September 9, 2025 • 52 mins
Today’s Best of Features:
(00:00-15:07) – Indiana Fever Head Coach Stephanie White makes her weekly appearance on Query & Company to discuss what the team is trying to accomplish in their regular season finale tonight. She also comments on what the hardest part about coaching is, reveals that she is relieved that she doesn’t have to be asked about Caitlin Clark all the time anymore, and accesses what makes this team so resilient.
(15:07-34:50) – ESPN.com’s Stephen Holder kicks off the second hour of the show by joining Jake Query to recap Sunday’s dominating win for the Colts over the Dolphins, thinks that the offensive line’s performance isn’t being talked about enough following Sunday’s performance, discusses if Chris Ballard’s thinking could change about trading Anthony Richardson if Daniel Jones continues to play at this level, and reveals what his last unnecessary Costco purchase was.
(34:50-52:48) – Scott Agness from Fieldhouse Files joins Jake Query to tip off the final hour of the program to discuss tonight’s regular season finale against the Minnesota Lynx, examines how the Fever played against their potential playoff opponents, how they’ve adapted gameplan’s no matter who is in the lineup and how the coverage of the Indiana Fever has changed during his time covering the team. Scott also comments on the WNBA continuing to expand and how it impacts the Fever going forward. Also, which teams would be ideal playoff matchups for the Fever?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now, and I'm sure thrilled to be doing
so based on that intro. She is the head coach
of the Indiana Fever, who tonight finished the regular season
with a game at seven point thirty. You can hear
the pre game at seven fifteen with Eddie between the
Fever and the Minnesota Lynx, and Stephanie White has her
team bound for the playoffs. After that, Coach, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm well, how are you well?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I mean, listen, I waded through the Taylor Swift thing there.
I got through it just okay, right, I mean that
was okay. I don't think Eddy really played enough of
it though, for to really what your whistle?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Right?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
No, I mean I can't believe that that catchy tune
that you weren't sitting along.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It's not bad.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It's not Oasis.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
But listen now, I have somewhat bad news for you here, coach.
I went to the Oasis concert at the Rose Bowl
on Saturday night, and I thought the urine flying cups
was just a British thing, and it appears as though
it's not.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So yeah, that's really bad.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
So if you go to a show to go see Oasis,
just you don't want to be on the main floor
up in the stands. You're fine. Down on the main
floor a little bit dangerous.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It's probably as likely of a chance of me going
to asis as you go on.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Taylor's okay, it's fair point taking. Okay, let's get to
this to begin with tonight, and that is, you know,
you have a situation here that's unique because Minnesota is
very good. We know that Minnesota may also you know,
they may have some players that are not available, but
there's still a lot to play for. This is not
one because sometimes we see it like at the end
of the year where you say, hey, we've got the
(01:32):
postseason to get ready for, and so therefore we're maybe
going to do things differently or rest or not show everything.
But this is a big one for you tonight because
you still have seating that is in play. Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yes, we've got seating that's in play. And for us
again continuing to really mesh our new players and be
clicking as much on all cylinders as we possibly can
heading into the playoffs. So seating implications, yes, certainly, but
also momentum, just just continuing to build strong positive momentum
(02:05):
with our group.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I was thinking about this with that, okay, And I
this is going to sound weird the way I ask this,
But with so much talk that has been and I
don't mean within your locker room, okay, but the media,
the fans, you know, anywhere you turn, with so much
of the season conversation being about the question of the
(02:28):
availability of Caitlyn Clark as a coach, how did you
address to your team so that there is not a
resentment of Look, we are defined by who we are,
not who we are not? Does that make sense what
I'm saying? And you know, how did you balance that
to keep the rest of the roster aware of and
(02:50):
on task and on point of the fact that you
are all professionals that have a chance to win in
this league and you can't pay attention to people worrying
and wondering about who's not here.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Well, I mean we talk about it frequently, just the
being able to you know, for for lack of a
better term, silence and noise, which which it's it's it's
very difficult to do, right. There's the noise that are
outside the building, outside the locker room, and and and
you really have to make it a point to set
boundaries and and you've got to make points to invest
(03:23):
in in in us and one another. And we talked,
we've talked about that since the beginning of the season.
We knew that there were going to be lots of expectations.
We know that there are lots of fans and and
there are lots of people who aren't fans who have
taken who aren't w NBA fans or women's basketball fans,
who have taken an interest in our team. And and
so for us, it's it's more about pouring into what's
(03:44):
in our locker room. And so we haven't had to
have outside of just continual reminders, constant conversations. I I
think and I hope and I believe that you know,
for us, the way that we interact with one another
on a daily basis the way that we prioritize our
key over over individual are we over me and pouring
(04:04):
into the relationships on this team that you you you
get that, and you know that, and you know that
it's about who's on the floor just as much as
who's not on the floor. But those people who are
not on the floor are still very much a part
of the fabric of who we are. And I think
it's everything from our daily engagement with one another to
their daily engagement with their teammates even though they're not
(04:25):
playing on the floor. It's really about relationship and how
we've continued to build relationship and and and at the
end of the day, there are a lot of narratives
that are out there in the media in social media
that absolutely aren't true. And because we know them, we
know what is true. It's able to keep keep our
players engaged in what really matters.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
What player on your roster that is you know, that
is going to be playing for you in the playoffs
is the key to your resiliency.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I mean, I don't know if if it's any one player,
I think it's it really is. The the sum is
great ter than its parts, you know. I think our
you know, u Aliah Boston is a great communicator and
connector uh, you know, Natasha Howard has been a really
good leader for our group. You know, Kelsey Mitchell has
put us on on our on our back.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I think when you have players like that that that
have been on the floor, and then you you look
at at Sidney Colson, who's been a part of championship
teams who is also like a coach on the floor
and now she's she's on the venture in practice coaching.
It's on the sideline. And you know Sophie who brings
energy and uh and and and Caitlin who has been
working her way back but still actively involved on the
sideline of pouring into her teammates. I mean, you know,
(05:36):
all of all of it matters, and so I don't
know if there's any one singular. I just think we
have a really good, solid group of women who pour
into each other on a daily basis, and and that
allow us to be allow us to be uh be
be better at the unit.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
By the way, when you talk about Stephanie White is
our guest. She is the head coach of the Indiana Fever.
Fever in Action tonight seven thirty pre game, you can
art listening to it seven fifteen on this radio station.
When you talk about seeing narratives that are inaccurate about
your team, give me an example.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I mean, I know, I don't. I'm not on social media,
so I don't really, but you know, just hearing conversations,
you know, I have to tell even my family sometimes
like I don't want to know everything that's out there. Hey,
is this true? Is that true? Is that whatever? So
I think that there are often, you know, narratives about
whether it's players not getting along or whether it's you
know who, who knows what else. I don't know, but
(06:34):
it's just it's just there are I think it's my
product of just our culture right now in trying to
create oftentimes create division where there's not division and utilizing
social media to do that. And whether it's the reality
of its fans, if it's bots, if it's whatever, it's
not exactly sure. But you know, for us, I think
(06:57):
making sure that our players understand how to create boundaries,
you know, how to create separation. The young people don't
get off of social media, right, I mean, their brands
are associated with social media. Sold people can do that,
but to be able to keep the focus and keep
the main thing, the main thing, and the focus is
on our group, how we come together, how we continue
to to build our culture that is going to set
(07:22):
us up for championship type of culture year after year.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
I do know this. I'm fairly certain of this coach
on my social media, anybody that reacts to anything I
post definitely about I'm convinced of that. I'm like, wait
a minute, no person's actually responding to this. All right,
We're going to do a fun exercise.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Here are you ready?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
M uh.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
We thought of a question for you, and then I thought,
you know what, here's how I think you're going to
answer said question. So what we're going to do is
I'm going to ask you the question, I'm going to
allow you to answer it, and then I'm going to
play for you. Eddie has the audio of me predicting
your answer, and then I want you to grade my answer.
Okay on coach speak. The question for you is this
(08:09):
Stephanie White, and that is over the course of the season,
and in particular the second half of the season, clearly
a big talking point around the Indiana fever was the
availability the health of Caitlin Clark. Now that we have
answer to that, even though I know that you would
love to have her as a player, are you somewhat
relieved to have that answer so that you don't have
(08:31):
to continue to answer that question?
Speaker 6 (08:34):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, I'm relieved to not have to answer that question
every day, to not have to keep repeating myself. But
you're absolutely right, like not relieve the fact that Caitlin
Clark isn't on the fourth for US.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Okay, now here's the answer in my coach speak that
I gave and that I want you to critique my answer.
Maybe it's a little too involved. Here we go, Eddie, Well,
Caitlin's a great player, and you know, I think it
speaks to what a great player she is, and it's
a testament to her contribution not only in the WNBA,
but are placed in women's basketball and what she means
to this franchise that I'm asked that a lot. So
(09:07):
I understand the questions and to an extent, it's, you know,
part of the job and it's an honor to be
able to oversee this franchise that has such a great
player on it. But at the same time, you know,
we still have games to win, and we still have
a great roster of women that are ready and prepared,
and we've had a lot of players that have stepped
(09:28):
up and that's what we want to focus on. Okay,
how would you grade my answer?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
That was pretty good?
Speaker 3 (09:36):
It's just pretty good.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
That was that was I mean, can I coach?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
No, I don't know. There's a lot more that goes
into coaching than just answering questions.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
You know what is the hardest part of coaching, you know,
it's it's the challenge of number one, how you build consistency.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I mean, you know, it's we are our season isn't
as long as the NBA season, but it's still forty
four games. And as a coach, you want your players
to be at their best every game and putting combinations
of players together that can that can do that. Not
you can't just put the five best players always just
on the floor and expect them to have the chemistry
and the continuity and the and uh the complementary assets
(10:17):
to be the best unit on the floor. I think
being able to try to stay ahead of the curve
and in in in game planning, execution offensively, defensively, the
chess match that that entails that as well. And and
it's a lot about about player management and relationships and
you know, pouring into your players while holding them accountable,
(10:39):
understanding what it takes, you know, managing ego. There's there's
all of those things, because every single person in any
profession has an ego, or you wouldn't be there, right
And then how do you navigate managing the the individual
ego and appealing to that while also selectively uh the
team ego and and what is best for the team.
(10:59):
And so those are all challenging aspects of putting teams together.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I wanted to ask you one other thing, Stephanie White,
our guest, I thought about this. I read an article,
Stephanie about Justin Fields, the quarterback for the New York
Jets that was you know, in Chicago before that, of course,
Ohio State quarterback. And I'm going to get into this
later in the show, but I read an article where
he just did an interview about the fact that he
(11:25):
had juvenile epilepsy and then he had to deal with
seizures when he was a kid. And it jumped out
to me because I myself had juvenile epilepsy and I
look back on the time when I was a kid
and just knowing that I was a little bit different
in that regard, and I've always kind of been proud
of it because it made me different and it was
just something, you know, that's part of my story, so
to speak. But I was happy that he was talking
(11:49):
about that because it will give young kids, you know,
that go through that somebody look up to and say, hey,
you know what, like I can achieve my goals and whatnot.
And so I wanted to ask you, when you were
a younger player and a younger athlete, was there either
an athlete that you identified with that gave you like
an aspiration or a hope or was there something that
(12:12):
you went through as a young person that you look
back on and you say, that was something that was
difficult in the time, but maybe somebody young can learn
from what Stephanie White went through.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, you know, there were There weren't a lot of
athletes that were visible to me as a young player
that I necessarily looked up to to emulate in terms
of women's sports, because women's sports weren't televised like they
are now when I was a kid. You know, that
was a lifetime ago. I mean certainly, you know, I
(12:44):
watched the NBA. I watched college basketball, mostly the men,
you know, But I think the thing that that always
motivated me when I was young. Remember one, I just
I always enjoyed playing sport. But number two, my parents
were barely eighteen when I was born, and you know,
we didn't have a lot growing up. In fact, I've
I've you know, often tell my kids this story about
(13:06):
and I know they rolled their eyes like most kids
do and their parents talk. But like most of the
time growing up, I had one pair of shoes that
I had that had to last meet the entire year.
Like we just didn't have anything. And I knew that,
you know, for me, the opportunity to go to college
was likely going to come through other means. And I
(13:27):
didn't know that basketball was going to be it, you know.
And then I got into when I got into seventh grade,
I got my first recruiting letter, you know, for basketball,
and it was like, okay, well maybe this is my
way to to be able to go to college, to
be able to to to find my way into you know,
a university and get a free education. And it saved
my parents. My parents had to work incredibly hard, you know.
(13:49):
My mom went back to college when I was in
fifth grade and went on to become a teacher and
showed me a lot of life lessons about what that
meant for hard work and you know, handling things as
they come, handling university. And just didn't have a lot
growing up, and so basketball was always number one my
escape and number two the thing that I thought was
(14:10):
going to get me to college and get me an
education and get me a degree that was going to
hopefully propel me. So whatever was next, I had no
idea what that would be at the time, and little
did I know that it would take me around the
world and give me this profession and these relationships that
I've been able to build because of that. So, you know,
I am a quintessential quote unquote, who's your story coming
(14:30):
from a small town, coming from nothing and being able
to fulfill my dreams.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
And then so what.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
School was it when you were in seventh grade? Was
it Perdue?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It was not. Purdue. Louisiana Tech was my first college.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
That's a big one. I mean, that was a big program.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
That's impressive.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
All right.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, Well, obviously people are happy that you stuck close
to home and ended up at Purdue, and we know
the story from there. But tonight, seven thirty story continues
against Minnesota. Coach will wish you the best of luck
and in the playoffs as well.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
All right, appreciate it, Thank you, all right.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Stephanie White joining us the head coach of the Indiana Fever.
I'd like to know between myself and Steven Holder. Eddie,
which one you actually think is the sharp dressed man Caleb? Okay,
that's Caleb's Iversouver who's hanging out with us in here today.
He's a coworker, I mean, but he's hanging out and shadowing.
(15:23):
Usually when people shadow it's because Eddie, you spring on
me at the last minute. You're going on vacation. Are
you going on vacation again somewhere next month? Yeah? Next month,
next month? Yeah, Okay, that's when you're driving to You
can number have too many pictures in the bullpen, Jake.
Speaker 7 (15:37):
It's like sunglasses and phone chargers. Look at you, Eddie
with the query analogies. I like it joining us now,
and I'm sure thrilled to be doing so on the
always busy and shockingly unsponsored guest line. Stephen Holder is
with ESPN dot Com. Steven, I'm going to begin with
this coming off of game number one for the Colts,
and we'll rehash that in a second, but from an
injury standpoint, you know, Shane Stik and oftentimes afterwards we'll
(15:59):
just kind of go over what they found out over
the course of a game. Between the game and then
yesterday as well, where do we stand in terms of
players that may have been dinged up in game number one?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Well, I think the big one is Shavarius Ward. Uh.
He is in the concussion protocol and that didn't really
present or the symptoms didn't present themselves until I think
Monday morning, So they have sidelined him until that gets resolved. No,
you know, no way to project whether that lingers into
(16:35):
this weekend yet or not, but certainly that's going to
be a big one to watch because they also are
dealing with h Jalen Jones with a hamstring injury. You know,
he would be the next corner off the bench, and
you know behind you know the top three, which would
be Ward, Kenny Moore, and I guess Xavier excuse me,
(17:00):
Xavian Howard. And so that injury is problematic too, just
to compounds the Ward situation. So corner was was an
injury or was't? Was an area of a lot of
injuries in the preseason, and we at least for right now,
there's there's a lot of problems there. Again, So those
are the two spots I think you got to watch
(17:21):
for as the week goes on.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Okay, here's a wild one and I have. This is literally,
I just have this weird feeling. There's nothing to base
this on other than he like took a weird hit
and then didn't return to the game, but he didn't
need to. And that is is there any chance We're
going to find out that Jonathan Taylor's not one hundred
percent okay?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
So that was asked, and uh, I did not get
the sense that there's anything going on there since Dykin
said he was fine. He said that they pulled them
because the score was kind of lopsided and maybe he
was a little dinged up not There's a difference between
being dans up in being you know, actually hurt, I
(18:02):
suppose in the minds of NFL people, But I don't
think there's any official injury diagnosis at this moment, so
we'll see. So I'm in the locker room back to
the game. He certainly spent a lot of time in
the training room, but Taylor tends to do that anyway.
He's always one of the last guys out because he
(18:23):
does have a very intense sort of postgame routine. So
I think he's okay unless and until you hear differently again.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Stephen Holder is our guest ESPN dot com. All right, Steven,
let's get to the game itself. I'm gonna ask this
one in elementary form. Did we learn more Sunday about
Indianapolis or Miami.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
That's a great question, because I don't. I don't know that.
It's actually tough, the tough question to answer. I would
say this, the Dolphins were infinitely worse than I anticipated,
at least game right. I don't know what they're going
to be all season, but in that game, they're infinitely
worse than I could have projected. I did think there
(19:09):
was a scenario whether the Colts could be very good,
but they were. They were far better than my wildest expectations.
That is certainly true. But I think we probably learned
more about the Dolphins. But I'm not. But I'm also
not discounting what the Colts did whatsoever, not at all,
(19:30):
because I think there are some things there that you
can build on. Now that defense is legit. I thought
it might be, and I think it is. I still
think that. I think a couple of things. Number One, Uh,
they lou Narriumo has a great knack for timing blitzes,
stunts and twists different coverages, you know, like dropping Laatu
(19:55):
Latu into a zone drop at just the right time.
I mean that that's just a knack that a veteran coach,
you know, you know, not to call him old, but
he's been around a long time, you know, a guy
like Loui an Rumo just has an act for those things.
So that's something this defense can build on. And the
pass rush was very good too, So I think that's
(20:16):
something that can you can take with you throughout the season.
The other thing I would say is, I mean Tyler
Warren is exactly who we thought he was. I mean,
I had no doubts, but it was certainly confirmation. And
the other thing I'd say is, you know, look when
Shane Steichen has a quarterback who he can speak the
(20:36):
same language with, he can get a lot out of him.
And I think we saw that with Gardner Minshew a
couple of years ago, and I wondered if this could
be a better version of that, And it looks like
it's possible. But we'll see this week.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
One, Steven, when you look at let's go to Tyler Warren.
It is my belief and I want you to tell
me if this, if you think that I'm game one
overreaction type stuff. But I think Tyler Warren is going
to be the key, like you know, little floating piece
(21:11):
in the cell here that everything feeds off of, and
they're going to try to establish him early in games
with a couple of looks in the first couple of drives,
because then defenses have to constantly keep an eye on
him more than any other player, and that frees up
everybody else more so than any other player that they
(21:31):
could do that with. Am I overreacting?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Well, I think there will be games where that's true.
It'll be it will vary from game to game, so
I think there will be games where that player is
Jonathan Taylor. Now that wasn't the case on Sunday because
the Dolphins, as you can see, they shut the run
game down, or at least they made it difficult to run.
I mean, Taylor was I think three point eight or
(21:58):
nine yards per care which is not notable at all.
I mean he's he's certainly for his career well above
four yards per carry, maybe close to five. So I
would say that wasn't one of those games for Jonathan Taylor,
But I think with Tyler Warren maybe it was. And
this was by design. The Colts came into that game
(22:20):
thinking we have an opportunity to throw the ball, and
so who did they come out throwing the ball too?
Right out of the gate. It was Tyler Warren. So
I do think there was an effort to do exactly
what you just said in the first certainly in the
first half I guess of that game and then threw
out as well. And he is tonesetter, though, and I
think that's a good thing. I think it's good thinking
(22:42):
he's a tone setter. When he catches the ball. There's
more to come after he catches the ball because now
you got to tackle him. So he's a real tone
setter and the kind of guy you want to include
into your scripted early plays because that can get you going.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Daniel Jones looked, I thought, very good. And I said
yesterday Steven that Daniel Jones showed why Shane Steichen's an
NFL coach and I'm a radio host, And by that,
I mean he sees all the inner workings, and I
think he knew with this offense that Jones is the
(23:20):
guy that can hit the layups and that's what they
need to use Chris Ballard's term. So you got that
like check good, quarterback, play good, tight end play good.
You know we know what John Andan Taylor is. Michael Pittman,
you know, we know who he is. With all of
the positives that came that we talked about, who is
somebody or an area or aspect on Sunday that you
(23:42):
thought was very positive for Indianapolis that got overshadowed by
those other storylines.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
The offensive line, I really thought they did a good job.
Daniel Jones part of the reason he was so successful.
And I'm not saying that he doesn't deserve credit. He
deserves a lot of credit. That was a great performance.
But let's give let's give everybody credit. That offensive line
did a fantastic job. I talked to Shaan Stikeen last
(24:10):
week and one of the things he told me was
he said, this entire game boils down to whether we
can block those guys up front. He was very worried
about it. Worries might not be the right word, but
he was definitely concerned and wanted to see if it
could hold up. He wasn't entirely sure they did. They
(24:32):
felt they held up beautifully, and I think when you
look at the two new starters on that unit. There
were questions there, and I don't have a lot of
questions today because that was a tough opening matchup for
whatever people might think about the Dolphins today, which is
not much. I get that that defensive front, the personnel
(24:52):
they have up front. You look at the names there,
those are legit guys, and they did not really have
much of an effect on Angel Jones whatsoever. So the
other thing that was interesting is, I don't know, this
might be more of a Shane Stikeing thing, or maybe
it's a reflection of the Dolphins. I don't know, but
I don't know that I've ever seen that many wide
(25:13):
open guys, So whatever he was doing to scheme those
guys wide open, or maybe the Dolphins are just a
complete travesty and can't cover anybody. But for whatever reason,
they schemed a lot of guys wide open. That was
a fantastic job by Shane Ssykeing. I got to get
him some credit there too. So off in the line
and then Shane's play calling chefs.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Kiss do you, by the way, I noticed you used
travesty there? Do you more often than not find yourself
using travesty? I mean, is that maybe your safety one
train wreck or dumpster fire? Which one do you most
prefer when describing a team. I think it's hard to Stephen.
As the Colts beat writer for the last decade or so,
you've had plenty of opportunity for all three.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yeah, I think I'm partial to train wreck. Yeah, I
think I am, and I've had a lot of practice.
As you said, I don't find myself using dumpster fire
quite as much.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Dumpster Fire I think is safer because though here's the thing.
Dumpster fire I think is safer because we've never actually
had like human loss due to dumpster fire anywhere.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Right, No, right, No one dies, right, no one. No
one dies in a dumpster fire. Right, train wrecks they can.
So that's it's definitely very insensitive of me to describe
the Colt as a train wreck. There you go, because
no one dies when they lose, you just feel like
you want to die sometimes, right with the way they've
played over the last you know, ten.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Years or so, based on one game, was there something
and it's it's been a long time since we've been
able to say this, and that is if you were
somebody who was a professional dumpstered fire seeker and you
were looking at the Indianapolis Colts and you're like, Okay,
I need to find an area to nitpick that was
(26:57):
a negative in Game one? Was there one? Was there
an area that might have been forecasting that there could
be a problem this year, but everything else masked it.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
You know, I would say, I don't think it's going
to be a problem, but you do want to be
able to run the ball with a little bit of consistency.
They got some better runs as the game went on.
I'll give them that, but this offense did shut them down.
At the same time, I think you're not surprised by
that because that's the kind of personnel they have up front.
(27:32):
So the question that there is one would be, can
this offensive line and the personnel they have and you know,
this composition of the offensive line, can this line create
the running lanes the way they have over the last
few years. And I guess we'll have to wait till
week two to see if that if that is true
or not.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Somebody asked me this question, Steven Steveholder, our guest, and
it's a very good question that I wanted to pass
along to you. So let's get background to this. To begin,
the NFL players Association, Is it my understanding? I think
this is correct. Each team in the league has a
player that represents that franchise's players within the players Association. Correct.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Yeah, there are player reps for every team, at least one.
I think most teams even have two, Okay, and then
and then And in addition to that, there is an
Executive Committee of the Union, which is I don't know,
eight to ten guys something like that, and that is
composed of players throughout the league as well.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And Ryan Kelly was on that executive committee while a
member of the Colts. He is obviously no longer a
member of the Colts. Do we know who is the
Colts representative on the NFLPA.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Oh, that's a good question. It tends to change every year,
or it can.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
It.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Zire Franklin comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
But AMREI did Eddie you believe it's Kenny. I think
Kenny Moore did an interview on train Camp with the
Morning Show ad mention of it.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Okay, I honestly I haven't. I haven't followed up on
who it is this year. Sometimes it's more than one guy.
I mean, I said Zaire because in the past he
has kind of been at the forefront of some union
related things, but it could well become any more. That
makes sense. I honestly haven't followed up for this new season.
They usually decided, I think in training camp, so that's
(29:26):
probably accurate.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Steven. I know that Chris Ballard, and I also know
the broken record nature of what I'm about to ask,
But I know that Chris Ballard has been very adamant
about the fact that Anthony Richardson is not on the
trade block. I understand that. But if Daniel Jones one
game does not a season make. But if Daniel Jones
is able to play at the efficiency game in and
(29:49):
game out that we saw in week one, does that
change Chris Ballard's tune?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Too early to say, however, I do. I would say
this when when he came out and said he was
not trading him, I thought I understood at that point
at least you have to assume at that point that
the uncertainty about Daniel Jones was at least a factor,
if not the primary factor, it was at least some factor.
(30:16):
The other factor was that Daniel Jones does have some
injury history, which they acknowledge, So you know, there's a
little you know, a little uneasiness about that, But you
have to think, watching that game, it's certainly more likely
today than it was prior to that game. I mean,
(30:36):
I'm not saying it's likely at all. I'm saying it's
it's at least a little bit more likely today given
what you just saw from Daniel Jones. Because a big
part of any hesitation in trading Anthony Richardson was what
do we have in Daniel Jones? Because what if you
were wrong about him? Right? And look, we have sixteen
games to go. We know nothing. Okay, we really know
(30:59):
nothing yet. I warned fans they come up to you,
you know, at Starbucks or Costco and like, hey, you know,
what do you think about this? What do you think
about that? And my advice is always like, let's talk
after week three, just because generally, after like three or
four weeks, you start to see the trends, you start
to see some you know, you start to see the
(31:19):
identity of players and teams and all that. So you know,
we know nothing after week one. However, that was it
was such a good performance that you have to feel
infinitely better today than you did what you know, seventy
two hours ago about Daniel Jones and that includes the colts.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
What's the last thing that you impulse bought at Costco
because you were there and you're like, oh my gosh,
this is a deal I can't pass up. It happens
like every third time you go in there, right.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Yeah, you know, I this is such a stupid thing.
I went in there the other day. I buy these
protein bars there because you know, that's what. So I
grab a protein bar in the morning and I go
to the gym. That's what. That's like my old man routine.
And so I'm a creature of habit. I'm at that age, right,
And so I go in there, no shopping cart, no
(32:11):
shopping cart because I'm just running in, right, I'm not
buying anything. When me get my protein bars, go through
the self checkout, and I'm out of it. I'm out of
there in five minutes, right. But as I walk in,
They've got that shelf right in the front, across from
the TVs and it's got all this random stuff and
they had this like twelve pack of toothbrushes, and I
was like, these are amazing toothbrushes. Oh my god. I
(32:35):
mean because you know, people come over. You know, my
daughter has a sleepover or family comes visit or whatever,
and everybody inevitably needs a toothbrush, right, and you know,
and I'm like.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Going on, are you treating your house like a holiday inn?
Like if people kids come to spend the night, they
get a free toothbrush out of the deal.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Well, I mean, I guess she's got to pick better
for apparently, because she has friends that I just don't
care about hygiene because they've never seen to bring the toothbrush. Okay,
all my extra toothbrushes they're gone. So I said, you
know what, this will last us a long time. And
I got to be honest, they're amazing toothbrushes. So that
was an impulse buy a bargain like eighteen bucks man.
(33:19):
I got like twenty of them. It was pretty good.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
By the way, do you know how you know that
that device was invented in Kentucky? I do not, because
anywhere else it would be known as a teeth brush.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I'm here all week. By the way, Tipsy, that's not bad, right,
And that's not bad?
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Seriously, did there?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
And actually here's the other thing, Steven, And I've noticed
this from in you know, like I don't want this
to become awkward all of a sudden for listeners or
for yourself. But I've noticed when you have gone to
pacer games with me, you have very nice teeth. And
I noticed that because primarily when people are in my
company they smile often, and so you're smiling usually when
you're around me. You have very nice teeth. So I
(33:56):
would say the Costco purchase is paying off, not just
for your daughter's friends, but for yourself.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Well, yes, my Dennis doctor foss. She hates me because
I've done a much better job and i haven't had
a cavity in a very long time. So well, there
you go off. You're very happy about this pay off.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I will tell you this, not big brush around any
money off of me. I've got like, way, way, way
too many of the like ankle high puma socks from Costco.
Like every time I go in and that that thing
is right there, and I'm like, oh man, I need
more of them. I've got a life times apply that
I need even more.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
You can never have too many socks.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
That's correct. That is not a thing that is correct,
not a thing, not unlike tooth brushes. All right, Steven,
we will let you get those Pearly Whites grinning on
ESPN and get back to the regular gig. But we
appreciate the time as always. All Right, you got it, I,
Steven olare joining us on ESPN dot com. Two o'clock
hour underway in Indianapolis, for that matter, of the two
(34:53):
o'clock hours underway everywhere in the Eastern time zone. My
name is Jake Querry. Eddie Garret is the producer of
this show most of the time. By that, I mean
like the seventy two percent of the time that he's
not taking off for his neighbor's birthday or simply having
Caleb fill in. Caleb is sitting in and that's Caleb.
Z Iver zuver correct, z Iver's over. That's correct. I noticed,
(35:16):
Caleb by the way that you you rock a lot
of snoopy gear. Are you a big Peanuts guy? Is
that it is that because you moved here from Minneapolis.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Yeah, oh, Charles Schultz home up in Minneapolis. But now,
my uncle was a big Peanuts guy, and I have
a lot of hand me down gear from him, So.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Hand me down okay, fair enough. Do you have a
favorite Peanuts character?
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (35:38):
I like Linus because I used to have an attachment
to my blanket as well.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
So Ill, that's what age were you when the attachment
to the blanket went away? It hasn't okay, Yeah, I
will you know what, Caleb, I will confess this to you.
I'm fifty three years old. I still have my blanket
and cow, which was my stuffed animal when I was
a kid. I still have both of them.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Yeah, I'm the same way.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
So I don't like to struggle up with them per se,
but I do. Still they are within my possession. They
made the cut of the great cut down, of the
purge of my gear, the Great Purge. Yes, thank you,
Eddie joining us now and I'm sure thrilled to be
doing so. Based on that segue from Fieldhouse Files, is
Scott Agnes fever in action tonight seven thirty against Minnesota
(36:23):
and then into the playoffs, where they, by all account
will take on Atlanta. There are a couple of factors
that we went over earlier that could affect their seating,
but let's begin with Scott. This matchup tonight with Minnesota.
The Lenks are also a team that has dealt with
some injury not I don't think anybody has to the
level of Indiana and what Stephanie White's group has contended with.
(36:45):
But the challenge I guess will start with that about
this particular team to close out the year would be what.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
The reality is, Jake, I'm it's unclear right now who
I'm on Minnesota will play right Nafisa Collier? Why would
you play her? If you're the Links and the playoffs
are starting this week and I have not seen an
injury report for them for tonight's game. They held shoot
around but have not announced that. I would be surprised
to see them. I would they have chosen to sit
(37:14):
some players from time to time over the last couple
of weeks with a five game lead on the two seed.
On the other side, You're exactly right. The Fever are
still playing for spot six and seven and so they
very much still have something to play for here tonight.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Do you believe Scott that? And maybe I'm just saying
this because it's locally and we cover the Fever. You know,
I paid more attention to the Fever than I do
other teams within the WNBA. I think that Stephanie White
should get a lot of praise for the coaching job
(37:50):
she did this year, and I know that people are
going to look at it and say, yeah, but that's
a team that you had Caitlin Clark and Leah Boston,
and you know they had higher expectation to begin of
the year than they did to go stay twenty three
and twenty and eke their way into the playoffs. But
when you look at the attrition of roster, to me,
(38:10):
she has done top level coaching this year. But am
I simply looking at it myoptically?
Speaker 6 (38:18):
I would agree she's much like Kelsey Mitchell for MVP
that she should be in the conversation. But it's really
hard to overlook with a job they've done with the
Golden State Valkyries, an expansion franchise, a team that selected
players that most of us did not recognize, like why
are you drafting them? They leaned in the expansion draft.
To be clear, they did not make any big trades.
(38:39):
They did they leaned on foreigners and are in the
playoffs and are right now six there. But I think
Stephanie White should be probably third or fourth in Coach
of the Year for all the reasons you laid out
just I think so many times Jake we overused, maybe
within hyperbole, the unprecedented no this fever season, in the
(39:00):
variety of things that Steph and the entire team have
dealt with are absolutely unprecedented, and they've navigated these choppy
waters to be in the playoffs firmly.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
How have they had to play differently? How in any
way has their approach offensively changed in terms of style,
if at all, over the course of the attrition and
the things that they've lost.
Speaker 6 (39:24):
Yeah, it's absolutely required some adjustment and mostly dumbing it down,
simplifying because you're dealing with a lot of players that
joined less than a month ago. It was just one
month ago when you started to have your first of
five players suffer season ending injuries, and so they've continued
to have to adapt on the fly. I think defensively,
some of their coverages, how they're trying to trap. They're
(39:46):
still trying to get out in transition offensively and play
at that fast tempo that gives them their greatest advantage
always has been. But I think some of the play calls,
you're seeing a lot less pick and roll action. I
think Leah, you're not utilizing as much as you would
be normally, and you're leaning a lot more on your
perimitive guards just to create something and try to make
(40:09):
a quick action decision.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Scott, you have covered the WNBA, specifically the Indiana Fever
for how many and I don't mean consecutively, but for
how many total seasons?
Speaker 6 (40:21):
Yeah, I've covered it, not at this level daily all
the time, but certainly since twenty twelve and before that.
I was around the franchise since two thousand and three.
It's just the reality is, go back three to five
years ago, there was very little interest. You would spend
two weeks on a feature for five hundred people to
read it. And obviously that dynamic has changed entirely in
(40:43):
the last two years because of Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Well.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
The thing I was going to ask you is just
how has the league itself changed? And I don't even
mean necessarily in the interest of it, but as the
interest of it has increased, you know, the overall I
guess competitive nature of the league. I mean, and what
ways is the WNBA different today? Or for that matter,
are there any ways where it's the same today as
(41:06):
it was then?
Speaker 6 (41:08):
I would say no, it's drastically different. I think I
would say the biggest area is more parody in the
years past. I feel like it was always one or
two teams kind of every year. Now that might change
from time to time. What two teams it was. I
think you just have more talent to go around. I
think the physicality that a lot of people have been
(41:28):
talking about it has always been there. I don't think
there will rivalries, and I think that's more so a
systemic thing in all of sports now as more people
root on individuals and follow players much more than maybe
teams perhaps so I think that is definitely a relation there.
I don't see any rivalries really within the league from
(41:50):
team to team, and then the other aspect in all
this is just how much more it is consumed, how
many more games you're playing it used And this is
the big conversation Jake, they've got to be having with
the collective bargaining agreement, both in terms of how you
schedule and breaks given, but also how the players are
obviously compensated for. Back when Stephanie was playing and Tamika,
(42:11):
it was like thirty thirty two to thirty four games. Well,
this year for the first time, they're up to forty
four and they're going to add even more, presumably with
two more teams joining the fold as expansion teams next year,
so you know, now about thirty seasons in, I think
you can the changes just continue on down the line
and are inevitable with this growing product.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
And this is a dumb question. I apologize for this.
In terms of expansion of the league. I mean, I
think the league the WNBA, and we've seen this this year, Scott.
What I what to me is very intriguing about the
league is that because you don't have the high number
of teams that you see in other leagues. When a
(42:56):
franchise like the Fever this year, have to do mid
season acts acquisition of free agents, there are good players
out there that you know what I mean, it's not
as watered down. Where do things stand? And I know
that we've seen we have two new teams coming in,
but are they looking to continue to expand or are
we kind of at a cap there?
Speaker 6 (43:16):
Yeah, so next year they'll add two more that will
make it fifteen, and they've already promised three other spots.
Those are staggered out, one after one after one, and
so you'll have eighteen teams here by the end of
this ten year period. I think it's by twenty thirty.
I wouldn't be surprised for them to go to twenty,
let's say, But right now you're set on eighteen. I
(43:38):
just think you might want to get off that odd number,
having nine to nine or whatever. But eighteen's a nice
round number as well. I just wonder to your point earlier,
you need to expand rosters. That's where the focus needs
to be in my opinion, before you expand these teams,
because all the different players that have gone down from
that instance, a lot of teams have experienced that, just
(44:02):
not at this level and for this duration. Certain teams
of experience where they've had to use the emergency hardship
or go to a hardship once or twice a year.
The Fever have signed too many players at this point
to that level, and that's why you need a development system.
I think as well, a player like Bree Hall, who
was drafted by them in the second round. Clearly there
(44:22):
was no room for her on the twelve man roster,
but think if she was here from the start of
training camp till today, both contributing or around or in
this environment where she could develop and maybe now at
the end of the season, she'd be much more comfortable
and certainly confident in what her role is in this
Fever system and all that, whether she's used or not.
(44:42):
I'd like to see the rosters expand at least fourteen,
maybe fifteen players.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
By the way, do we need to say twelve woman roster?
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (44:51):
I've always wondered about that, Like you talk about what
man are you guarding?
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Or mann a man defense?
Speaker 6 (44:56):
We all understand what it references, but I don't know
that right answer to that, that's.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
A good man to man. I never thought of that.
I mean, it's got to be a woman to woman, right,
I mean, for what it's worth, I guess semantically right,
I mean, yeah, okay, these are the kinds of things
that keep me awake at night.
Speaker 6 (45:12):
Scott right, I've thought about it. I just don't know
who you know. I'm I geared towards more simplifying and
keeping it easy and less changes.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
Do you buy into the do you buy into the
the soccer version of using team names like the plural
like you know, Indiana have Indiana have won a playoff
game as opposed to Indiana has won a playoff game?
Speaker 6 (45:41):
Because it's to me, I've always struggled with Fever from
that standpoint.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
I think, yeah, the fever has or the fever have
right when you get into it that way. Absolutely, these
are again the things that keep me awake at night.
Right for what it's.
Speaker 6 (45:56):
Worth, Miami Heats the same way, going back to the Pacers,
battles with them and the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, I mean he is the Heat have won five
in a row. Yeah, I mean absolutely. When you look
at Scott Agnes our guest fieldhouse files where you can
read his work the WNBA playoffs in general, I mean,
obviously I know that Minnesota has been the upper echelon team,
but is this a league that has, to your point,
(46:22):
the parody? Is there the parody there? Or do we
expect that the Indiana and the Atlantas and those teams
that the odds are really really stacked against him, that
they can make playoff noise?
Speaker 6 (46:36):
I think there's about I think Minnesota is a clear favorite.
Let's put him in tears. I think Minnesota number one easily.
Then after that I would put your aces in Liberties,
your traditional powers, and then the only other team outside
that I could see is sneaking up as Atlanta. So
to me, it's really a three team playoff race. As
I look at it. Phoenix doesn't seem threatening the Valkyries.
(46:56):
We know what the Fever have been dealing with here.
Keep in mind that Vegas Aces. They were really going
through it last month like the Fever. If I remember right,
they beat him by thirty. It might have been the
worst opponent I've ever seen played. Think about to the
Miami Dolphins this past week. It was worse than that
from the Aces. But guess what now since that Jake,
they've ripped off fourteen wins in a row, and a
(47:18):
team that had won back to back championships a couple
of years ago is the hottest team in the league
right now. They're in third in the standings in New York.
We know what they can do if they are healthy.
But to me, I'd be surprised given Nafisa Collier's health,
should she stay healthy. It's Minnesota versus everybody.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
Scott, do you, Scott Agnes our guest fieldhouse files, have
you had a chance to I don't know how much
we've talked about it, but I want to get back
into this on the men's side of things, talking about
the Pacers. You know there has been a change at
the on the coaching staff for Rick Carlisle and I
don't know that a lot of people. By all account,
it seemed to be a mutual parting of ways. Do
(48:00):
we know what has gone into the changes on the
bench for Rick Carlisle.
Speaker 6 (48:05):
No, not exactly unfortunately, which is a little bit odd
because the timing of it wasn't ideal. Right, It was
announced by the team basically a month before training camp.
After Mike Winer you're talking about, was with the team
out in Las Vegas for Summer League, and usually any
coaching changes are made by July and then everybody goes
on vacation there in August. Mike Winer was one of
(48:29):
his top assistants. He was Rick Carlile's basically right hand
man going back to two thousand and eight in Dallas.
He ran the offense, He ran into game situations. He
was the one that drew up that spread five foot
or spread four football play that we all remember Halibert
knocking down the shot for the win over Milwaukee. And
then you bring him in and you replace him with
(48:51):
someone that doesn't have a ton of experience. He spent
a summer with the Pacers, spent some time at the
coaching level at UVA.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
If anything.
Speaker 6 (49:00):
My biggest takeaway from this is further belief in Jim Boylan,
who is promoted to the front of the bench and
what he has contributed. Obviously, he has a great experience
with the Pacers. He won a championship in San Antonio
and was a head coach with the Chicago Bulls.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
But other than natural cynicism, we have no reason to
believe that this was anything other than a mutual part correct.
Speaker 6 (49:24):
I would agree, yeah, absolutely, just given all the different
things here. But we have not been given any evidence
to the contrary, and nobody wants to talk about it,
so that's a little bit odd as well.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
One of the things that I find interesting, Scott, is
that the Pacers in the last couple of weeks, I
have seen several posts on social media and they do
this with other players, you know what I mean, Like, Hey,
it's a been mather an appreciation post or whatever, you know,
that kind of thing they seem to have sent. And
maybe this is me overthinking it, but I've seen a
(49:58):
fairly consistent narrative about their appreciation or kind of pumping
up Andro Nimhard. Do you think part of that is
just because Andronimhart as good as he's been his elevation,
his role is going to elevate in terms of how
much they have to lean on him, and so they're
(50:18):
kind of prepping him, if you will, psychologically for that moment.
Does that make sense at all?
Speaker 4 (50:24):
It does?
Speaker 6 (50:24):
I think the number one thing in all this, quite frankly,
is the Pacers reached the NBA Finals. Then it went
right to the draft like three days later, right to
free agency, right to summer league, And ordinarily the Pacers
digital team has about a month and a half two
months to roll out into season reviews for each player,
and so they're pumping out one each day leading up
here to training camp, if that's what you're referencing with
(50:44):
all that, But with Nimart in particular, I think number one,
the franchise is leaning hard into it because they're going
to need his contributions. And the other thing is, I
think everyone's very curious to see what it will be
like with him having a higher usage rate, with him
coming in as a point guard, being so good that
they couldn't play him as backup point guard but instead
(51:05):
the off ball guard and the starting lineup, and now
he has much greater responsibilities, and this team's going to
go as far as he and maybe Pascal can lead them.
Speaker 1 (51:15):
Scott Agnes, our guest from Fieldhouse Files. All right, Scott,
I assume you've got plenty of coverage coming up regarding
the Fever to end their regular season.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
Right.
Speaker 6 (51:23):
Absolutely, we got the final game tonight fan Appreciation Night,
and then we should find out in the next twenty
four to forty eight hours whether it'll be Atlanta or
Las Vegas. Seemingly and flight prices aren't cheap either way.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
Unfortunately, here's the well, you can drive to Atlanta, right
at the very least. The thing I was going to
ask Atlanta. I know Indiana two and two in the
regular season, if you were to look at it just
in terms of matchups of and that was a different
group for a large part of it, because it's been
well over month since they've played Atlanta. But if you
were to look at Atlanta and Las Vegas, is there
(51:58):
a preference you think for the Fever in terms of
which one is a better matchup?
Speaker 3 (52:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (52:03):
All along, excluding leaving Vegas out of this conversation, I've
said Atlanta is one of their most difficult matchups just
given the physicality and the toughness in the style of
play for the Atlanta Dream. But it's hard, Jake, for
me to go over go past and look over the
big game experience, the coaching with Becky Hammond on the
(52:23):
other side, it's a rookie head coach, and the fact
that they are the hottest team over the last month
and a half. Right now, I would say I'd prefer
the Dream over the Aces given those factors.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
All right, we will keep an eye on it in
the way that it all pans out. Fever in Action.
Tonight seven thirty seven fifteen is the pregame show with
Eddie right here on this radio station. Appreciate it as always, Scott,
you bet, Thanks Jake. Scott Agnes joining US field House
Files
Joining us now, and I'm sure thrilled to be doing
so based on that intro. She is the head coach
of the Indiana Fever, who tonight finished the regular season
with a game at seven point thirty. You can hear
the pre game at seven fifteen with Eddie between the
Fever and the Minnesota Lynx, and Stephanie White has her
team bound for the playoffs. After that, Coach, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm well, how are you well?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I mean, listen, I waded through the Taylor Swift thing there.
I got through it just okay, right, I mean that
was okay. I don't think Eddy really played enough of
it though, for to really what your whistle?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Right?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
No, I mean I can't believe that that catchy tune
that you weren't sitting along.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It's not bad.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It's not Oasis.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
But listen now, I have somewhat bad news for you here, coach.
I went to the Oasis concert at the Rose Bowl
on Saturday night, and I thought the urine flying cups
was just a British thing, and it appears as though
it's not.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So yeah, that's really bad.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
So if you go to a show to go see Oasis,
just you don't want to be on the main floor
up in the stands. You're fine. Down on the main
floor a little bit dangerous.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It's probably as likely of a chance of me going
to asis as you go on.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Taylor's okay, it's fair point taking. Okay, let's get to
this to begin with tonight, and that is, you know,
you have a situation here that's unique because Minnesota is
very good. We know that Minnesota may also you know,
they may have some players that are not available, but
there's still a lot to play for. This is not
one because sometimes we see it like at the end
of the year where you say, hey, we've got the
(01:32):
postseason to get ready for, and so therefore we're maybe
going to do things differently or rest or not show everything.
But this is a big one for you tonight because
you still have seating that is in play. Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yes, we've got seating that's in play. And for us
again continuing to really mesh our new players and be
clicking as much on all cylinders as we possibly can
heading into the playoffs. So seating implications, yes, certainly, but
also momentum, just just continuing to build strong positive momentum
(02:05):
with our group.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I was thinking about this with that, okay, And I
this is going to sound weird the way I ask this,
But with so much talk that has been and I
don't mean within your locker room, okay, but the media,
the fans, you know, anywhere you turn, with so much
of the season conversation being about the question of the
(02:28):
availability of Caitlyn Clark as a coach, how did you
address to your team so that there is not a
resentment of Look, we are defined by who we are,
not who we are not? Does that make sense what
I'm saying? And you know, how did you balance that
to keep the rest of the roster aware of and
(02:50):
on task and on point of the fact that you
are all professionals that have a chance to win in
this league and you can't pay attention to people worrying
and wondering about who's not here.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Well, I mean we talk about it frequently, just the
being able to you know, for for lack of a
better term, silence and noise, which which it's it's it's
very difficult to do, right. There's the noise that are
outside the building, outside the locker room, and and and
you really have to make it a point to set
boundaries and and you've got to make points to invest
(03:23):
in in in us and one another. And we talked,
we've talked about that since the beginning of the season.
We knew that there were going to be lots of expectations.
We know that there are lots of fans and and
there are lots of people who aren't fans who have
taken who aren't w NBA fans or women's basketball fans,
who have taken an interest in our team. And and
so for us, it's it's more about pouring into what's
(03:44):
in our locker room. And so we haven't had to
have outside of just continual reminders, constant conversations. I I
think and I hope and I believe that you know,
for us, the way that we interact with one another
on a daily basis the way that we prioritize our
key over over individual are we over me and pouring
(04:04):
into the relationships on this team that you you you
get that, and you know that, and you know that
it's about who's on the floor just as much as
who's not on the floor. But those people who are
not on the floor are still very much a part
of the fabric of who we are. And I think
it's everything from our daily engagement with one another to
their daily engagement with their teammates even though they're not
(04:25):
playing on the floor. It's really about relationship and how
we've continued to build relationship and and and at the
end of the day, there are a lot of narratives
that are out there in the media in social media
that absolutely aren't true. And because we know them, we
know what is true. It's able to keep keep our
players engaged in what really matters.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
What player on your roster that is you know, that
is going to be playing for you in the playoffs
is the key to your resiliency.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I mean, I don't know if if it's any one player,
I think it's it really is. The the sum is
great ter than its parts, you know. I think our
you know, u Aliah Boston is a great communicator and
connector uh, you know, Natasha Howard has been a really
good leader for our group. You know, Kelsey Mitchell has
put us on on our on our back.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I think when you have players like that that that
have been on the floor, and then you you look
at at Sidney Colson, who's been a part of championship
teams who is also like a coach on the floor
and now she's she's on the venture in practice coaching.
It's on the sideline. And you know Sophie who brings
energy and uh and and and Caitlin who has been
working her way back but still actively involved on the
sideline of pouring into her teammates. I mean, you know,
(05:36):
all of all of it matters, and so I don't
know if there's any one singular. I just think we
have a really good, solid group of women who pour
into each other on a daily basis, and and that
allow us to be allow us to be uh be
be better at the unit.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
By the way, when you talk about Stephanie White is
our guest. She is the head coach of the Indiana Fever.
Fever in Action tonight seven thirty pre game, you can
art listening to it seven fifteen on this radio station.
When you talk about seeing narratives that are inaccurate about
your team, give me an example.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I mean, I know, I don't. I'm not on social media,
so I don't really, but you know, just hearing conversations,
you know, I have to tell even my family sometimes
like I don't want to know everything that's out there. Hey,
is this true? Is that true? Is that whatever? So
I think that there are often, you know, narratives about
whether it's players not getting along or whether it's you
know who, who knows what else. I don't know, but
(06:34):
it's just it's just there are I think it's my
product of just our culture right now in trying to
create oftentimes create division where there's not division and utilizing
social media to do that. And whether it's the reality
of its fans, if it's bots, if it's whatever, it's
not exactly sure. But you know, for us, I think
(06:57):
making sure that our players understand how to create boundaries,
you know, how to create separation. The young people don't
get off of social media, right, I mean, their brands
are associated with social media. Sold people can do that,
but to be able to keep the focus and keep
the main thing, the main thing, and the focus is
on our group, how we come together, how we continue
to to build our culture that is going to set
(07:22):
us up for championship type of culture year after year.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
I do know this. I'm fairly certain of this coach
on my social media, anybody that reacts to anything I
post definitely about I'm convinced of that. I'm like, wait
a minute, no person's actually responding to this. All right,
We're going to do a fun exercise.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Here are you ready?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
M uh.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
We thought of a question for you, and then I thought,
you know what, here's how I think you're going to
answer said question. So what we're going to do is
I'm going to ask you the question, I'm going to
allow you to answer it, and then I'm going to
play for you. Eddie has the audio of me predicting
your answer, and then I want you to grade my answer.
Okay on coach speak. The question for you is this
(08:09):
Stephanie White, and that is over the course of the season,
and in particular the second half of the season, clearly
a big talking point around the Indiana fever was the
availability the health of Caitlin Clark. Now that we have
answer to that, even though I know that you would
love to have her as a player, are you somewhat
relieved to have that answer so that you don't have
(08:31):
to continue to answer that question?
Speaker 6 (08:34):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, I'm relieved to not have to answer that question
every day, to not have to keep repeating myself. But
you're absolutely right, like not relieve the fact that Caitlin
Clark isn't on the fourth for US.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Okay, now here's the answer in my coach speak that
I gave and that I want you to critique my answer.
Maybe it's a little too involved. Here we go, Eddie, Well,
Caitlin's a great player, and you know, I think it
speaks to what a great player she is, and it's
a testament to her contribution not only in the WNBA,
but are placed in women's basketball and what she means
to this franchise that I'm asked that a lot. So
(09:07):
I understand the questions and to an extent, it's, you know,
part of the job and it's an honor to be
able to oversee this franchise that has such a great
player on it. But at the same time, you know,
we still have games to win, and we still have
a great roster of women that are ready and prepared,
and we've had a lot of players that have stepped
(09:28):
up and that's what we want to focus on. Okay,
how would you grade my answer?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
That was pretty good?
Speaker 3 (09:36):
It's just pretty good.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
That was that was I mean, can I coach?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
No, I don't know. There's a lot more that goes
into coaching than just answering questions.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
You know what is the hardest part of coaching, you know,
it's it's the challenge of number one, how you build consistency.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I mean, you know, it's we are our season isn't
as long as the NBA season, but it's still forty
four games. And as a coach, you want your players
to be at their best every game and putting combinations
of players together that can that can do that. Not
you can't just put the five best players always just
on the floor and expect them to have the chemistry
and the continuity and the and uh the complementary assets
(10:17):
to be the best unit on the floor. I think
being able to try to stay ahead of the curve
and in in in game planning, execution offensively, defensively, the
chess match that that entails that as well. And and
it's a lot about about player management and relationships and
you know, pouring into your players while holding them accountable,
(10:39):
understanding what it takes, you know, managing ego. There's there's
all of those things, because every single person in any
profession has an ego, or you wouldn't be there, right
And then how do you navigate managing the the individual
ego and appealing to that while also selectively uh the
team ego and and what is best for the team.
(10:59):
And so those are all challenging aspects of putting teams together.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I wanted to ask you one other thing, Stephanie White,
our guest, I thought about this. I read an article,
Stephanie about Justin Fields, the quarterback for the New York
Jets that was you know, in Chicago before that, of course,
Ohio State quarterback. And I'm going to get into this
later in the show, but I read an article where
he just did an interview about the fact that he
(11:25):
had juvenile epilepsy and then he had to deal with
seizures when he was a kid. And it jumped out
to me because I myself had juvenile epilepsy and I
look back on the time when I was a kid
and just knowing that I was a little bit different
in that regard, and I've always kind of been proud
of it because it made me different and it was
just something, you know, that's part of my story, so
to speak. But I was happy that he was talking
(11:49):
about that because it will give young kids, you know,
that go through that somebody look up to and say, hey,
you know what, like I can achieve my goals and whatnot.
And so I wanted to ask you, when you were
a younger player and a younger athlete, was there either
an athlete that you identified with that gave you like
an aspiration or a hope or was there something that
(12:12):
you went through as a young person that you look
back on and you say, that was something that was
difficult in the time, but maybe somebody young can learn
from what Stephanie White went through.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, you know, there were There weren't a lot of
athletes that were visible to me as a young player
that I necessarily looked up to to emulate in terms
of women's sports, because women's sports weren't televised like they
are now when I was a kid. You know, that
was a lifetime ago. I mean certainly, you know, I
(12:44):
watched the NBA. I watched college basketball, mostly the men,
you know, But I think the thing that that always
motivated me when I was young. Remember one, I just
I always enjoyed playing sport. But number two, my parents
were barely eighteen when I was born, and you know,
we didn't have a lot growing up. In fact, I've
I've you know, often tell my kids this story about
(13:06):
and I know they rolled their eyes like most kids
do and their parents talk. But like most of the
time growing up, I had one pair of shoes that
I had that had to last meet the entire year.
Like we just didn't have anything. And I knew that,
you know, for me, the opportunity to go to college
was likely going to come through other means. And I
(13:27):
didn't know that basketball was going to be it, you know.
And then I got into when I got into seventh grade,
I got my first recruiting letter, you know, for basketball,
and it was like, okay, well maybe this is my
way to to be able to go to college, to
be able to to to find my way into you know,
a university and get a free education. And it saved
my parents. My parents had to work incredibly hard, you know.
(13:49):
My mom went back to college when I was in
fifth grade and went on to become a teacher and
showed me a lot of life lessons about what that
meant for hard work and you know, handling things as
they come, handling university. And just didn't have a lot
growing up, and so basketball was always number one my
escape and number two the thing that I thought was
(14:10):
going to get me to college and get me an
education and get me a degree that was going to
hopefully propel me. So whatever was next, I had no
idea what that would be at the time, and little
did I know that it would take me around the
world and give me this profession and these relationships that
I've been able to build because of that. So, you know,
I am a quintessential quote unquote, who's your story coming
(14:30):
from a small town, coming from nothing and being able
to fulfill my dreams.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
And then so what.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
School was it when you were in seventh grade? Was
it Perdue?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It was not. Purdue. Louisiana Tech was my first college.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
That's a big one. I mean, that was a big program.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
That's impressive.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
All right.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, Well, obviously people are happy that you stuck close
to home and ended up at Purdue, and we know
the story from there. But tonight, seven thirty story continues
against Minnesota. Coach will wish you the best of luck
and in the playoffs as well.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
All right, appreciate it, Thank you, all right.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Stephanie White joining us the head coach of the Indiana Fever.
I'd like to know between myself and Steven Holder. Eddie,
which one you actually think is the sharp dressed man Caleb? Okay,
that's Caleb's Iversouver who's hanging out with us in here today.
He's a coworker, I mean, but he's hanging out and shadowing.
(15:23):
Usually when people shadow it's because Eddie, you spring on
me at the last minute. You're going on vacation. Are
you going on vacation again somewhere next month? Yeah? Next month,
next month? Yeah, Okay, that's when you're driving to You
can number have too many pictures in the bullpen, Jake.
Speaker 7 (15:37):
It's like sunglasses and phone chargers. Look at you, Eddie
with the query analogies. I like it joining us now,
and I'm sure thrilled to be doing so on the
always busy and shockingly unsponsored guest line. Stephen Holder is
with ESPN dot Com. Steven, I'm going to begin with
this coming off of game number one for the Colts,
and we'll rehash that in a second, but from an
injury standpoint, you know, Shane Stik and oftentimes afterwards we'll
(15:59):
just kind of go over what they found out over
the course of a game. Between the game and then
yesterday as well, where do we stand in terms of
players that may have been dinged up in game number one?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Well, I think the big one is Shavarius Ward. Uh.
He is in the concussion protocol and that didn't really
present or the symptoms didn't present themselves until I think
Monday morning, So they have sidelined him until that gets resolved. No,
you know, no way to project whether that lingers into
(16:35):
this weekend yet or not, but certainly that's going to
be a big one to watch because they also are
dealing with h Jalen Jones with a hamstring injury. You know,
he would be the next corner off the bench, and
you know behind you know the top three, which would
be Ward, Kenny Moore, and I guess Xavier excuse me,
(17:00):
Xavian Howard. And so that injury is problematic too, just
to compounds the Ward situation. So corner was was an
injury or was't? Was an area of a lot of
injuries in the preseason, and we at least for right now,
there's there's a lot of problems there. Again, So those
are the two spots I think you got to watch
(17:21):
for as the week goes on.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Okay, here's a wild one and I have. This is literally,
I just have this weird feeling. There's nothing to base
this on other than he like took a weird hit
and then didn't return to the game, but he didn't
need to. And that is is there any chance We're
going to find out that Jonathan Taylor's not one hundred
percent okay?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
So that was asked, and uh, I did not get
the sense that there's anything going on there since Dykin
said he was fine. He said that they pulled them
because the score was kind of lopsided and maybe he
was a little dinged up not There's a difference between
being dans up in being you know, actually hurt, I
(18:02):
suppose in the minds of NFL people, But I don't
think there's any official injury diagnosis at this moment, so
we'll see. So I'm in the locker room back to
the game. He certainly spent a lot of time in
the training room, but Taylor tends to do that anyway.
He's always one of the last guys out because he
(18:23):
does have a very intense sort of postgame routine. So
I think he's okay unless and until you hear differently again.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Stephen Holder is our guest ESPN dot com. All right, Steven,
let's get to the game itself. I'm gonna ask this
one in elementary form. Did we learn more Sunday about
Indianapolis or Miami.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
That's a great question, because I don't. I don't know that.
It's actually tough, the tough question to answer. I would
say this, the Dolphins were infinitely worse than I anticipated,
at least game right. I don't know what they're going
to be all season, but in that game, they're infinitely
worse than I could have projected. I did think there
(19:09):
was a scenario whether the Colts could be very good,
but they were. They were far better than my wildest expectations.
That is certainly true. But I think we probably learned
more about the Dolphins. But I'm not. But I'm also
not discounting what the Colts did whatsoever, not at all,
(19:30):
because I think there are some things there that you
can build on. Now that defense is legit. I thought
it might be, and I think it is. I still
think that. I think a couple of things. Number One, Uh,
they lou Narriumo has a great knack for timing blitzes,
stunts and twists different coverages, you know, like dropping Laatu
(19:55):
Latu into a zone drop at just the right time.
I mean that that's just a knack that a veteran coach,
you know, you know, not to call him old, but
he's been around a long time, you know, a guy
like Loui an Rumo just has an act for those things.
So that's something this defense can build on. And the
pass rush was very good too, So I think that's
(20:16):
something that can you can take with you throughout the season.
The other thing I would say is, I mean Tyler
Warren is exactly who we thought he was. I mean,
I had no doubts, but it was certainly confirmation. And
the other thing I'd say is, you know, look when
Shane Steichen has a quarterback who he can speak the
(20:36):
same language with, he can get a lot out of him.
And I think we saw that with Gardner Minshew a
couple of years ago, and I wondered if this could
be a better version of that, And it looks like
it's possible. But we'll see this week.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
One, Steven, when you look at let's go to Tyler Warren.
It is my belief and I want you to tell
me if this, if you think that I'm game one
overreaction type stuff. But I think Tyler Warren is going
to be the key, like you know, little floating piece
(21:11):
in the cell here that everything feeds off of, and
they're going to try to establish him early in games
with a couple of looks in the first couple of drives,
because then defenses have to constantly keep an eye on
him more than any other player, and that frees up
everybody else more so than any other player that they
(21:31):
could do that with. Am I overreacting?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Well, I think there will be games where that's true.
It'll be it will vary from game to game, so
I think there will be games where that player is
Jonathan Taylor. Now that wasn't the case on Sunday because
the Dolphins, as you can see, they shut the run
game down, or at least they made it difficult to run.
I mean, Taylor was I think three point eight or
(21:58):
nine yards per care which is not notable at all.
I mean he's he's certainly for his career well above
four yards per carry, maybe close to five. So I
would say that wasn't one of those games for Jonathan Taylor,
But I think with Tyler Warren maybe it was. And
this was by design. The Colts came into that game
(22:20):
thinking we have an opportunity to throw the ball, and
so who did they come out throwing the ball too?
Right out of the gate. It was Tyler Warren. So
I do think there was an effort to do exactly
what you just said in the first certainly in the
first half I guess of that game and then threw
out as well. And he is tonesetter, though, and I
think that's a good thing. I think it's good thinking
(22:42):
he's a tone setter. When he catches the ball. There's
more to come after he catches the ball because now
you got to tackle him. So he's a real tone
setter and the kind of guy you want to include
into your scripted early plays because that can get you going.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Daniel Jones looked, I thought, very good. And I said
yesterday Steven that Daniel Jones showed why Shane Steichen's an
NFL coach and I'm a radio host, And by that,
I mean he sees all the inner workings, and I
think he knew with this offense that Jones is the
(23:20):
guy that can hit the layups and that's what they
need to use Chris Ballard's term. So you got that
like check good, quarterback, play good, tight end play good.
You know we know what John Andan Taylor is. Michael Pittman,
you know, we know who he is. With all of
the positives that came that we talked about, who is
somebody or an area or aspect on Sunday that you
(23:42):
thought was very positive for Indianapolis that got overshadowed by
those other storylines.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
The offensive line, I really thought they did a good job.
Daniel Jones part of the reason he was so successful.
And I'm not saying that he doesn't deserve credit. He
deserves a lot of credit. That was a great performance.
But let's give let's give everybody credit. That offensive line
did a fantastic job. I talked to Shaan Stikeen last
(24:10):
week and one of the things he told me was
he said, this entire game boils down to whether we
can block those guys up front. He was very worried
about it. Worries might not be the right word, but
he was definitely concerned and wanted to see if it
could hold up. He wasn't entirely sure they did. They
(24:32):
felt they held up beautifully, and I think when you
look at the two new starters on that unit. There
were questions there, and I don't have a lot of
questions today because that was a tough opening matchup for
whatever people might think about the Dolphins today, which is
not much. I get that that defensive front, the personnel
(24:52):
they have up front. You look at the names there,
those are legit guys, and they did not really have
much of an effect on Angel Jones whatsoever. So the
other thing that was interesting is, I don't know, this
might be more of a Shane Stikeing thing, or maybe
it's a reflection of the Dolphins. I don't know, but
I don't know that I've ever seen that many wide
(25:13):
open guys, So whatever he was doing to scheme those
guys wide open, or maybe the Dolphins are just a
complete travesty and can't cover anybody. But for whatever reason,
they schemed a lot of guys wide open. That was
a fantastic job by Shane Ssykeing. I got to get
him some credit there too. So off in the line
and then Shane's play calling chefs.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Kiss do you, by the way, I noticed you used
travesty there? Do you more often than not find yourself
using travesty? I mean, is that maybe your safety one
train wreck or dumpster fire? Which one do you most
prefer when describing a team. I think it's hard to Stephen.
As the Colts beat writer for the last decade or so,
you've had plenty of opportunity for all three.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yeah, I think I'm partial to train wreck. Yeah, I
think I am, and I've had a lot of practice.
As you said, I don't find myself using dumpster fire
quite as much.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Dumpster Fire I think is safer because though here's the thing.
Dumpster fire I think is safer because we've never actually
had like human loss due to dumpster fire anywhere.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Right, No, right, No one dies, right, no one. No
one dies in a dumpster fire. Right, train wrecks they can.
So that's it's definitely very insensitive of me to describe
the Colt as a train wreck. There you go, because
no one dies when they lose, you just feel like
you want to die sometimes, right with the way they've
played over the last you know, ten.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Years or so, based on one game, was there something
and it's it's been a long time since we've been
able to say this, and that is if you were
somebody who was a professional dumpstered fire seeker and you
were looking at the Indianapolis Colts and you're like, Okay,
I need to find an area to nitpick that was
(26:57):
a negative in Game one? Was there one? Was there
an area that might have been forecasting that there could
be a problem this year, but everything else masked it.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
You know, I would say, I don't think it's going
to be a problem, but you do want to be
able to run the ball with a little bit of consistency.
They got some better runs as the game went on.
I'll give them that, but this offense did shut them down.
At the same time, I think you're not surprised by
that because that's the kind of personnel they have up front.
(27:32):
So the question that there is one would be, can
this offensive line and the personnel they have and you know,
this composition of the offensive line, can this line create
the running lanes the way they have over the last
few years. And I guess we'll have to wait till
week two to see if that if that is true
or not.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Somebody asked me this question, Steven Steveholder, our guest, and
it's a very good question that I wanted to pass
along to you. So let's get background to this. To begin,
the NFL players Association, Is it my understanding? I think
this is correct. Each team in the league has a
player that represents that franchise's players within the players Association. Correct.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Yeah, there are player reps for every team, at least one.
I think most teams even have two, Okay, and then
and then And in addition to that, there is an
Executive Committee of the Union, which is I don't know,
eight to ten guys something like that, and that is
composed of players throughout the league as well.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And Ryan Kelly was on that executive committee while a
member of the Colts. He is obviously no longer a
member of the Colts. Do we know who is the
Colts representative on the NFLPA.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Oh, that's a good question. It tends to change every year,
or it can.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
It.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Zire Franklin comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
But AMREI did Eddie you believe it's Kenny. I think
Kenny Moore did an interview on train Camp with the
Morning Show ad mention of it.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Okay, I honestly I haven't. I haven't followed up on
who it is this year. Sometimes it's more than one guy.
I mean, I said Zaire because in the past he
has kind of been at the forefront of some union
related things, but it could well become any more. That
makes sense. I honestly haven't followed up for this new season.
They usually decided, I think in training camp, so that's
(29:26):
probably accurate.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Steven. I know that Chris Ballard, and I also know
the broken record nature of what I'm about to ask,
But I know that Chris Ballard has been very adamant
about the fact that Anthony Richardson is not on the
trade block. I understand that. But if Daniel Jones one
game does not a season make. But if Daniel Jones
is able to play at the efficiency game in and
(29:49):
game out that we saw in week one, does that
change Chris Ballard's tune?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Too early to say, however, I do. I would say
this when when he came out and said he was
not trading him, I thought I understood at that point
at least you have to assume at that point that
the uncertainty about Daniel Jones was at least a factor,
if not the primary factor, it was at least some factor.
(30:16):
The other factor was that Daniel Jones does have some
injury history, which they acknowledge, So you know, there's a
little you know, a little uneasiness about that, But you
have to think, watching that game, it's certainly more likely
today than it was prior to that game. I mean,
(30:36):
I'm not saying it's likely at all. I'm saying it's
it's at least a little bit more likely today given
what you just saw from Daniel Jones. Because a big
part of any hesitation in trading Anthony Richardson was what
do we have in Daniel Jones? Because what if you
were wrong about him? Right? And look, we have sixteen
games to go. We know nothing. Okay, we really know
(30:59):
nothing yet. I warned fans they come up to you,
you know, at Starbucks or Costco and like, hey, you know,
what do you think about this? What do you think
about that? And my advice is always like, let's talk
after week three, just because generally, after like three or
four weeks, you start to see the trends, you start
to see some you know, you start to see the
(31:19):
identity of players and teams and all that. So you know,
we know nothing after week one. However, that was it
was such a good performance that you have to feel
infinitely better today than you did what you know, seventy
two hours ago about Daniel Jones and that includes the colts.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
What's the last thing that you impulse bought at Costco
because you were there and you're like, oh my gosh,
this is a deal I can't pass up. It happens
like every third time you go in there, right.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Yeah, you know, I this is such a stupid thing.
I went in there the other day. I buy these
protein bars there because you know, that's what. So I
grab a protein bar in the morning and I go
to the gym. That's what. That's like my old man routine.
And so I'm a creature of habit. I'm at that age, right,
And so I go in there, no shopping cart, no
(32:11):
shopping cart because I'm just running in, right, I'm not
buying anything. When me get my protein bars, go through
the self checkout, and I'm out of it. I'm out of
there in five minutes, right. But as I walk in,
They've got that shelf right in the front, across from
the TVs and it's got all this random stuff and
they had this like twelve pack of toothbrushes, and I
was like, these are amazing toothbrushes. Oh my god. I
(32:35):
mean because you know, people come over. You know, my
daughter has a sleepover or family comes visit or whatever,
and everybody inevitably needs a toothbrush, right, and you know,
and I'm like.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Going on, are you treating your house like a holiday inn?
Like if people kids come to spend the night, they
get a free toothbrush out of the deal.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Well, I mean, I guess she's got to pick better
for apparently, because she has friends that I just don't
care about hygiene because they've never seen to bring the toothbrush. Okay,
all my extra toothbrushes they're gone. So I said, you
know what, this will last us a long time. And
I got to be honest, they're amazing toothbrushes. So that
was an impulse buy a bargain like eighteen bucks man.
(33:19):
I got like twenty of them. It was pretty good.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
By the way, do you know how you know that
that device was invented in Kentucky? I do not, because
anywhere else it would be known as a teeth brush.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I'm here all week. By the way, Tipsy, that's not bad, right,
And that's not bad?
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Seriously, did there?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
And actually here's the other thing, Steven, And I've noticed
this from in you know, like I don't want this
to become awkward all of a sudden for listeners or
for yourself. But I've noticed when you have gone to
pacer games with me, you have very nice teeth. And
I noticed that because primarily when people are in my
company they smile often, and so you're smiling usually when
you're around me. You have very nice teeth. So I
(33:56):
would say the Costco purchase is paying off, not just
for your daughter's friends, but for yourself.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Well, yes, my Dennis doctor foss. She hates me because
I've done a much better job and i haven't had
a cavity in a very long time. So well, there
you go off. You're very happy about this pay off.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I will tell you this, not big brush around any
money off of me. I've got like, way, way, way
too many of the like ankle high puma socks from Costco.
Like every time I go in and that that thing
is right there, and I'm like, oh man, I need
more of them. I've got a life times apply that
I need even more.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
You can never have too many socks.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
That's correct. That is not a thing that is correct,
not a thing, not unlike tooth brushes. All right, Steven,
we will let you get those Pearly Whites grinning on
ESPN and get back to the regular gig. But we
appreciate the time as always. All Right, you got it, I,
Steven olare joining us on ESPN dot com. Two o'clock
hour underway in Indianapolis, for that matter, of the two
(34:53):
o'clock hours underway everywhere in the Eastern time zone. My
name is Jake Querry. Eddie Garret is the producer of
this show most of the time. By that, I mean
like the seventy two percent of the time that he's
not taking off for his neighbor's birthday or simply having
Caleb fill in. Caleb is sitting in and that's Caleb.
Z Iver zuver correct, z Iver's over. That's correct. I noticed,
(35:16):
Caleb by the way that you you rock a lot
of snoopy gear. Are you a big Peanuts guy? Is
that it is that because you moved here from Minneapolis.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Yeah, oh, Charles Schultz home up in Minneapolis. But now,
my uncle was a big Peanuts guy, and I have
a lot of hand me down gear from him, So.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Hand me down okay, fair enough. Do you have a
favorite Peanuts character?
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (35:38):
I like Linus because I used to have an attachment
to my blanket as well.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
So Ill, that's what age were you when the attachment
to the blanket went away? It hasn't okay, Yeah, I
will you know what, Caleb, I will confess this to you.
I'm fifty three years old. I still have my blanket
and cow, which was my stuffed animal when I was
a kid. I still have both of them.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Yeah, I'm the same way.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
So I don't like to struggle up with them per se,
but I do. Still they are within my possession. They
made the cut of the great cut down, of the
purge of my gear, the Great Purge. Yes, thank you,
Eddie joining us now and I'm sure thrilled to be
doing so. Based on that segue from Fieldhouse Files, is
Scott Agnes fever in action tonight seven thirty against Minnesota
(36:23):
and then into the playoffs, where they, by all account
will take on Atlanta. There are a couple of factors
that we went over earlier that could affect their seating,
but let's begin with Scott. This matchup tonight with Minnesota.
The Lenks are also a team that has dealt with
some injury not I don't think anybody has to the
level of Indiana and what Stephanie White's group has contended with.
(36:45):
But the challenge I guess will start with that about
this particular team to close out the year would be what.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
The reality is, Jake, I'm it's unclear right now who
I'm on Minnesota will play right Nafisa Collier? Why would
you play her? If you're the Links and the playoffs
are starting this week and I have not seen an
injury report for them for tonight's game. They held shoot
around but have not announced that. I would be surprised
to see them. I would they have chosen to sit
(37:14):
some players from time to time over the last couple
of weeks with a five game lead on the two seed.
On the other side, You're exactly right. The Fever are
still playing for spot six and seven and so they
very much still have something to play for here tonight.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Do you believe Scott that? And maybe I'm just saying
this because it's locally and we cover the Fever. You know,
I paid more attention to the Fever than I do
other teams within the WNBA. I think that Stephanie White
should get a lot of praise for the coaching job
(37:50):
she did this year, and I know that people are
going to look at it and say, yeah, but that's
a team that you had Caitlin Clark and Leah Boston,
and you know they had higher expectation to begin of
the year than they did to go stay twenty three
and twenty and eke their way into the playoffs. But
when you look at the attrition of roster, to me,
(38:10):
she has done top level coaching this year. But am
I simply looking at it myoptically?
Speaker 6 (38:18):
I would agree she's much like Kelsey Mitchell for MVP
that she should be in the conversation. But it's really
hard to overlook with a job they've done with the
Golden State Valkyries, an expansion franchise, a team that selected
players that most of us did not recognize, like why
are you drafting them? They leaned in the expansion draft.
To be clear, they did not make any big trades.
(38:39):
They did they leaned on foreigners and are in the
playoffs and are right now six there. But I think
Stephanie White should be probably third or fourth in Coach
of the Year for all the reasons you laid out
just I think so many times Jake we overused, maybe
within hyperbole, the unprecedented no this fever season, in the
(39:00):
variety of things that Steph and the entire team have
dealt with are absolutely unprecedented, and they've navigated these choppy
waters to be in the playoffs firmly.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
How have they had to play differently? How in any
way has their approach offensively changed in terms of style,
if at all, over the course of the attrition and
the things that they've lost.
Speaker 6 (39:24):
Yeah, it's absolutely required some adjustment and mostly dumbing it down,
simplifying because you're dealing with a lot of players that
joined less than a month ago. It was just one
month ago when you started to have your first of
five players suffer season ending injuries, and so they've continued
to have to adapt on the fly. I think defensively,
some of their coverages, how they're trying to trap. They're
(39:46):
still trying to get out in transition offensively and play
at that fast tempo that gives them their greatest advantage
always has been. But I think some of the play calls,
you're seeing a lot less pick and roll action. I
think Leah, you're not utilizing as much as you would
be normally, and you're leaning a lot more on your
perimitive guards just to create something and try to make
(40:09):
a quick action decision.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Scott, you have covered the WNBA, specifically the Indiana Fever
for how many and I don't mean consecutively, but for
how many total seasons?
Speaker 6 (40:21):
Yeah, I've covered it, not at this level daily all
the time, but certainly since twenty twelve and before that.
I was around the franchise since two thousand and three.
It's just the reality is, go back three to five
years ago, there was very little interest. You would spend
two weeks on a feature for five hundred people to
read it. And obviously that dynamic has changed entirely in
(40:43):
the last two years because of Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Well.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
The thing I was going to ask you is just
how has the league itself changed? And I don't even
mean necessarily in the interest of it, but as the
interest of it has increased, you know, the overall I
guess competitive nature of the league. I mean, and what
ways is the WNBA different today? Or for that matter,
are there any ways where it's the same today as
(41:06):
it was then?
Speaker 6 (41:08):
I would say no, it's drastically different. I think I
would say the biggest area is more parody in the
years past. I feel like it was always one or
two teams kind of every year. Now that might change
from time to time. What two teams it was. I
think you just have more talent to go around. I
think the physicality that a lot of people have been
(41:28):
talking about it has always been there. I don't think
there will rivalries, and I think that's more so a
systemic thing in all of sports now as more people
root on individuals and follow players much more than maybe
teams perhaps so I think that is definitely a relation there.
I don't see any rivalries really within the league from
(41:50):
team to team, and then the other aspect in all
this is just how much more it is consumed, how
many more games you're playing it used And this is
the big conversation Jake, they've got to be having with
the collective bargaining agreement, both in terms of how you
schedule and breaks given, but also how the players are
obviously compensated for. Back when Stephanie was playing and Tamika,
(42:11):
it was like thirty thirty two to thirty four games. Well,
this year for the first time, they're up to forty
four and they're going to add even more, presumably with
two more teams joining the fold as expansion teams next year,
so you know, now about thirty seasons in, I think
you can the changes just continue on down the line
and are inevitable with this growing product.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
And this is a dumb question. I apologize for this.
In terms of expansion of the league. I mean, I
think the league the WNBA, and we've seen this this year, Scott.
What I what to me is very intriguing about the
league is that because you don't have the high number
of teams that you see in other leagues. When a
(42:56):
franchise like the Fever this year, have to do mid
season acts acquisition of free agents, there are good players
out there that you know what I mean, it's not
as watered down. Where do things stand? And I know
that we've seen we have two new teams coming in,
but are they looking to continue to expand or are
we kind of at a cap there?
Speaker 6 (43:16):
Yeah, so next year they'll add two more that will
make it fifteen, and they've already promised three other spots.
Those are staggered out, one after one after one, and
so you'll have eighteen teams here by the end of
this ten year period. I think it's by twenty thirty.
I wouldn't be surprised for them to go to twenty,
let's say, But right now you're set on eighteen. I
(43:38):
just think you might want to get off that odd number,
having nine to nine or whatever. But eighteen's a nice
round number as well. I just wonder to your point earlier,
you need to expand rosters. That's where the focus needs
to be in my opinion, before you expand these teams,
because all the different players that have gone down from
that instance, a lot of teams have experienced that, just
(44:02):
not at this level and for this duration. Certain teams
of experience where they've had to use the emergency hardship
or go to a hardship once or twice a year.
The Fever have signed too many players at this point
to that level, and that's why you need a development system.
I think as well, a player like Bree Hall, who
was drafted by them in the second round. Clearly there
(44:22):
was no room for her on the twelve man roster,
but think if she was here from the start of
training camp till today, both contributing or around or in
this environment where she could develop and maybe now at
the end of the season, she'd be much more comfortable
and certainly confident in what her role is in this
Fever system and all that, whether she's used or not.
(44:42):
I'd like to see the rosters expand at least fourteen,
maybe fifteen players.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
By the way, do we need to say twelve woman roster?
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (44:51):
I've always wondered about that, Like you talk about what
man are you guarding?
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Or mann a man defense?
Speaker 6 (44:56):
We all understand what it references, but I don't know
that right answer to that, that's.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
A good man to man. I never thought of that.
I mean, it's got to be a woman to woman, right,
I mean, for what it's worth, I guess semantically right,
I mean, yeah, okay, these are the kinds of things
that keep me awake at night.
Speaker 6 (45:12):
Scott right, I've thought about it. I just don't know
who you know. I'm I geared towards more simplifying and
keeping it easy and less changes.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
Do you buy into the do you buy into the
the soccer version of using team names like the plural
like you know, Indiana have Indiana have won a playoff
game as opposed to Indiana has won a playoff game?
Speaker 6 (45:41):
Because it's to me, I've always struggled with Fever from
that standpoint.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
I think, yeah, the fever has or the fever have
right when you get into it that way. Absolutely, these
are again the things that keep me awake at night.
Right for what it's.
Speaker 6 (45:56):
Worth, Miami Heats the same way, going back to the Pacers,
battles with them and the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, I mean he is the Heat have won five
in a row. Yeah, I mean absolutely. When you look
at Scott Agnes our guest fieldhouse files where you can
read his work the WNBA playoffs in general, I mean,
obviously I know that Minnesota has been the upper echelon team,
but is this a league that has, to your point,
(46:22):
the parody? Is there the parody there? Or do we
expect that the Indiana and the Atlantas and those teams
that the odds are really really stacked against him, that
they can make playoff noise?
Speaker 6 (46:36):
I think there's about I think Minnesota is a clear favorite.
Let's put him in tears. I think Minnesota number one easily.
Then after that I would put your aces in Liberties,
your traditional powers, and then the only other team outside
that I could see is sneaking up as Atlanta. So
to me, it's really a three team playoff race. As
I look at it. Phoenix doesn't seem threatening the Valkyries.
(46:56):
We know what the Fever have been dealing with here.
Keep in mind that Vegas Aces. They were really going
through it last month like the Fever. If I remember right,
they beat him by thirty. It might have been the
worst opponent I've ever seen played. Think about to the
Miami Dolphins this past week. It was worse than that
from the Aces. But guess what now since that Jake,
they've ripped off fourteen wins in a row, and a
(47:18):
team that had won back to back championships a couple
of years ago is the hottest team in the league
right now. They're in third in the standings in New York.
We know what they can do if they are healthy.
But to me, I'd be surprised given Nafisa Collier's health,
should she stay healthy. It's Minnesota versus everybody.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
Scott, do you, Scott Agnes our guest fieldhouse files, have
you had a chance to I don't know how much
we've talked about it, but I want to get back
into this on the men's side of things, talking about
the Pacers. You know there has been a change at
the on the coaching staff for Rick Carlisle and I
don't know that a lot of people. By all account,
it seemed to be a mutual parting of ways. Do
(48:00):
we know what has gone into the changes on the
bench for Rick Carlisle.
Speaker 6 (48:05):
No, not exactly unfortunately, which is a little bit odd
because the timing of it wasn't ideal. Right, It was
announced by the team basically a month before training camp.
After Mike Winer you're talking about, was with the team
out in Las Vegas for Summer League, and usually any
coaching changes are made by July and then everybody goes
on vacation there in August. Mike Winer was one of
(48:29):
his top assistants. He was Rick Carlile's basically right hand
man going back to two thousand and eight in Dallas.
He ran the offense, He ran into game situations. He
was the one that drew up that spread five foot
or spread four football play that we all remember Halibert
knocking down the shot for the win over Milwaukee. And
then you bring him in and you replace him with
(48:51):
someone that doesn't have a ton of experience. He spent
a summer with the Pacers, spent some time at the
coaching level at UVA.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
If anything.
Speaker 6 (49:00):
My biggest takeaway from this is further belief in Jim Boylan,
who is promoted to the front of the bench and
what he has contributed. Obviously, he has a great experience
with the Pacers. He won a championship in San Antonio
and was a head coach with the Chicago Bulls.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
But other than natural cynicism, we have no reason to
believe that this was anything other than a mutual part correct.
Speaker 6 (49:24):
I would agree, yeah, absolutely, just given all the different
things here. But we have not been given any evidence
to the contrary, and nobody wants to talk about it,
so that's a little bit odd as well.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
One of the things that I find interesting, Scott, is
that the Pacers in the last couple of weeks, I
have seen several posts on social media and they do
this with other players, you know what I mean, Like, Hey,
it's a been mather an appreciation post or whatever, you know,
that kind of thing they seem to have sent. And
maybe this is me overthinking it, but I've seen a
(49:58):
fairly consistent narrative about their appreciation or kind of pumping
up Andro Nimhard. Do you think part of that is
just because Andronimhart as good as he's been his elevation,
his role is going to elevate in terms of how
much they have to lean on him, and so they're
(50:18):
kind of prepping him, if you will, psychologically for that moment.
Does that make sense at all?
Speaker 4 (50:24):
It does?
Speaker 6 (50:24):
I think the number one thing in all this, quite frankly,
is the Pacers reached the NBA Finals. Then it went
right to the draft like three days later, right to
free agency, right to summer league, And ordinarily the Pacers
digital team has about a month and a half two
months to roll out into season reviews for each player,
and so they're pumping out one each day leading up
here to training camp, if that's what you're referencing with
(50:44):
all that, But with Nimart in particular, I think number one,
the franchise is leaning hard into it because they're going
to need his contributions. And the other thing is, I
think everyone's very curious to see what it will be
like with him having a higher usage rate, with him
coming in as a point guard, being so good that
they couldn't play him as backup point guard but instead
(51:05):
the off ball guard and the starting lineup, and now
he has much greater responsibilities, and this team's going to
go as far as he and maybe Pascal can lead them.
Speaker 1 (51:15):
Scott Agnes, our guest from Fieldhouse Files. All right, Scott,
I assume you've got plenty of coverage coming up regarding
the Fever to end their regular season.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
Right.
Speaker 6 (51:23):
Absolutely, we got the final game tonight fan Appreciation Night,
and then we should find out in the next twenty
four to forty eight hours whether it'll be Atlanta or
Las Vegas. Seemingly and flight prices aren't cheap either way.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
Unfortunately, here's the well, you can drive to Atlanta, right
at the very least. The thing I was going to
ask Atlanta. I know Indiana two and two in the
regular season, if you were to look at it just
in terms of matchups of and that was a different
group for a large part of it, because it's been
well over month since they've played Atlanta. But if you
were to look at Atlanta and Las Vegas, is there
(51:58):
a preference you think for the Fever in terms of
which one is a better matchup?
Speaker 3 (52:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (52:03):
All along, excluding leaving Vegas out of this conversation, I've
said Atlanta is one of their most difficult matchups just
given the physicality and the toughness in the style of
play for the Atlanta Dream. But it's hard, Jake, for
me to go over go past and look over the
big game experience, the coaching with Becky Hammond on the
(52:23):
other side, it's a rookie head coach, and the fact
that they are the hottest team over the last month
and a half. Right now, I would say I'd prefer
the Dream over the Aces given those factors.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
All right, we will keep an eye on it in
the way that it all pans out. Fever in Action.
Tonight seven thirty seven fifteen is the pregame show with
Eddie right here on this radio station. Appreciate it as always, Scott,
you bet, Thanks Jake. Scott Agnes joining US field House
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