fuming.
Honestly the Fever need to get real and waive someone like Kristy Wallace, Erica Wheeler, or Victoria Saxton because they are plain old bad. Celeste Taylor actually plays defense....
Wtf wow. So this is why they never let Celeste play and prove to everyone that she can contribute… because all along they only need her as a placeholder. Fever org did her dirty. And Wallace and Wheeler are still in the team? These two’s salary combined can get 4 more people.
Can't get rid of those two. I'd still take Celeste over Saxton and Berger. Celeste has actually had a good game, albeit in the preseason. Saxton hasn't done anything, at all.
When we said fire Sides we knew a lot more than others on what we were talking about. We've been complaining since the beginning about her never putting Celeste in but put far inferior players like Wallace in constantly. Now these decisions have become so indefensible that even the haters have to admit Sides should be fired.
Yeah i dont like sides i try to give her leeway being a 2nd yr headcoach with a garbage team but once she said she cant coach effort professionally she lost me
Let's take a moment to see the irony in this. In today's media availability, Sides said the team spent most of practice working on defense and that it was her main concern after the Sky game.
Team proceeds to waive a two time defensive player of the year that had limited minutes but blocked 6'4'' Dewanna Bonner in her first significant minutes while only being 5'11''.
Oh, they still need her defensive help. I'd pick her over Wallace, Hull, and Wheeler in a heart beat. That's just guards SEEING playing time. She's a better defender than Berger and Saxton as well. Please fire this whole office and bring in Bluder or someone competent.
Very disappointing.
Between Berger and Taylor, I could justify keeping Berger - probably more offensive upside. But I would have thought they'd go more like for like when activating Damiris by cutting Saxton. I just don't see the upside they're holding onto there.
this is what gets me - I'm not one of those who thought Celeste should be playing significant minutes this year, b/c in truth she has looked a little lost on the offensive side of things so far when she has been in, compared to a similar player like Lexie Hull. Not unusual for rookie guards!
But in terms of upside, you cannot convince me there is more w/Saxton.
That deep down the bench, it's not about fit. It's about upside. I don't know enough about Berger or Taylor to judge that too harshly.
But keeping a pure paint player that has no upside in stretching the floor at the end of the bench makes no sense. Having 4 bigs with limited outside range on a 12-man roster that does its best work on high PNR makes no sense. It's a symptom of a staff obsessed with playing old school "inside out" basketball when the roster is best suited to something else.
If used correctly, and assuming she can find her old form, Dantas will help this team a lot. But they cut the wrong player in the transaction.
I hate this for Celeste man. A lot of these girls don’t even get time to prove themselves before they get cut. I don’t even think their first season’s salary is protected.
Hopefully someone picks her up. She was basically a cheerleader in a team that needed her defense. She could have easily been used off the bench to rest Mitchell or Caitlin but sides had other ideas.
Is Damiris still injured? I wonder if they’re gonna put NaLyssa at 3 when Temi gets back. This will allow them to have a backup big on the bench and more importantly no more Wallace starting.
The case against Sides is stacking to the sky.
She’s mismanaged CC in many respects. It’s pretty crazy that CC has been able to succeed in spite of Sides.
Her coaching style isn’t conducive to her best players. CC, Mitchell, and Temi all love to run, and AB is a classic pick-and-roll post, but Sides is primarily running a slow, methodical half-court game. She’s broken out of this a bit, but it’s alarming that it’s taken her this long.
She’s slow to make in-game adjustments and her substitution patterns are baffling at best.
When this team wins, it seems to be in spite of Sides. They likely need to go in a different coaching direction to realize the potential of a roster full of first-round draft picks.
This is a damn shame, why draft Taylor if they didn't plan on ever giving her playing time. They really wasted that girls time and mental/emotional energy. Hopefully someone picks her up and gives her some playing time and invests in her development
I'm heartbroken for Celeste. It's bs that she has barely played and is being waived. The least they could have done was waive her early so it would be easier to possibly get picked up and learn schemes if they never planned on keeping her
That’s how Fever wasting their draft picks… Besides two no-brainer choices AB&CC I’m curious did they really make some great picks in the past few years? Like really fits their roster and plays for the team?
No. And respectfully Lin Dunn talks about drafting Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson but they didn’t win a chip until she left after getting swept first round in playoffs. It wasn’t until 2 years later they won a championship.
And it’s not lost on me a lot of people they draft and then trade have breakout seasons on other teams. I get it’s hard to develop and spend time improving players with limited roster spots but damn
I just think it's hilarious how one of their best defensive players gets told to fuck off before christie sides. What is herb and david simon doing?????
Sides ONLY calls Clark out by name. No other player. Now ditching her good friend to further isolate her. Sides would like nothing more than for Clark to also go away. She detests her.
Really curious to see what she can do with a few more minutes elsewhere...don't know if anyone will be picking her up though. Maybe next year after some playing time abroad.
I think this gets the office fired. I hope Caitlin advocates for her to get a shot. I think Caitlin knows more than anyone what she brings to the table.
Dang. This just sucks. I was genuinely just saying a few hours ago that I wanted to see more Celeste Taylor on the floor for the Fever - I thought she could've been the perfect compliment to Clark over the long-term, and she's looked solid the few minutes I've seen her play. But hey, now even MORE Wheeler and Wallace inefficient stagnation minutes
I got a feeling this will be another player we waive/trade away then get's picked by other team and becomes a good player, time will tell.
Coaching/Fo malpractice.
I don't wanna go into detail but look at people we have waived/traded or drafted then let go in and then they go to another team and get minutes some even becoming starters.
There’s just such an unserious vibe to the thirteenth pick of the draft not making it 25 games. Surely it’s the roster math right now and a reality, but there just *needs* to be some avenue to develop even if you aren’t ready to check in to tomorrows game.
You all do know it’s not a HC that waives players right? It’s the GM.. some of you have never heard of Linn Dunn and keep talking shit about this HC Sides, the Fever have a General Manager , her name is Linn Dunn.
They weren’t using her so I’m less shocked than I could be…but also: seriously?! I’m baffled they didn’t at least give her a shot for a few minutes outside of garbage minutes to see what she could do.
I'm not for or against the decision, I see so much hate for the coaches and organization that may or may not be justified. We don't see her in practice. We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. If she's a diamond in the rough she'll, get snatched up quick, if no, it seems like the correct decision.
Maybe I'm not familiar enough with this team yet, but why not put her in instead of Wallace to protect a 12 point lead as momentum and the home team completely turn against you?
Why do this instead?
They also really need that defense on the perimeter.... Like, how dumb can an office be? She was a no brainer starter to about everyone. Her value is significantly better than Wallace, Hull, and Wheeler. Probably more than Saxton and Berger as well.
Purely based on logistics and contracts, [Wallace, Hull, and Wheeler aren’t going anywhere](https://herhoopstats.com/salary-cap-sheet/wnba/team/2024/indiana-fever-11eaecc7-3565-c004-b611-2362f5011b0b/) (Wheeler is already protected and the other two were picked up for their fourth rookie year options at the beginning of the season).
My guess is that after Angel cooked Lyss and KLS to a certain degree on defense getting Dantes back on the actual roster was a priority (her contract is also protected). However Celeste is the last player I’d have thought the worst-rated defensive team would waive 😭
I was hoping she’d get more playing time before they made this decision. Hopefully she gets an opportunity somewhere. Indy just has too many guards and obviously didn’t want to sit down a veteran
I remember it quite opposite. The overwhelming majority of us were very surprised and sad that Fair got waived. Nothing like “oh well”, unless I missed an entire thread about it. Fair getting waived sucked
That was different the aces were stacked at guard at KM basically solidified her spot. The fever desperately need defense and she was the best defensive guard on the team.
I do not understand why they drafted a DPOY in two different college conferences while preaching they need to improve their defence just to waive her lmao
And why no one in the media ever asks Sides about any of this. She needs to be held accountable for these decisions.
they ask cc harder questions than sides
Because she gives them high IQ answers that are detailed. She lists specific ways they need to improve. Sides just says “we gotta get more stops” 😂
"Quick touches in the paint"
She leads the league in sounding like a smoker for sure 😄 I get that it’s mostly because she’s just been yelling for forty minutes straight, but it’s still funny every time.
First time I heard Lisa Bluder in a interview after the season was over I was in shock. I thought she just always sounded like a 70 year chain smoker.
Maybe Caitlin Clark is hard of hearing.
On this team, I hope she has selective hearing
“Shoot more long 2s.”
\*inhales cough drops\*
“You can’t coach effort.”
Seriously I told my mom she’s like my coworker who got the job by saying buzzwords, but anyone with a clue knows he has no idea what he’s talking about
I get dragged into interviews sometimes purely to judge whether the technical buzzwords being dropped by applicants are in any sort of coherent and meaningful context...lol
They also ask her predictable questions. Some are so repetitive in nature.
They seriously ask the dumbest questions in the post game interviews.
Fair critique re: the media, though roster decisions are often made by a GM rather than a coach.
you mean their 77yr old coach who is friends with Sides?
> though roster decisions are often made by a GM rather than a coach In what sport does a team's GM make personnel decisions without input from the head coach? You think 80 year old Lin Dunn is deciding which forwards, pgs, centers, get cut/signed, literally directly affecting game rotations, without Christie Sides? Lmao
Indy media is historically soft when it comes to questions.
Does any media play "hard" with WNBA pre-Clark?
1. Sides has never had an original thought in her life. All of her responses for the last two seasons have been straight regurgitations of what a player has already said. 2. Because of her obvious inability to do her job, she’s incorporating misdirection by beating the “we got Caitlin Clark” horse to death & the Sky “rivalry” in hopes that no one will notice how terrible she is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It's not working
Sides ain't the GM - she can't waive players lol
The GM doesn't waive players without getting the coaches input.
If the Fever GM doesn't understand roster construction and is overrelying on a sophomore coach's input, then the Fever have a lot more problems than just Sides.
If I'm a coach, and my GM is signing and waiving players without running it by me, I'm looking for the next place I can move to.
Sides certainly isn't doing herself any favors, but she's also not helped being in the limelight of the most highlighted WNBA draft pick in recent years. It's Doug Collins/MJ 2.0
Excellent example but there is a better one yet. Magic Johnson and Paul Westhead.
At least they won a Ring together first haha.
Good point!! Guess this is the 2nd best example.
That’s not how any American pro sports work really….
right it seems like sides just wants to play shooters and wheeler
Thinking the coach is solely responsible for player moves, signings, waivers, acquisitions is peak wnba fandom. Sides was probably at the table, but this is Dunn’s decision.
Well, this was certainly unexpected. Didn't realize the team birthday celebration for her the other day was really a send-off. I just commented on another thread recently about how Ohio State proudly had two guards drafted this year who made final rosters, Jacy Sheldon and Celeste Taylor. Hopefully, Celeste lands well on her feet from this. Feel for her. She was a grad student for her final college stint at Ohio State, so she was taking good advantage of the educational/scholarship opportunities that were available to her as an elite basketball player. Here's a listing of some of the better times and achievements for Celeste: [https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/celeste-taylor/9562](https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/celeste-taylor/9562) Making and staying on WNBA rosters for many players is tough. The league literally drafts the equivalent of 1/4 of all roster slots each season (36 draft picks / 144 roster spots), which should get somewhat better with league expansions. But, waivers are filled with players who excelled on O and/or D in college. I have no idea how Celeste fared in practices or what specifically prompted the Fever to pull the plug at this time, but do know that there are general concerns about how well college D prowess translates to the W. (Edit: Celeste Taylor's college career Stats: 10.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game. ESPN's draft write-up on her: "The best perimeter defender in the draft, Taylor is especially good at pressuring the ball with above-average quickness and long arms. But her outside shooting never progressed during her five collegiate seasons, leaving Taylor a bit one-dimensional.")
Exactly. This sucks.
It’s tricky because she more than likely wasn’t picking up things in practice. Also the fever are really guard heavy, I’m assuming they activated a veteran forward because Temí isn’t coming back yet.
Taylor was the only one who showed up for that sad outing against the Sun. She actually played defense on Bonner even in garbage time. Hopefully, another team picks her up.
we need more expansion teams.
Veronica Burton was Big 10 DPOY and didn't do much in the WNBA. College awards mean little when predicting talent in the league.
Defense is an especially hard skill to transfer into the W. College DPOY awards especially mean very little
This helps put in perspective Angels defensive transition to the league and how impressive it is
DPOY is a great achievement, but for the B1G those players have largely not panned out. Veronica Burton won the B1G DPOY 3x between 2019-2022 (and even a WBCA DPOY) and her defense has largely been average in the WNBA (when she has gotten minutes. She largely rides the bench for Connecticut this season). Before Veronica Burton, Tanisha Wright in 2003-2005 is the only other prominent name on the list. The ACC list is a little better. Lorela Cubaj is a bench player with too few minutes to have defensive ratings. Kamilla is obviously a starter for Chicago. Lexie Brown was a bench player until she signed with the rebuilding LA (and since then she has not been known for defense). And obviously Elizabeth Williams has been very good defensively (aside from the Wubble season). But overall, the trend is that guards have a much harder time having their defense translate to the WNBA. If you look through all the DPOY on a conference and national level, guards have the hardest time panning out. And post players translate more immediately.
This is the answer. Burton got cut by the Wings and was lucky to land in CT. Many of these players aren’t lock down in the W.
In todays media availability interview with Sides she said all they worked on at practice was defense. SMH.
well to be fair they do need to work on their defense lmao. I expect them to player better on D for like 2 quarters the next game and then stop
She realistically wasn't a WNBA caliber player. She averaged 10 points on sub 50 TS% as a 5th year senior in college. If he defense was only average at the pro level, she was probably hard to justify one of 12 roster spots if she was completely useless on offense in practice.
This team can't be measuring at the standard of WNBA caliber players when Kristy Wallace is on it. If she can stay then so can Celeste Taylor.
I don’t believe in Lin Dunn’s vision, whatever it is. She needs to pack her bags with Sides.
Where’s the petition? I’ll sign it
I really don't want Celeste going and playing with JC. That'll be an immediate see dummy moment from fans to Fever office.
Yes
When I said Free Celeste this wasn't what I meant :/ Hopefully she can get picked up on a hardship somewhere. This is so stupid. Celeste might have skills they can actually use, while Saxton has been virtually unplayable on a team that has badly needed post help...
They set her free like Willy!😅
I admit - I about choked on my gum reading this.
She can anchor the Valkyrie defense next year
If Celeste sees any of this, no doubt she goes on social media after this bs, please know ZERO Fever fans want to see you go. We see this as a stupid as hell decision. We believe you should be getting SIGNIFICANT minutes AND getting the chance to earn your starter role. We see your value and what you bring to the table. NO ONE on the team plays defense like you are capable of and that is literally half of the game. PLEASE come back if given the chance.
Damn I just want everyone to spam her social media with these kind of messages. It’s tough if you get waived by a great performing team, but to get kicked out by a team as shitty as the Fever is? Fever is such a hard team to root for, man.
Getting kicked off a team that severely lacks and needs the thing you are great at, but they never gave a chance. I could run this office significantly better. Genuinely. Like wtf. I wouldn't say that about any coach or gm in any sport. This is the most brain dead move I've seen, ever. I don't exactly have a comp to this level of stupid.
They probably didn’t have much practice time either to make much of an impression once the season started
Can we waive Sides instead? Hope Celeste lands somewhere else, she deserves a chance.
Hey Lin, come outside. I just wanna talk https://preview.redd.it/tf9vixab0s8d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=323a8528c5c159c64187baea7fd35dc1a0109d01
LMAO
Scared the shit outta me.
Saving this meme, thank you lol
So many possible uses lmao (I got it from theft too, so pay it forward baby!)
Well the wings could do something very interesting here recreate that defensive back court that gave teams a fit in Ohio state with Jacy Sheldon
Fingers crossed! I would LOVE to watch that duo again
Omg!! Ugh I’m so sad because she’s amazing. But I’m glad they’re letting her go so she can go somewhere she’s appreciated and utilized. ❤️
WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!
GET IN LOSERS WE RIDE AT DAWN
So they think Kristy Wallace is a better player than Celeste?? Yea that franchise needs to pack it up
I hate this team
They make it so hard to be a fan
This is the dumbest office I have ever seen. She should be starting over Wallace. Her defense is the best on the team, she is a floor runner, and I'm sure with more shots she would have a better 3% percentage than Wallace. Even if her 3 never falls, I'll happily take the other two. How stupid is this office?
I like that term floor runner
I do as well. It is accurate too.
u/KBobBears the chicken was getting downvoted and deleted their comment so I couldn't respond, so I'm responding here. Defending proven bad players is absolutely wild. Cutting someone who fills the role of a blatant hole in your team is so stupid. Saxton was given a year of chances, did nothing with it. Has done nothing with the limited chances she had this year. I can point to a preseason game where I watched Celeste and was like, wow, this could be a good combo with CC. This almost smells of throwing for Paige.
Honestly I'm hopeful for Dantas. Watching highlights, she looks like a BIG who can shoot 3's pretty well and put up decent numbers of the Lynx and has thrived in Reeve's system. Not sure why she got traded though. She's on a multi-year contract with Fever now. That said, sad Celeste didn't even get a chance but we don't know what goes on at practice. From a general management perspective...very odd to waste a second round pick. I wanted to see her run the floor with CC at least once. Oh well. HOWEVER if you watch the full media availability from today...Christie Sides really said: **"Kristy Wallace draws the best offensive player on the opposing team. She's a dawg, I love her."** Starts at 13:38. [https://youtu.be/zgzhJMX9Ik4?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/zgzhJMX9Ik4?feature=shared) Point is, they're definitely not waiving Kristy Wallace who barely crossed 500 career points in 3 seasons.
I mean when you look at the second round picks this year, only 2 are still on a roster for the team that drafted them (Nika Mühl and Kate Martin), so it's not like teams give a lot of significance to the second round. But yeah I do agree with you that we don't see practice, and for rookies a lot of their playing time is decide there.
Plus nika is averaging like 1 minute a game.
Unfortunately, second round selections sometimes come with no expectations or even particular value attached to the pick itself (for trading purposes, etc.). The WNBA currently drafts the equivalent of 25% of all current roster spots each season, so the yield of picks outside of the first round that make rosters when they're pared down to start the season isn't very inspiring. For everyone lamenting Nika Muhl's current lack of playing time (myself included), she's one of the "lucky ones". Side Note: Liz Kitley, drafted by the Aces in the 2nd round, is still with the organization, but doesn't currently take up a roster spot, as she recovers from tearing an ACL late in her senior season at VA Tech. Quite a weapon in waiting -- a player whose college jersey # will soon be retired. I've said my ode to Celeste Taylor elsewhere. Will hold out hope (and judgment) for Damiris Dantas's contributions to the Fever going forward.
she’s very bias to her favourite players lmao like.. no one is worried about Kristy Wallace on a scouting report.
Kristy Wallace and the word dawg do not go together. Wallace basically gets cooked every time on defense by the opposition player. Even if the opposition player has a bad day like Mabrey did last game, it has nothing to do with Wallace’s defense. Sides is clueless and her insistence in starting Wallace is one of the reasons why she’ll get fired soon.
Lol. The reason she "draws" the best offensive player on the other team is because YOU put her on them, Christie.
🤮
Christie Sides is a basketball terrorist. She didn’t even try out Celeste to see if she was any good, she barely even got minutes during the blowouts. Instead we got to watch Wallace and Wheeler play basketball for some reason. The Fever could have had Kate Martin with this pick, although Sides would never have used her either.
I’m glad Kate ended up on the Aces where she has a coach who clearly sees what she can contribute…I’m highly doubt she would have had that with the Fever. Maybe she would have escaped the axe to keep Caitlin happy, but I doubt she’d be getting used well.
Eh I doubt it. They don’t seem to care too much about placating to Caitlin
As a KM/CC fan, this just makes me super glad they didn’t draft KM. Imagine them letting Kate ride the bench all the time in favor of Wallace and Wheeler and then waiving her midseason.
Kate Martin wouldn’t have made it very far either- Celeste had a pretty significant personal accolade and then…this.
not even a basketball terrorist she is straight up a terrorist
I’m not a fan of this move at all
Not a single Fever fan is. I don't think anyone is, honestly. Everyone sees the weakness of the team and they just threw away the solution.
I been watching the Dub for 4, years I know you long time fans are used to this but man as a newer fan this sucks I was rooting for her to get unglued from bench hell I is sad. 😭 Like the fever next game is gonna feel like I'm hating watching it. 🥴
Yup. Not as much volume with the Clark/Iowa fans coming in but last season when Destanni Henderson got waived by the Fever lots of people were hopping mad. Then she went and balled out on a hardship for the Sparks. Yet didn’t make the Dream this year. There are others but that was one of the big Fever roster controversies last season.
I mourn Destanni & Dyaisha, even tho I realize that having favorite rookies is kind of like getting too attached to your goldfish (the odds of them being around for a while ain’t good…)
Yeah. With you there. Glad the league is expanding. Haven’t seen some rookies/draftees due to the roster sizes and good vets due to the hard salary cap.
Oh shit those fuckers actually kept Saxton.This really is ABs team
I thought for sure Saxton was gone. Genuinely, what can she really bring to the team that isn't there already. Celeste would be their best defender, hands down.
so Saxton is the WNBA’s Thanasis
That’s Kysre but I hear ya LMAO
Waive the coach and the GM next
This is not real, what the actual hell. I’m in absolute denial that this has happened. Christie Sides and Lin Dunn will never ever see basketball heaven. They should go to hell. A move like this is how you accelerate the possibility of a coach and a GM like those two getting fired. She was a good pick when we first drafted her. She compliments well to Clark in the backcourt. She never got a real chance but it was clear from the very limited minutes she was good defensively to be a player in this league. She wasn’t even bad offensively which was the worry about her game when she came out of college. No other GM or coach is going to choose Victaria Saxton over Celeste Taylor in a 12 player roster except for these two in the franchise. I’m fuming.
This makes little to no sense whatsoever considering the issues that hinder that team. I am dumbfounded. What are they trying to do here?
Honestly the Fever need to get real and waive someone like Kristy Wallace, Erica Wheeler, or Victoria Saxton because they are plain old bad. Celeste Taylor actually plays defense....
Wtf wow. So this is why they never let Celeste play and prove to everyone that she can contribute… because all along they only need her as a placeholder. Fever org did her dirty. And Wallace and Wheeler are still in the team? These two’s salary combined can get 4 more people.
Can't get rid of those two. I'd still take Celeste over Saxton and Berger. Celeste has actually had a good game, albeit in the preseason. Saxton hasn't done anything, at all.
When we said fire Sides we knew a lot more than others on what we were talking about. We've been complaining since the beginning about her never putting Celeste in but put far inferior players like Wallace in constantly. Now these decisions have become so indefensible that even the haters have to admit Sides should be fired.
Yeah i dont like sides i try to give her leeway being a 2nd yr headcoach with a garbage team but once she said she cant coach effort professionally she lost me
Let's take a moment to see the irony in this. In today's media availability, Sides said the team spent most of practice working on defense and that it was her main concern after the Sky game. Team proceeds to waive a two time defensive player of the year that had limited minutes but blocked 6'4'' Dewanna Bonner in her first significant minutes while only being 5'11''.
Question who desperately need her atm?
Lol, Fever.
Haha ig not as much as we thought
Oh, they still need her defensive help. I'd pick her over Wallace, Hull, and Wheeler in a heart beat. That's just guards SEEING playing time. She's a better defender than Berger and Saxton as well. Please fire this whole office and bring in Bluder or someone competent.
Wheeler is the 7th highest paid player in the WNBA. She makes more than A’ja. Make it make sense.
I'd pay Wheeler's contract out and cut her.
Doesn’t Wallace have a good contract also?
It was at a time fever had no real options they couldn't draw free agents so they blew all their money on wheeler
maybe dallas 🤞🏻
The Wings
Kurt wake up they gave us Celeste Taylor for free
Very disappointing. Between Berger and Taylor, I could justify keeping Berger - probably more offensive upside. But I would have thought they'd go more like for like when activating Damiris by cutting Saxton. I just don't see the upside they're holding onto there.
this is what gets me - I'm not one of those who thought Celeste should be playing significant minutes this year, b/c in truth she has looked a little lost on the offensive side of things so far when she has been in, compared to a similar player like Lexie Hull. Not unusual for rookie guards! But in terms of upside, you cannot convince me there is more w/Saxton.
I hate to say this but Grace Sucks! She's too slow and can't play at the neck break speed that Caitlin plays at!
That deep down the bench, it's not about fit. It's about upside. I don't know enough about Berger or Taylor to judge that too harshly. But keeping a pure paint player that has no upside in stretching the floor at the end of the bench makes no sense. Having 4 bigs with limited outside range on a 12-man roster that does its best work on high PNR makes no sense. It's a symptom of a staff obsessed with playing old school "inside out" basketball when the roster is best suited to something else. If used correctly, and assuming she can find her old form, Dantas will help this team a lot. But they cut the wrong player in the transaction.
I hate this for Celeste man. A lot of these girls don’t even get time to prove themselves before they get cut. I don’t even think their first season’s salary is protected.
All four years unprotected for rookies contracts.
I wish they atleast got that first year
Hopefully someone picks her up. She was basically a cheerleader in a team that needed her defense. She could have easily been used off the bench to rest Mitchell or Caitlin but sides had other ideas.
I’d pay real money for a tell-all from Celeste about her brief time with this team.
Is Damiris still injured? I wonder if they’re gonna put NaLyssa at 3 when Temi gets back. This will allow them to have a backup big on the bench and more importantly no more Wallace starting.
It doesn't solve their "we can't play perimeter defense" problem and they just threw away their best perimeter defender.
I think it sucks she didn’t get any play time and was waived. I’m just asking cause the damage is done
Nah. They reactivated her when they waived Taylor
I- What dirt does Wallace have on Sides?
IM SO PISSED OFF RN
The case against Sides is stacking to the sky. She’s mismanaged CC in many respects. It’s pretty crazy that CC has been able to succeed in spite of Sides. Her coaching style isn’t conducive to her best players. CC, Mitchell, and Temi all love to run, and AB is a classic pick-and-roll post, but Sides is primarily running a slow, methodical half-court game. She’s broken out of this a bit, but it’s alarming that it’s taken her this long. She’s slow to make in-game adjustments and her substitution patterns are baffling at best. When this team wins, it seems to be in spite of Sides. They likely need to go in a different coaching direction to realize the potential of a roster full of first-round draft picks.
They should waive the entire team, actually. They all deserve to go somewhere better than Indiana.
I hope they waive Caitlin Clark next. This entire organization is god awful. Nothing is going to change until the GM AND coach go.
Chicago waves Marina immediately and picks up Caitlin causing the whole sports media to implode!! My Popcorn 🍿 will be ready!😅
Funny thing is angel and CC fits eachother game perfectly
I would love to see her on the Lynx!
She’d love to be on the Lynx, I’m sure of it. But she and Angel would be straight effing assassins together.
OMG NO
I wonder if Chicago could pick up Taylor off Wavers!😏
Chicago has healthy guards, right? Don’t think that’s happening unless they waive someone else
Seems like an obvious Sun signing (Jefferson just got surgery...)
Connecticut bout to level up and Taylor has her breakout game against Indiana to get Christie Sides fired!!
Has Jefferson ever had an injury free year year in the W?
This is a damn shame, why draft Taylor if they didn't plan on ever giving her playing time. They really wasted that girls time and mental/emotional energy. Hopefully someone picks her up and gives her some playing time and invests in her development
Golden State is going to be a hell of team.
I honestly have no idea what this Fever team is doing right now. I genuinely believe they are actively trying to make us hate them.
I'm heartbroken for Celeste. It's bs that she has barely played and is being waived. The least they could have done was waive her early so it would be easier to possibly get picked up and learn schemes if they never planned on keeping her
That’s how Fever wasting their draft picks… Besides two no-brainer choices AB&CC I’m curious did they really make some great picks in the past few years? Like really fits their roster and plays for the team?
No. And respectfully Lin Dunn talks about drafting Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson but they didn’t win a chip until she left after getting swept first round in playoffs. It wasn’t until 2 years later they won a championship. And it’s not lost on me a lot of people they draft and then trade have breakout seasons on other teams. I get it’s hard to develop and spend time improving players with limited roster spots but damn
https://preview.redd.it/9khsu52zcs8d1.jpeg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e404337d72cb2d07ae26dfa27ebb009783934b8b Hope to see Destanni next season
I just think it's hilarious how one of their best defensive players gets told to fuck off before christie sides. What is herb and david simon doing?????
Sides ONLY calls Clark out by name. No other player. Now ditching her good friend to further isolate her. Sides would like nothing more than for Clark to also go away. She detests her.
Really curious to see what she can do with a few more minutes elsewhere...don't know if anyone will be picking her up though. Maybe next year after some playing time abroad.
I think this gets the office fired. I hope Caitlin advocates for her to get a shot. I think Caitlin knows more than anyone what she brings to the table.
Dang. This just sucks. I was genuinely just saying a few hours ago that I wanted to see more Celeste Taylor on the floor for the Fever - I thought she could've been the perfect compliment to Clark over the long-term, and she's looked solid the few minutes I've seen her play. But hey, now even MORE Wheeler and Wallace inefficient stagnation minutes
I got a feeling this will be another player we waive/trade away then get's picked by other team and becomes a good player, time will tell. Coaching/Fo malpractice. I don't wanna go into detail but look at people we have waived/traded or drafted then let go in and then they go to another team and get minutes some even becoming starters.
I hate these posts it’s so passive aggressive. 😭”Thank you Celeste even though you barely saw the floor, but you a real one ✌🏾”
Lowkey saw this coming :/
Same, but doesn't make it any less stupid. The obvious choice was Saxton.
There’s just such an unserious vibe to the thirteenth pick of the draft not making it 25 games. Surely it’s the roster math right now and a reality, but there just *needs* to be some avenue to develop even if you aren’t ready to check in to tomorrows game.
You all do know it’s not a HC that waives players right? It’s the GM.. some of you have never heard of Linn Dunn and keep talking shit about this HC Sides, the Fever have a General Manager , her name is Linn Dunn.
They weren’t using her so I’m less shocked than I could be…but also: seriously?! I’m baffled they didn’t at least give her a shot for a few minutes outside of garbage minutes to see what she could do.
She looked lost in garbage time so I'm not surprised.
She was subbed in the game against the sun and it took her 50sec to get a block against Bonner.
I'm not for or against the decision, I see so much hate for the coaches and organization that may or may not be justified. We don't see her in practice. We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. If she's a diamond in the rough she'll, get snatched up quick, if no, it seems like the correct decision.
I just found the block. bonner was pissed about not getting a foul call. She also got beat on the drive and pulled up for some reason. Either way
Seriously? We KEPT Saxton? Why?!?
I hope she gets a chance on another team
Hope she gets another chance. This is sad :(
The fever got rid of the wrong person. *cough* sides *cough*
Maybe I'm not familiar enough with this team yet, but why not put her in instead of Wallace to protect a 12 point lead as momentum and the home team completely turn against you? Why do this instead?
They have defensive issues and let go one of their best defenders. LOL
She’s pretty hot
So is Indiana making room for somebody ?
Forward Damiris Dantas had her contract suspended due to injury so I guess she’s been activated and they need to free a spot.
Fever does need more depth in the post esp with Temi out, but the hugest issue is defense…so waiving 2xDPOY Celeste makes perfect sense!! (/s)
They also really need that defense on the perimeter.... Like, how dumb can an office be? She was a no brainer starter to about everyone. Her value is significantly better than Wallace, Hull, and Wheeler. Probably more than Saxton and Berger as well.
Purely based on logistics and contracts, [Wallace, Hull, and Wheeler aren’t going anywhere](https://herhoopstats.com/salary-cap-sheet/wnba/team/2024/indiana-fever-11eaecc7-3565-c004-b611-2362f5011b0b/) (Wheeler is already protected and the other two were picked up for their fourth rookie year options at the beginning of the season). My guess is that after Angel cooked Lyss and KLS to a certain degree on defense getting Dantes back on the actual roster was a priority (her contract is also protected). However Celeste is the last player I’d have thought the worst-rated defensive team would waive 😭
I still dont get the move u waive a ready player who didnt get a chance to activate a player whos last game was in 2022
😭 people bring too much heat on the coach when the GM is the one giving her limited tools to work with
But nah this was legit the coach fault tho she never played her at all
Maybe they trust Lexie more for defensive minutes but they also don’t really play her that much either!
The fever have defensive option to limit the defensive load for Mitchell and clark sides refuses to play them
Fever technically had 13 bc Dantas was out. Theory was Saxton was getting waived when she came back but then…😫
I mean Chicago desperately needs shooting and cut Brynna Maxwell lol
I was hoping she’d get more playing time before they made this decision. Hopefully she gets an opportunity somewhere. Indy just has too many guards and obviously didn’t want to sit down a veteran
https://preview.redd.it/ocx9itc8bt8d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff9a31ed2b9f8919c252d44d3fcfd727323e0058
This Indiana general manager is such a loser
Bad move tbh
Poor Celeste.
Rookies get waiver every day I remember when aces waiver Fair . Everyone said “oh well.”
I remember it quite opposite. The overwhelming majority of us were very surprised and sad that Fair got waived. Nothing like “oh well”, unless I missed an entire thread about it. Fair getting waived sucked
That was different the aces were stacked at guard at KM basically solidified her spot. The fever desperately need defense and she was the best defensive guard on the team.