Post by clayk on Apr 16, 2022 11:23:33 GMT -5
Training camps (preseason practices) are crucial for team development, as any coach will tell you. It's a time to put in Xs and Os, but it's also a time to get players to adjust to their roles and the other personalities on the team.
All of that takes some time, and the WNBA's push for prioritization makes it clear how important that is to the franchises.
But this year's training camps, like the ones before, are pretty much an exercise in public relations. You bring in a local player (Chantel Horvath to the Sparks, say) to get a story on social media and elsewhere. and you work with a bunch of players who will either a) never see the court for your team or b) will be the 10th and 11th players, and if they're playing, you're doomed anyway.
As fans, we pay attention, but really, not much is happening. Even casual fans know who the players are, and of the 15 at camp, maybe a third matter to the team's upcoming season. And that group of players has one goal: Don't get hurt. (The coaches feel the same, by the way.)
And it does no good to put in baseline out-of-bounds plays when half the rotation is missing. You can't refine the pick-and-roll when the roller is still in Italy. You can't tell who can switch onto a small forward and do a credible job when the small forward isn't there or isn't trying very hard.
Next year, perhaps, we'll have actual training camps with actual opportunities to coach and improve the product on the floor. But this year, as in the past, it's a few sound bites and Instagram posts that amount to almost nothing of import.
All of that takes some time, and the WNBA's push for prioritization makes it clear how important that is to the franchises.
But this year's training camps, like the ones before, are pretty much an exercise in public relations. You bring in a local player (Chantel Horvath to the Sparks, say) to get a story on social media and elsewhere. and you work with a bunch of players who will either a) never see the court for your team or b) will be the 10th and 11th players, and if they're playing, you're doomed anyway.
As fans, we pay attention, but really, not much is happening. Even casual fans know who the players are, and of the 15 at camp, maybe a third matter to the team's upcoming season. And that group of players has one goal: Don't get hurt. (The coaches feel the same, by the way.)
And it does no good to put in baseline out-of-bounds plays when half the rotation is missing. You can't refine the pick-and-roll when the roller is still in Italy. You can't tell who can switch onto a small forward and do a credible job when the small forward isn't there or isn't trying very hard.
Next year, perhaps, we'll have actual training camps with actual opportunities to coach and improve the product on the floor. But this year, as in the past, it's a few sound bites and Instagram posts that amount to almost nothing of import.
