The Fever’s biggest strength is quite obvious: their ability to run a fast-paced, high-scoring offense. That was what allowed the Fever to make the playoffs last season despite being one of the worst defensive teams in the league. Determined to build a contender around Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, the Fever added defensive-minded players in the offseason.
DeWanna Bonner, Sophie Cunningham, and Natasha Howard will all play heavy minutes for the Fever and should help significantly improve the team’s defense. Howard has already stated that she wants to compete for the Defensive Player of the Year award again.
While the Fever showed good energy and competitiveness on defense during their first two preseason games, they are not nearly done. There is still plenty of work to do defensively.
Stephanie White knows exactly what she wants the Fever to work on
The Fever still have one preseason game coming up before the start of the regular season. They will face the Atlanta Dream on May 10. When asked what she wants to work on until then, head coach Stephanie White listed a few defensive improvements the team still has to make.
“I think some of our rotations defensively,” White said during practice. “We had some missed rotations. We had some poor closeouts, and certainly securing defensive rebounds.”
White is the perfect coach to help the Fever make those improvements. Last season, she orchestrated the best defense in the WNBA when she was still with the Connecticut Sun.
Defensive improvements will turn the Fever into a true contender
All the best teams in the WNBA are capable two-way teams. The New York Liberty, Minnesota Lynx, and Las Vegas Aces can all score at a high level but are also strong defensively. If the Fever want to play on the same level as these teams, they must become a good two-way team as well.
They are halfway there. The Fever could easily be the best offensive team in the league. They have scorers and playmakers at every position and will be incredibly difficult to guard. The question is whether they can stop other good offenses from scoring enough to secure wins against the other top teams in the league.
The Fever don’t have to become a top-four defensive team over night. While the front office made some nice moves to address the team’s defensive issues, they do not have the personnel for that. What the Fever need to do is simply enough to be able to outscore opponents. Trust that they will work hard to do that all season long.