Let’s be honest, there is a cold war going on in Indiana, in my opinion. The cold war is between the Front Office and coaching staff of the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark. Just watch one of their games and see how Clark is utilized and the body language that is displayed between all the participants. The team is supposed to be one of the best in the WNBA with clark, Mitchell, and Boston powering the team on the offensive end while improving on the defensive end. Remember that word, supposed.
The offensive identity of this team is supposed to be the motion offense. Maybe. Watching the games featuring the Fever, it is Helter Skelter on the offense you are going to get. If it is supposed to a motion offense, then there needs to be motion from players that don’t have the ball. That doesn’t happen most of the time. When Clark decided that she isn’t going to follow the plan, the offense gets better, but players are out of position to play at peak efficiency. And when Clark isn’t bringing the ball up the floor or is sitting on the bench, Kelsey Mitchell runs the offense. Let’s be honest, she is a gunner that wants her points. Not a great thing if you are supposed to be running the motion offense. They can also pick and roll with Boston. That is usually a good thing, but they don’t do that much. When both Clark and Mitchell are on the floor, you look at the offense sideways and try to figure out what the hell is going on. Looks like a power struggle.
The defense is atrocious. They are routinely giving up more points than they should. sometimes you think that they have never heard of help defense. Teams have figured that out and drive hard to the paint. The lack of polished bigs hurt the Fever here. Plus, if you make star players work hard on defense or get them into foul trouble, then you have a better chance to win the game.
Back to the main point here, you have obvious friction between the fans, Clark, coaching staff and the Front Office. And that friction is causing more problems than it is worth. Clark is looking like she is being beaten down. Stephanie Whitew appears that she cannot get the team all on the same page. Past couple of games, the end plays that have been called have been changed by the players of the floor. Both good and bad have happened from that. Players appear that they might be taking sides to us on the outside. If they are or not, you cn see the frustration on the floor.
The fans are starting to become very loud about how Caitlin Clark is being used and ruined by the Fever. Most of the time, I do just brush that aside. However, lately it appears that they might have a point. It appears that Coach White is dismissive of the praise that is there with Clark and focuses in on the things that she had problems within that game. Add to the fact that people with known connections with the Fever Front Office are trashing Clark and her attitude tells me that the organization is down on their star player for some reason. And if the organization are saying that Clark is a diva and wants things her way, it is up to that Front Office to handle it with grace and dignity. Not character assassination through intermediaries.
The organization needs to make a decision right now on Clark and her perceived detractors within the organization. Either trade her or get rid of those people in the organization. I know which way that I would go. There would be a new coach and a couple of people in the front office would be fired as well. Especially a Senior advisor. Then after the changes were made, I would sit down with Caitlin Clark and tell her that she is the player that they want to build around but she needs to buy into what the organization is doing. Otherwise, she will be traded and has no say in where she goes.
The fever cash cow is in jeopardy, and the public is starting to find other things to do besides watch the WNBA. Even more important to me, the Fever will go back to a second-tier team in the league and look like the Sky do right now. When revenue goes down, it will hurt that market. But figure out what needs to happen here. Otherwise, you just might destroy the golden goose for the league and the team.