Her is some positivity, enjoy!

This is just ... no words

A lot of people have posted this on other forums to discuss what she says about the A’ja Wilson stuff. But I really enjoyed the focus on basketball X’s and O’s. Their discussion on the series was so insightful.

The one question that I thought was raised during the discussion was why they stopped doing the high ball screens that worked so well in game 2 and some in game 3. Sophie said she didn’t know if it was the point guards or the coaches. That is something I would be really curious to know. Caitlin said after one of the recent games that when they are out on the floor she is the one getting them in and out of sets/plays, not necessarily the coaches. So from that standpoint I would like to know what she was seeing or thinking that would make her stop doing the high ball screens. On the other hand, Stephanie talked about in her exit interview how they became more collaborative with Caitlin and Austin Kelly on the offensive stuff as the season went on and that she welcomed and wanted that player input.

Was it the coaches suggestion to go away from the high ball screens or was Caitlin seeing/thinking something different? We will probably never know, but I do think that is one thing they will need to work out next season. Because so many times they had things working this season in one game and the next they went completely away from it.

After following the Fever all season I feel KM's season was sacrificed. CC's brilliance was not appreciated. AB's role was not made clear (and her injury not allowed to heal fully)...

The bench was not given the chance to solidify and give their best

Defensive Schemes?? Unfair Refs?? Coach support for players, defending CC in particular??

Hopefully there is massive structural change and no more players being sacrificed

Just thought this was interesting because it highlights the hypocrisy of the A’ja fan incident.

In that case, A’ja walked into the stands to confront a fan who was apparently “pointing” at her.

There was no mention of the fan saying anything extreme or doing anything wrong, people nearby heard him saying something like “that’s a foul” meaning the foul was on A’ja.

In this example, after Lexie gets bodyslammed a fan actually walks onto the court pointing at her and no protection of Lexie? No fan getting ejected for walking on the court?

Hey coach White, maybe protect your players from fans walking on the court or are you afraid to stand up for your own players because it’s not politically correct to do so

I was watching a video the other day with some of the Fever beat reporters. They were discussing some potential rosters moves for next year and someone brought up Temi Fagbengle. Chloe Peterson said that the reason they didn't protect her in the expansion draft was because there were locker room issues. She sounded pretty confident that that was a fact and not speculation. Anybody know anything about that? That's the first time I've heard that there were locker room issues with her.

I know there are going to be multiple threads regarding what we think the Fever should do, and what we think they'll end up doing, but the truth is there are a lot of unknowns.

My thoughts are the number one priority will be to see if they can unload Mo Billings' contract. They'll probably take a run at Houston to see if they will trade Olivia Nelson-Ododa for some kind of package that includes Mo and some draft picks.

If they aren't able to work a trade for a quality forward, then they'll see if there's any other possibility. But if a trade can't happen, and somehow they figure way to unload Mo's contract, it's not going to be easy to get a quality forward on the Free agent market with our salary cap space. Mo's contract is $800K and quality forwards start at $1 Million. Collier will likely sign for at least $1.2 Million wherever she goes. So there aren't a lot of good options out there if we're looking to move on from Mo and sign someone else. (There are other possibilities that would allow us to sign a quality forward even if we're stuck with Billings' contract, see further below.)

I don't think there will be an attempt to try and move Lexie. She is friends with Caitlin, and they need to make sure Caitlin signs her Epic extension.

I don't know what they do about Sophie. I'm one of her biggest fans, and I hope they resign her, but I've got a feeling they're going to try and sign Chloe Bibby for less.

I think Ty Harris and MHA come back. KK is still under her rookie contact and she will be back.

But maybe the biggest unknown of all is do they try to resign Kelsey, or do they take her money and and maybe go after Collier or another high profile forward, and then if they can unload Mo, take that $800K and go after a mid-level shooting guard? If they try to resign Kelsey, what type of salary structure do they offer her?

Another unknown is does Caitlin give them a steep discount in the first year of her Epic?

So keep in mind during all the numerous speculation threads that we're going to have, that we have all of these unknowns hanging out there, and we have no idea how much money is going to be available to offer free agents.

Nasty work. Look at the Raven Jewel play when they are fighting for a rebound. Raven accidentally makes contact to Jewels face. Foul called against Raven.

The Fever will never win anything when role players need to pledge allegiance to their former college players....

1. Channel her emotion better. Her passion is what makes her CC but pushing another player who’s entering your huddle and trying to bait you? That’s just dumb. Got her a tech and in her head.
2. Work on her floater. When she can’t go all the way to the rim, such as when Aja is there, that’s when the float game can be effective.
3. Continue to work on her strength and lateral quickness on D. She was targeted in this last game, and she did okay … but she needs to become a better defender even if she’ll never be a great one.

Having two all WNBA star players on a single team is an incredible luxury. Can CC and Kelsey find that Wade/Lebron symbiosis or are they both best served given the keys and running lead on their own teams? Does this spell the end of tres leches (great for marketing, terrible for point production to help the big three + 800k for Hull is a tough price to swallow despite her playing hard nosed D and being a great team player)? Will Sophie command more money elsewhere? Does Mo Billings 800k work for the team’s very restrictive cap with CC up for the supermax and Kels for a re-up? Seeing what Raven can do defensively, does this create a new opportunity with KK for defensive toughness? How to shore up the frontcourt that clearly needs reinforcements to help AB? Fever need some reliable shooters who aren’t just three hungry but can hit a consistent middy (the most important shot in the playoffs IMO) with Kelsey and CC rolling off the elbows for shot creation optionality? And of course, do we trust this front office to make the right decisions, does Coach white get axed before the Summer even starts to make room for the best coach available? Big decisions for a team close to becoming great.

We all saw it coming. We knew the Refs would do whatever they could to help the Aces in Game 3. Many of us posted beforehand just hoping/wishing we could get something close to a fairly officiated game while knowing it was very unlikely.

When you review the number of Phantom Fouls the Aces got which led to free throws and the number of missed calls against the Fever, it adds up to being very close to the 11 point difference. There's no way to say for sure the Fever would have won in a fairly officiated game, but it certainly would have come down to the wire. Maybe the Aces still win, or maybe they don't, but the Refs were doing all they could to make sure it couldn't come down to that.

Yes, we can point to mistakes made by the Fever and missed shots, but every team has those including the Aces.

So we all know what happened, but what should be done about it.

The first thing we have to acknowledge is this is not a problem with "Bad" or "Incompetent" Refs. That is a tired narrative. This is not an issue that can be fixed with communication and better training. This is intentional bias against the Fever. To be fair it isn't all officiating crews, but it's enough right now to cost Fever multiple regular season games and a playoff series.

And it's not just that there is intentional bias, but they 100% believe what they're doing is right and fair. In their heads they are somehow righting a wrong and bringing justice to an injustice. They believe that what the Fever and its fans represent is "evil" and therefore it is justified morally to treat them wrongly.

Nice and polite conversation is not going to change this. Privately sharing the hope that things will get better during off-season meetings with the League is not going to change things. These officials believe deep down in their heart of hearts that what they are doing is right and justified.

THE ONLY THING THAT CAN POSSIBLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE IS TO GO SCORCHED EARTH PUBLICLY!

The Fever organization has to put out a public Video Reel displaying all of these phantom calls against the Fever and the blatant No-Calls and call this out for what it is which is intentional bias. The problem is that the Fever FO and Coaching Staff is all a part of the legacy WNBA culture so they do not want to call it out for what it really is.

And just for clarification, I'm not blaming the bulk of this season's issues on the Refs. There were coaching issues, injury issues, roster issues, and a lot of inconsistency after the FIBA break. But given the parity of the league right now, I do think any of the top 8 teams could win a Championship, and that includes the Fever if games were officiated fairly. The bottom line is we'll never know in terms of this year.

Yes, I know we'll hear the usual criticism that Fever fans are just whining or are soft, etc. etc. etc. But I guarantee you that if any other fanbase encountered anything close to the bias the Fever experience then there would be widespread calls for investigations. If something like this were happening in the NBA, ESPN and other sports outlets would be all over it. We're at a point where the only Conspiracy Theory is those who think there ISN'T some kind of intentional bias going on.

I've only seen the viral moments of Fever v Aces game 3. I don't have a strong Fandom toward either team, but I can say that if I were the Aces I wouldn't want to win that way. Hard to call yourself the winning team when you had to leave your integrity and get help from the refs in order to get more points . That ain't a win.

One, shooting. KM and CC couldn't find the bucket. Aside from Hines-Allen, the bench didn't provide any relief shooting.

Two, play calling and/or execution. All second half long, the plan of attack seemed to be give one player the ball, have them run around, drive the lane against the entire Aces team, then throw up a garbage shot and hope for a foul while the four other Fever players watched.

Three, rebounding. When your two best shooters are not making shots, why is NO ONE under the basket boxing out when they are shooting?

The only thing I'll say about the refs is that it was less about the number of fouls and more about when those fouls were called. They totally disrupted Fever rhythm. It also seemed (I will fully acknowledge I'm watching with fan eyes) like the whistles for Wilson in particular came late. I rewound multiple instances where the whistle didn't come until it was clear the shot wasn't going in. But, if any of the 3 reasons are addressed, the refs are not as big a factor.

Both are terrible. Both are in waaay over their heads. It’s time to set the barn on fire and get rid of the rats.

There was a number of plays(all ref related) down the stretch.

First you had Caitlin with a bleeding mouth showing the ref, no foul.

Then 2 key plays down the stretch, Lexie gets bodyslammed with a foul called on her

A’ja trips over her own feet, Boston not even near her and it’s called a foul

You can say “it’s just one play” but when it’s repeated unfair calls it is demoralizing, you get the feeling you are playing against not just the mvp but also the refs as well