The Indiana Fever have been an exciting team the last three years. They are loaded with three WNBA All-Stars. They have two players who were selected as #1 picks in the draft. Yet the Fever have been a fixture in 6th place and have won only one play-off series in three years. The Fever organization has under-performed. As the Indiana Fever start the off-season, here are 10 questions that will need to be answered by the Fever organization and/or the Fever players.
#1- Is Stefanie White retained as the coach?
At the end of the season, White made comments that almost indicated she thought she would need to seek emotional counseling to continue as the Fever coach. Some reporters speculated that she probably would quit. Unless she has a different contract structure than every other pro sports coach, she would have no intent to resign. Financially, if she wants out, she needs to have the Fever fire her to retain some of the contract money.
The organization’s advantage to firing White soon would be that the Fever then have a better chance to be at the head of the line in looking and hiring a new coach.
Most people who have followed the Fever could probably come up with many reasons to move on from White— sitting Clark long stretches in the fourth quarter, inability to use the challenge system effectively, poor team offensive development, lack of public support of players. I would argue that White’s most egregious error was her poor use of players in the first half of the season— the Fever lost multiple games that cost them being a play-off host. And these games were lost because she spent much of the first half of the season acting like it was still preseason and she was using the games just to experiment.
My Vote- Move on.
My Prediction- Based on past Fever decisions, it is 60/40 that she will be kept.
#2- Will either Amber Cox (GM) or Kelly Krauskopf (President) be fired?
The Fever had a WNBA All-Star on their roster (Mitchell), then had two #1 picks fall into their laps (Boston, Clark). The only thing in terms of roster management that the past or present Fever organization has shown is an ability not to screw up #1 picks.
This off-season, the Fever totally botched free agency and the draft. They have failed to surround the big three. They overpaid for two role players— Hull and Billings— which now puts the Fever in a position that may prevent them from being able to afford the big three.
They failed to get any European players, and they didn’t tie Cunningham or Mitchell in long-term contracts.
Their most egregious error has been the lack of enthusiasm the Fever organization has shown for Caitlin Clark. Whether the Fever franchise was going to survive if they had not landed Clark, we will never know. The year before Clark arrived, Indiana ranked 11th of 12 in attendance at about 4,000 per game.
My Vote— Move on, these are not people who are going to build a championship franchise.
My Prediction— It is 99% certain the Fever will keep them.
#3— Will Clark choose to sign the SuperMax extension with Indiana?
With the contracts of Boston, Hull, and Billings— Indiana cannot afford to sign both Clark and Mitchell at SuperMax numbers.
It is hard to imagine where Clark would want to sign other than Indiana. But how the Fever handle the coaching situation, Mitchell contract, and roster construction might lead her to turn down the SuperMax extension and become a free agent down the road.
It also might be with her Nike contract and others, she will take less than the max to assure Mitchell of a max. It is not unheard of as several NBA players have done this.
White’s status might impact Clark’s enthusiasm to stay.
My Vote- I would do whatever Clark wanted. I would hope she would sign for less to keep Mitchell.
My Prediction- Indiana tries to dump either Hull or Billings’ salaries to pay both Mitchell and Clark the max.
#4- Will Mitchell choose to stay with the Fever?
Mitchell has publicly said that when it comes to free agency, “I have to be selfish. Playing with Clark and having eyes that she’s got on her, we get a lot of flak just from being on her team.”
At 30 years old, I read that Mitchell is saying that I am not going to sign for less than the SuperMax. Much of what she is going to say also is getting ready to make the Fever step up.
Everyone needs to realize that whether it is Clark/Mitchell/Boston, Young/Wilson/Gray, or Stewart/Ionescu/Jones. It is VERY hard with the present contract rules for a team to construct a roster if they are paying three players max money.
White’s status will weigh into this.
My Vote- Sign Mitchell to a 3-4 year max.
My Prediction- I think the Fever will manage with the amount or the length of the contract to offense Mitchell. There is an 85% chance she signs with the Fever. How the Fever deal with Mitchell will be determined by whether they feel Mitchell, Clark, and Boston are capable of winning a championship.
#5- Are Hull and Billings at best role players?
This off-season we are sure to find out what the Fever and the rest of the WNBA think about this question. Being paid $800k is not the pay of a role player. So if the Fever attempt to dump salary, will anyone be willing to bite and say they think they can be regulars and worth $800k?
I would hope that the Fever would be asking a new coach their thoughts on the value and role of Hull and Billings. I don’t think White played either player in a way to allow them to develop into important players.
My Vote- If someone would take Billings in a trade (dump), I would clear cap space. I vote to bring in a new coach and demand off-season improvement.
My Prediction- They are both going to remain with the Fever because no one will take their contracts.
#6- Will Boston improve as much this coming year?
It would seem from the subbing partners this year, either Boston did not report in shape or she did not report healthy.
Whether it is her low post game or short roll off ball screens- Boston has so much more offensive value that was not used.
My Vote- Don’t play Unrivaled League.
My Prediction- She will improve but will play Unrivaled.
#7- What happens with Sophie Cunningham?
The good news is that there will be other teams who may not want Cunningham on their roster. That may lower her signing amount.
Not to keep going back to White, but when you have a player who has shot 40+% on threes for two years, and she is paired with two guards who defense cannot help off- Why aren’t you getting her 6-8 threes per game?
My Vote- Figure out a way to restructure the payroll and get her to sign.
My Prediction- It is 60% chance she signs with Fever.
#8- Will the Fever had a logical plan to sign any free agents or to select in the draft?
The Fever will have the #10, #25, and #40 draft picks. With the first two, they should get two players they can keep on their roster. They need frontline help. I would assume that they need either a backup for Boston or a shooting 4.
My Vote- Send scouts to Europe.
My Prediction- With any picks that are not #1, the Fever are stealing scouting book that the Bulls have used for the last 20 years. The Bulls are always sure they are the smartest ones in the room and choose to make a pick that no one predicted. And they don’t turn out to be good picks. If you are going to watch the WNBA Draft, be ready for the Fever pick to say, “WHAT????”
#9- Will Fever fans turn on their TV’s and watch the rest of the play-offs?
I am really curious to see what the TV numbers are going to be the rest of the play-offs.
My Vote- I have already moved onto the White Sox, Badgers, and Packers full-time. I am a bad loser, I have not desire to watch the Aces. I may watch some Liberty or Golden State.
My Prediction- The TV numbers will be eye opening and showing the Caitlin Clark Effect.
#10- Will the WNBA sit down with MLB, NFL, Big Ten, FIBA and figure out how to handle reviews?
Too often the WNBA refs reviewing a call look like if you called scared 5th graders out of the stands- I am convinced they take so long because they are so worried about the consequences.
FIBA took 10-15 seconds. The NFL, MLB, and Big Ten have people not on location looking at films.
The play where Hull was flipped. White showed her ineptness when didn’t call for review. I guarantee that in the NBA, NFL, and Big Ten, the refs would have gone on their own to review for a hook and hold call.
My Vote- Come up with a cleaner and more decisive review system.
My Prediction- To improve the review system would demand strong guidence
No comments:
Post a Comment