The Portland Fire are in a difficult position. They have no players on the roster and can’t truly plan their expansion draft and free agency approach until a new CBA is signed, which doesn’t seem likely to happen soon.
The Fire have one key piece in place, though: a head coach. They hired Cleveland Cavaliers’ assistant coach Alex Sarama, following the latest WNBA coaching trend and choosing a coach with NBA experience. Sarama comes with a great reputation as a player development coach and his constraints-led approach has many supporters.
However, one thing he lacks is experience in the women’s game and the WNBA. The Fire already made a move to address that issue. They hired Sylvia Fowles as an assistant coach. The Hall of Famer will bring extensive WNBA experience and a presence that players can relate to to the table.
Sylvia Fowles had a very successful WNBA career
Knowing how the league and its players work is an essential aspect of finding success as a coach in the WNBA. Having playing experience and being able to relate to what players are going through is also an asset that allows coaches to build trust and good relationships with players. Sylvia Fowles will bring all of that to the Fire.
Fowles played fifteen seasons in the WNBA between 2008 and 2022, suiting up for the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx. Since Fowles retired fairly recently, she played against most veteran stars currently in the league and some of the coaches, and that knowledge will help the Fire on the sidelines.
Moreover, Fowles knows what it takes to win and to become one of the best players in the league—knowledge that will be invaluable to a team building everything from the ground up. She won two WNBA championships and Finals MVPs, was the 2017 regular-season MVP, took home four Defensive Player of the Year awards, and made several All-Star, All-WNBA, and All-Defensive teams over her career. Fowles even still led the league in rebounding and made an All-Defensive Team in her final WNBA season.
Fowles’s experience as a player should make her a key contributor to the Fire’s culture.
Much like Alex Sarama has never held a head coaching position, Fowles has never worked as an assistant coach before. Fowles actually began studying mortuary science in her late playing years, planning for a future far away from basketball. Now, she will make her WNBA return and bolster a still small coaching staff that only includes Sarama, Fowles, and Brittni Donaldson so far. The latter also comes from the NBA ranks.