It's an interesting situation -- but sons of top coaches/players have had success in all sports, from Mike Shanahan of the 49ers to Wes Unseld, Jr., in the NBA, to Eric Musselman in the NCAA.
In this situation, the younger Thibault has an established position with the players and, for all we know, has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the past couple years. If he has been a major part of the team's success, and the players respect him as him, he'll be fine. The biggest adjustment is allocating playing time, which is what players care about most. As an assistant, you can always be the good cop, and any questions about playing time can be deflected to the head coach -- which allows the assistant to have a better relationship with players than the head coach. Now, Eric Thibault will be the one allocating that scarce resource and his relations with the players will shift accordingly, and likely for the worse.
As Bruce Springsteen says in the great movie about backup singers, "20 Feet from Stardom," it's a short distance from sitting on the bench to standing near the scorer's table, but it's a long walk.
Coaching sons have sometimes been successful, but it's almost always come when they've gone elsewhere while the father was still coaching (including all the examples Clay listed).
So Brittney Sykes is going to sign for three years with the Mystics and I think this is a strange fit for Washington. Sykes's main asset is her defense and she will reinforce one of the best perimeter defenses in the league. The problems with Sykes's fit with Washington is that 1) she can't shoot and 2) she's another guard. Washington already has problems with outside shooting (tenth in the league in three point % in 2022) and adding Sykes might make the problem worse. In terms of position, I don't see how Sykes is going to get decent playing time unless she plays significant minutes at the 3. Sykes is only 5'9 and this will create matchup problems with bigger wings. I've seen it discussed elsewhere that Natasha Cloud could help out here because she's a bigger point guard but she is only listed as 5'9 as well. They're great perimeter defenders but constantly guarding larger and stronger players does take its toll and it may affect other areas of their game.
Given the Mystics' existing lineup, I'm not sure why signing a defender who can't shoot was a priority for them - they already have Cloud and Atkins who are great perimeter defenders and EDD and Austin who are good interior defenders. They can afford to have a fifth starter who is a bit less competent at defense but can shoot from the outside.
Now Washington may have further transactions or draft picks in mind to address the outside shooting deficit or lack of size at the wing but yeah, I'm not really feeling this signing for Washington so far.
Idk what the Thibaults are doing to truly improve the team, cuz these moves so far ain’t it
I’d like the Sykes signing more if she signed for a lot less, the 3-years part of it aside – conventional wisdom says either less money/more years or more money/less years when signing middling or even good-but-not-great players
So it feels now like a giant (over)commitment to Sykes, and we don’t even know yet the numbers for Toliver or SWK
I guess they still sorta need a bigger SF type, which may be where the #4 comes in
Atkins resembles a SF the most out of their guard bunch. Cloud also has enough to body up some smaller 3s. Sykes too has played the 3. It’s a starting group that may struggle offensively though, especially if Delle Donne ever becomes limited again and if Austin’s offense doesn’t continue to improve.
I wonder if someone else goes after Machida, given the league wide need for PGs. I could see the Storm going after her if Ramu Tokashiki had good things to say to Machida about the Storm – I’m sure they’ve spoken about the subject at least once.
The problem with Machida is that she didn't look very good as a half court point guard last year, doesn't have an outside shot and doesn't add much defensively. She's fun to watch in transition but that's not going to win you a WNBA roster spot by itself.
Yeah I'm not sure whether adding L.A Sparks guards is really going to help the Mystics. That perimeter rotation looks awfully clogged with 5'7 to 5'9 guards and the best wing defender is Shatori Walker-Kimbrough? Yipes.
Her lack of an outside shot will lower her appeal, though her speed is undeniable. I’m biased, but I’ve always liked PGs who can shoot from the outside, even if they’re not very fast. It’d be a no on Machida from me, but this may be a decent year for a bad team to really try her out in a bigger role.