After Sunday’s 87-84 WNBA semifinals loss to the New York Liberty, the Connecticut Sun’s season is officially over.
There wasn’t a dull moment in Connecticut’s season. Last year’s Sixth Player of the Year Brionna Jones tore her Achilles after 13 games. Alyssa Thomas broke multiple records and earned the most first-place MVP votes even though she ultimately was not named MVP. Stephanie White won Coach of the Year, leading the Sun to a third-place finish.
White, along with every Sun player reflected Tuesday on the season and what’s next for them. Here are a few of the biggest takeaways from what they had to say:
Having Fun
It obviously sounds cliché. But when Thomas — who’s been with Connecticut since 2014 — says it’s “the most fun that I’ve had in Connecticut in a while,” it means a little more.
“We just had a good group and everybody meshed really well together,” five-year Sun point guard Natisha Heideman said. “We had a lot of success on the court, but we had this togetherness off the court as well.”
Current Los Angeles Sparks coach Curt Miller led Connecticut’s coaching staff from 2016-2022. Alongside a few offseason player acquisitions, the Sun didn’t look the same as the years prior.
“I think anytime there’s new energy, a new vibe, it makes a difference,” White said. “I think all of us have been around whether it’s teams, work environments or, heck, sometimes even family. Just a new personality coming in, it just brings a different vibe.
“I think the second thing is players like the way that we play. They like having ownership, they like having options, they like having freedom. The way that we play, while it’s a lot of responsibility, it also allows a lot of freedom.”
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Stephanie White’s coaching style
As previously mentioned, White won Coach of the Year this season after guiding Connecticut to a 27-13 record. It was her first time as a WNBA coach since the 2015 and 2016 season, where she led the Indiana Fever to the playoffs in both years, and the Finals in ‘15.
“I think (White) coming in and bringing a new style, somebody that’s been in the league, played in the league, just somebody that understood what we were going through and it was refreshing and definitely a season to remember,” Thomas said.
White’s system, specifically offense, had similar success to last season’s team. Even after trading former MVP Jonquel Jones and the early loss of Brionna Jones, who were the team’s two leading scorers in 2022, the offense barely missed a step. They averaged three fewer points from a season ago, but also two more offensive rebounds and two fewer turnovers.
“I learned a lot because that was something I’ve never seen before,” Sun forward DeWanna Bonner said of White’s system. “In my 14 years of (WNBA) basketball, that was the first time I’ve seen a system like that. Just her creativity with basketball would be the main thing (I learned). It’s really fun to know you can play positionless basketball.”
“The style of play, especially offensively, was completely different,” three-year Connecticut wing DiJonai Carrington said. “It’s been very back-to-the-basket, post heavy and playing through the post. This year it was more spread out and kind positionless playing through (Thomas) at the four.”
White herself said she’s witnessed the philosophy of positionless basketball creep it’s way into the WNBA, and she’s trying to build off it. In defense of Miller’s tenure, getting away from the post is easier after trading away Jonquel Jones, a 6-foot-6-inch matchup nightmare for almost any team down low. As a result of the spacing, the Sun also shot 149 more 3-pointers than they did in 2022, hitting them at a 36-percent clip.
What needs the most improvement
White mentioned her satisfaction on the offensive end, along with her team’s toughness and resiliency. She also had no hesitation in pointing out where the Sun can grow in 2024.
“Certainly, on the offensive side of the ball, getting the ball moving quicker,” she said. “Our pace and space needs to continue to get better. Being more creative. We probably had two or three options this year of things we could have four or five options for.
“Defensively, getting a little bit more creative and thinking outside the box and getting out of our comfort zone in terms of coverages. I felt like for a lot of the season we defended people’s actions instead of taking them out of their actions … I think we can get to another level there.”
Free agency will dictate the direction of this team, Thomas and Heideman are the only two starters under contract for next season. But White will have another offseason for fine-tuning her system revolving around her MVP candidate.
Comparing Alyssa Thomas to Tamika Catchings
Twice in the past three days, White compared Thomas to Tamika Catchings. Catchings is a Hall of Famer, 10-time All-Star, 2011 MVP and led the Indiana Fever to a championship in 2012. The Connecticut coach was Catchings’ teammate on the Fever from 2002-2004, and then coached her at Indiana from 2011-2016, both in assistant and head roles.
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“Most people aren’t like (Thomas),” White said before Game 4 Sunday. “I’ve been around one other person that competes like that, and that’s Tamika Catchings. Most people aren’t like that.”
White’s offenses also ran through each of them.
“We utilized (Catchings) in some of the ways we utilize (Thomas),” White said in her end-of-season interview with media Tuesday. “(Catchings) was a little more of a perimeter-oriented player that ran kind of point forward for us at that point in her career. (Thomas) is more of a forward who runs the legitimate point forward.
“(We tried) to move (Thomas) around and get scorers closer to the rim using her as a facilitator. Where (with Catchings) it was trying to get her perimeter shots while using her as a facilitator as well.”
Catchings is arguably the best two-way player in WNBA history and a consensus top-five player of all time. On top of her aforementioned accolades, she won Defensive Player of the Year five times and is the all-time leader in steals.
