Last edited Mon Oct 28, 2024, 10:01 PM - Edit history (1)
article to claim the Fever season ended as 33-47 when that is Sides total record and the Fever actual season record this year was 20-19 and 0-1 in the postseason.
But on the subject of Sides herself she was less than effective in use of timeouts throughout the season, failed to embrace playing the uptempo game of CC early on and instead seemed to want more of the traditional "point guard pass to the wing for a shot or a drive and then rebound" sort of game instead of the faster paced game of movement combined with skilled crisp passing that CC brings. Her failure to push back for most of the season on Caitlin being mauled and not getting calls put her players out there as "open game" for other teams. Luckily there were no major injuries because of it. She often didn't seem to have a strategy she could impart for closing the half or the end of the game.
In Sides defense I don't think the assistant coaches were effective for her either. It may have been a bad dynamic or just lack of coaching ability. Coaching defense is one of the most unheralded roles/skills in basketball and it is not stressed nearly enough and worked on hard enough for many of today's players both men and women at all levels. Defense other than rebounding, steals and blocked shots don't give to the stats line but the great defense of denying the position on the floor, effectively denying open shots, anticipating the play and disrupting screens etc. all contribute to your opponent having a miserable night and it removes you from always having to score tons of points to win a game. But you have to teach it and coach it 24/7/365 and it has to be something you want. You have to make sure your players are just as satisfied in preventing a shot as they are in making a shot. Now whether the assistants tried but were overruled we don't know. First half of the season I saw Fever players lack effort to move quickly when defending, trying to play defense by too much reaching and generally acting like they had no foot movement and only had a vertical leap that was more like a halfhearted hop.
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