It's both. This team has been unprepared all season long. The coaching staff is a joke and the roster construction is crap. They need to clean house in the offseason and build this roster, coaching staff and FO vision all around CC
***CC22 and the Fever mega thread***
- Thread starter LetsGoHawks83
- Start date
Fever coach and GM need to be fired after the season.
Roster needs a major overhaul and a different philosophy on the bench.
Roster needs a major overhaul and a different philosophy on the bench.
*I am editing this for new information.
While I agree they need to clean house, the reality is they have expensive baggage and there is not a lot they can do with the cap of $7M. Hull's and Billings' contracts are killers. Per the below, they will have $2.35M available. So if they resign Mitchell at $1.4M, that will leave $950K to sign another 4 players.
2027 Active Roster & Cap Hits
- Aliyah Boston (F): $1,550,000
- Lexie Hull (G): $803,250
- Monique Billings (F): $800,000
- Caitlin Clark (G): $597,596 (option exercised; eligible for potential max/EPIC adjustments)
- Makayla Timpson (F): $305,250
- Raven Johnson (G): $300,698
- Damiris Dantas (F): $288,60
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Do you build a team around the best point guard/field general in basketball or do go shopping for a roster that suits the Stephanie White/Briann January coaching style (whatever that is)? Those are pretty much your choices because SW can't coach this team.
Add into the mix that White's coaching style is all about control and not empowerment (except for Kelsey).
Add into the mix that White's coaching style is all about control and not empowerment (except for Kelsey).
If the front office wants to keep their job they build around Clark instead of White.
Indiana becomes irrelevant without Clark.
Downtown Indianapolis looks like Iowa City for Saturday Fever games.
you can bet the bars, hotels, and restaurants want Clark to stay.
Imagine the revenue spike Minneapolis would see with Clark on their team.
Like half of the team's value is Clark alone.
I've always been a believer that the WNBA is a sum of all parts, but it would be front office malpractice to not exhaust every last possibility to get Clark a championship in Indianapolis before giving up and moving her. Even if that means firing White for a 2nd time. Clark is way too valuable to the franchise.
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And that's if Clark doesn't get the bump she should
Ya well, sometimes I think Legend says things only because it gets a rise out of people.
Why don't you let us know what you think on the topic instead of acting like an 8th grader.
I don't get how people can complain about Steph White's offense. The Fever were the highest scoring team by over 4 points per game. With CC being hurt to start the year and Aliyah being hurt most of the year.
Caitlin also had the second highest usage rate in the WNBA this year so I'm not sure why you think Steph is trying to reign CC in and control her.
The defense has been bad, obviously. At the start of the year I think a good amount of the blame should have fell on SW for having them switch 1-5 when they did not have the roster for that.
As the season went on I think the coaching staff made a really smart adjustment by having Timpson start since she could defend other teams Guards and CC could "hide" on the opposing team's worst offensive player.
Did it fix all the defensive issues, no but that also goes back to the team having three maybe four players who are average to above average defenders on the roster.
Finally and maybe most importantly Caitlin is not an easy player to coach.
Basketball wise she's a generational offensive talent who has two glaring holes in her game (defense and turnovers). She needs a coach that can walk the line in getting her to improve those two areas without taking away from the other areas she shines. While she still has some issues with these parts of her game I dont think it can be denied that Caitlin has improved in both of these areas under Steph.
Caitlin can also be a demonstrative hot head on the court so she also needs a coach that isn’t afraid to stand up to her and sit her down at times for her own good and the good of the team.
If that wasn't hard enough CC also has a spotlight on her at all times filled with grifters that will take any small interaction such as an argument on the bench or god forbid flagrant foul and turn it into a media circus.
I'm not saying Steph is perfect, but she's handled this season pretty well and I'mnot sure how many coaches could have handled it better.
TL DR
It's lazy to say fire the coach. Which is why I called it dumb af.
Dumb AF is what I think when I hear that idiot speak at the podium
LO freakin L -- Get a load of this nonsense. Instead of talking about White, he rattles off how the teams struggles are all Caitlin's fault. Being a hothead, lmao... tell us how you really feel about CC. But wait, White's one big shining moment is... starting Timpson! WOW!
Absolute joke of a post. White is garbage.
Her defensive schemes are predictable as ****. BuT ItS AlL CaITLiNs FAuLT
Predetermined timed rotations enough to make you scream
Going on a heater? Take em out!
Big lead? CHANGE EVERYTHING!
I could chat gpt a better way to set screens than whatever TF they're teaching this team.
Get attacked by Carrington? Ahhh no big deal, just a hussle play!
Experimenting with rotations 2 games before the playoffs? Laughable
Have you listened to her nonsense on postgame? JFC this is a moron. Legit moron.
And finally, she doesn't have CCs back and its painfull obvious
I look forward to the next coach. Give CC the keys and GTFO of the way
CC thrived at Iowa in a pick and roll offense, and she grew in her rookie season with a pick and roll offense under Sides.
Stephanie White essentially removed that option from her floor game, because........."well because teams would try to take it away, so we'll just do it for them".
Btw, I went back and watched the game again, as I was moreso following the Vikings game at the same time, and I abandoned the Fever game in the 3rd after White benched CC for bricking two no-f***s-given shots, but yikes............
The officiating was comically lopsided. I know we joke about games being "rigged" and they have "money" on the games and Vegas etc etc etc. I never really think it's actually that deep. It's just fun to mock these officials for typically being dog sh**, and I'm not saying the refs were "paid to help Vegas win"................they probably got nothing for their troubles at all, other than avoiding the wrath of Aja and Hammon.
But they clearly had a favorite whistle for Aja and Vegas yesterday. There were so many very very clear phantom fouls (unbiasedly clear), inconsistent enforcement of the rules, etc etc that even if you just want to chalk it up to them being absolutely f***ing terrible at their jobs and that there was nothing more to it than that, then fine, go ahead. But I have to believe these people have some understanding of what they're looking for and trying to accomplish.
We're not talking about a 16 yr old reffing youth basketball and making calls because he remembered he saw something similar when watching LeBron play the night before........
Multiple occasions you can see the refs waiting for something to happen and if it's even remotely close, they emphatically pump their fist in the air and blow their whistle like they caught the Fever red-handed.
And you go back and watch the replay and there's no contact to be found............
And I don't necessarily blame White for not challenging the calls because A. She only gets so many anyways, but also B. She knows what's up. She's not gonna win any of them. It'd only service as fan service for the people crying "why don't you challenge the call!?!?!"......she f***ing knows, by now.
Yesterday was made worse by the fact that the Aces shot so well and the Fever looked like a team that quit from top to bottom, but that kind of performance from the refs yesterday is enough to make you question why you still try.
And sadly the only reason is because the league gets what it wants if you don't...............
The officiating was comically lopsided. I know we joke about games being "rigged" and they have "money" on the games and Vegas etc etc etc. I never really think it's actually that deep. It's just fun to mock these officials for typically being dog sh**, and I'm not saying the refs were "paid to help Vegas win"................they probably got nothing for their troubles at all, other than avoiding the wrath of Aja and Hammon.
But they clearly had a favorite whistle for Aja and Vegas yesterday. There were so many very very clear phantom fouls (unbiasedly clear), inconsistent enforcement of the rules, etc etc that even if you just want to chalk it up to them being absolutely f***ing terrible at their jobs and that there was nothing more to it than that, then fine, go ahead. But I have to believe these people have some understanding of what they're looking for and trying to accomplish.
We're not talking about a 16 yr old reffing youth basketball and making calls because he remembered he saw something similar when watching LeBron play the night before........
Multiple occasions you can see the refs waiting for something to happen and if it's even remotely close, they emphatically pump their fist in the air and blow their whistle like they caught the Fever red-handed.
And you go back and watch the replay and there's no contact to be found............
And I don't necessarily blame White for not challenging the calls because A. She only gets so many anyways, but also B. She knows what's up. She's not gonna win any of them. It'd only service as fan service for the people crying "why don't you challenge the call!?!?!"......she f***ing knows, by now.
Yesterday was made worse by the fact that the Aces shot so well and the Fever looked like a team that quit from top to bottom, but that kind of performance from the refs yesterday is enough to make you question why you still try.
And sadly the only reason is because the league gets what it wants if you don't...............
Caitlin is averaging more points per game, shooting better from the field and from three, while playing less minutes per game than she did under Sides.
Aliyah, while hurt, is averaging more points per game then when they were running pick and roll.
Kelsey is obviously having a career year.
Is CC and AB running a pick and roll going to make Lexi hit the open 3s she's been bricking all year?
If not then criticizing the offense is dumb.
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1. I never said everything was Caitlin's fault
2. If you're not going to acknowledge she can be a hot head then there's no point to discuss actual basketball.
3. I acknowledged that the defensive scheme did not fit their personnel. They've tried changing. But unless there's a defensive scheme that will let the Fever play 6 players on defense, no scheme will matter with their current roster
4. Just because she's not hurling racial slurs at Alyssa Thomas and Dijonai doesnt mean she doesn't have Caitlin's back.
5. If Steph gets fired I'll give it 8 games before you want the replacement fired for not letting Caitlin be Caitlin.
Caitlin's stat line in her first 11 games in 2024 was 15.6 ppg, 6.4 assists, and 5.1 rebounds. For the 14 games after the Olympic break, CC jumped to 23.1 ppg, 8.9 assists, and 5.4 rebounds. Basically, after Christie Sides set her free and after Caitlin figured things out, she took off. Every one of those post-OB stats are down this year. And, that's despite the huge jump in scoring accross the league in general due to the new freedom of movement rules. I would not be so qick to credit SW with Caitlin's progress.
Finally, why is Caitlin clearly unhappy this year? Do you think she on-board with Stephanie and Briann?
It was pretty obvious the number of supposed "elbow fouls" they called for Wilson, and most even in replay there was no contact on many of them. Even with Lobo trying to explain them, if she had much contact on her arm on those jumpers, most of them would never have even got to the rim. Then there's the several fouls Gray was awarded when she kicked her legs out when she shoots and creates the contact on a defender who would NEVER have touched her if she had went straight up, and not basically kicked the defender during her shooting motion.Btw, I went back and watched the game again, as I was moreso following the Vikings game at the same time, and I abandoned the Fever game in the 3rd after White benched CC for bricking two no-f***s-given shots, but yikes............
The officiating was comically lopsided. I know we joke about games being "rigged" and they have "money" on the games and Vegas etc etc etc. I never really think it's actually that deep. It's just fun to mock these officials for typically being dog sh**, and I'm not saying the refs were "paid to help Vegas win"................they probably got nothing for their troubles at all, other than avoiding the wrath of Aja and Hammon.
But they clearly had a favorite whistle for Aja and Vegas yesterday. There were so many very very clear phantom fouls (unbiasedly clear), inconsistent enforcement of the rules, etc etc that even if you just want to chalk it up to them being absolutely f***ing terrible at their jobs and that there was nothing more to it than that, then fine, go ahead. But I have to believe these people have some understanding of what they're looking for and trying to accomplish.
We're not talking about a 16 yr old reffing youth basketball and making calls because he remembered he saw something similar when watching LeBron play the night before........
Multiple occasions you can see the refs waiting for something to happen and if it's even remotely close, they emphatically pump their fist in the air and blow their whistle like they caught the Fever red-handed.
And you go back and watch the replay and there's no contact to be found............
And I don't necessarily blame White for not challenging the calls because A. She only gets so many anyways, but also B. She knows what's up. She's not gonna win any of them. It'd only service as fan service for the people crying "why don't you challenge the call!?!?!"......she f***ing knows, by now.
Yesterday was made worse by the fact that the Aces shot so well and the Fever looked like a team that quit from top to bottom, but that kind of performance from the refs yesterday is enough to make you question why you still try.
And sadly the only reason is because the league gets what it wants if you don't...............
Any chance that Clarks numbers and % are up simply because she's a better players now in her third year, (two seasons + 13 games of actually playing) then she was as a rookie who came into the league and had to adjust to be targeted, the physicality, and jumping right from the National championship game to playing her first pro games in a matter of weeks.
Caitlin was also hurt and on a minutes restriction for a chunk of this season. Take those games away and her averages would go up just like they did post OB her rookie year. Caitlin rarely took midrange shots her rookie year. She's also improved defensively and with her ability to handle physicality.
Why is she unhappy? It could be frustration with having to deal with another injury. Or getting pulled into political/culture war crap again. I'm not going to pretend that I know the relationship with Steph but CC has repeatedly supported her publicly. So until something comes out that says CC wants or wanted her gone I'll take her at her word.
Let's go a step further. Let's add: Players standing there, nailed to the floor. Not setting screens and leaving others to "fend for themselves." Not boxing out and protecting the offensive boards. Offensive breakdowns, resulting in an expiring shot clock which ends in a horseshit shot or worse, a shot clock violation. Playing Clark, the point guard at the two because the coach wants to take pressure off of her (more of being worried about turnovers). There are more, but the conclusion is that this so-called "Defensive Guru" hasn't shown that she can develop an Offensive identity consistently enough to warrant confidence there. Being able to hide the shortfalls in a set offense by getting out in transition places the team at a disadvantage if she continues to go away from the engine that drives the team, and that is the Clark/Boston pick and roll.
But, I agree that all of the players need to hit from the perimeter. If they don't, then they can't create space for Clark and Boston, especially in the high P&R.
This coaching, or lack thereof. If anyone disagrees, then we go back to square one and talk about roster construction issues.
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Sure. Great players tend to develop and improve under good coaching. Just like how Aliyah and Kelsey have also had career years under Steph.
It's comical when whoever does the color commentary says something like, "That's a foul right there...she came across the arm..." etc. Then, on the replay it doesn't indicate any actual contact or an infraction. Then the commentator is like, "Ohhhh, I don't think there WAS any contact on the replay, and there isn't any violation. Let's wait for the official ruling." LMAO because this seems to happen to the Fever quite often.
We'll just agree to disagree. I'd attribute Clarks numbers to her being healthier, and more veteran in the league, then anything Whites done. I also think much of Mitchells growth has been due to playing opposite of Clark in the backcourt because of the attention she draws from the defense as well as playing with the leagues best facilitator. They've learned to play off each other better with this being their third year together. Mitchell may have been a borderline all star in one or two of her first 5 or 6 seasons, but no where near the impact scorer she is now playing in the backcourt with Clark.
I believe CC is a very good pro player but not a great one. Her limitations (poor defense and excessive turnovers) are tremendously detrimental and are most evident when this team falls behind by double figures. At that point you can just about write off any chance for a comeback.
CC has feasted on the bottom half of the league this year and struggled against the top half.
I suppose CC gets credit for the former and White is to blame for the latter?
They made those changes just 2 short years ago; if they try again, will they get it right?
6th seed: The Fever finished the 2024 WNBA regular season with a 20–20 record. They got swept out of the 1st round of the playoffs.
6th seed: The Fever finished the 2026 WNBA regular season with a 28–16 record.
The changes made just 2 year ago:
October 4, 2024:
The Fever hired Amber Cox as their Chief Operating Officer and General Manager.
Was also announced that Lin Dunn would transition from General Manager to a Senior Advisor role.
October 27, 2024:
The Fever fired their last head coach, Christie Sides.
November 1, 2024:
The Fever hired their current head coach, Stephanie White.
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Summed up by thoughts perfectly.Btw, I went back and watched the game again, as I was moreso following the Vikings game at the same time, and I abandoned the Fever game in the 3rd after White benched CC for bricking two no-f***s-given shots, but yikes............
The officiating was comically lopsided. I know we joke about games being "rigged" and they have "money" on the games and Vegas etc etc etc. I never really think it's actually that deep. It's just fun to mock these officials for typically being dog sh**, and I'm not saying the refs were "paid to help Vegas win"................they probably got nothing for their troubles at all, other than avoiding the wrath of Aja and Hammon.
But they clearly had a favorite whistle for Aja and Vegas yesterday. There were so many very very clear phantom fouls (unbiasedly clear), inconsistent enforcement of the rules, etc etc that even if you just want to chalk it up to them being absolutely f***ing terrible at their jobs and that there was nothing more to it than that, then fine, go ahead. But I have to believe these people have some understanding of what they're looking for and trying to accomplish.
We're not talking about a 16 yr old reffing youth basketball and making calls because he remembered he saw something similar when watching LeBron play the night before........
Multiple occasions you can see the refs waiting for something to happen and if it's even remotely close, they emphatically pump their fist in the air and blow their whistle like they caught the Fever red-handed.
And you go back and watch the replay and there's no contact to be found............
And I don't necessarily blame White for not challenging the calls because A. She only gets so many anyways, but also B. She knows what's up. She's not gonna win any of them. It'd only service as fan service for the people crying "why don't you challenge the call!?!?!"......she f***ing knows, by now.
Yesterday was made worse by the fact that the Aces shot so well and the Fever looked like a team that quit from top to bottom, but that kind of performance from the refs yesterday is enough to make you question why you still try.
And sadly the only reason is because the league gets what it wants if you don't...............
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