Christie Sides, head coach of the Indiana Fever, talked about a rule she’s set up with WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark to get the team’s offensive sets moving faster. Following times of “hanging out and dancing” at Iowa, Clark now has to make choices in “0.5 seconds.”
Sides told the press, “She’s going to get open looks.” She has 0.5 seconds to decide, though. That’s the rule I gave her the other day. She also likes to hang out and dance when she hits someone in the high post when she’s not on the ball. We need to break these habits. It’s now possible for her to get out and go screen, and the ball will come back to her.
Sides said during the Fever’s preseason schedule that she’d like Clark to start making jump shots from inside the 3-point line. Most people think that the long-two is the worst shot in basketball, but it can be useful when there are wide-open players who can reliably shoot.
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“She’s used to some shots that she’s taken in the last few years that are just those deep shots, and there are times she comes off ball screens where she’s open in that long-two area,” said Sides. “We’ve got to get her comfortable taking that long two.”
Clark led Indiana to an 83-80 warmup win over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night. He scored 12 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and passed the ball six times. After giving the ball away five times last week against the Dallas Wings, she only shot 33.3% from the field and made six mistakes.
A lot of people came out to see her most recent game, which was also her home start with the Fever.
Clark told reporters after the show, “It was a lot of fun. I thought they were loud and into it.” “It was enjoyable to see. The game is on a Thursday night before the season, and 13,000 people are here. That’s a good example of how the season will be for us. You’ll have to win some games at home.
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It’s exciting for me to see our regular season home start. I think there will be a lot of people there because it’s against a great team, the New York Liberty. It really is amazing. 13 000 people at a practice game is a pretty big crowd.
After winning the lottery for the second year in a row, the Fever picked Clark with the first pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. They picked up post star Aliyah Boston in 2023, and she is now trying to build on a great rookie season.
Clark spoke about how she thinks this season will be the hardest one she’s ever had. Still, she has a lot of stats from the two training games and will likely play a big role under Sides in the months to come.
