What Indiana Fever Coach Christie Sides Said About Grace Berger Ahead of Roster Cuts
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The clock is ticking as Friday at 5 p.m. ET, the Indiana Fever's 12-player roster will officially be set. Former Indiana Hoosier guard Grace Berger as the first round, No. 7 overall draft pick is definitely in the conversation.
"It's been cool to watch Grace," head coach Christie Sides said in a Tuesday press conference. "She hits every coach cause every coach brings something different, so she has spent time in the gym with I know all of my coaches."
At the beginning of training camp Berger said she wanted to be a sponge and absorb all the information she could. She's especially learning from seven-year veteran guard Erica Wheeler.
"Grace is running the point for us a good bit, so she's really learning under Erica and just trying to figure out what her role is and what some options are — fast, how to play fast, when it's time to slow it down, when to call," Sides said.
"We're trying to explain there's just certain things you can't call with the pace that we're trying to play, so she's figuring that out. She's taking it in from all of us."
Sides said she wants her team to play the fastest pace in the WNBA while also hanging their hat on defense, a phrase commonly used by Indiana Hoosiers head coach Teri Moren. The reality is the expectations for this 2023 rebuild team are high, and no one is safe. Only 12 players can make the official roster.
"We took the name plates off of the lockers, because you are going to have to earn it, and I told them when they walked in that locker room for our team meeting no one has a place right now," Sides said. "That's just where we are. They bought into it."
Sides said Berger is putting up 350-400 shots every morning before practice. She's an incredible human being off the court and the type of person the program wants on the Fever as she'll be a great teammate, she said.
Berger is already raking in fans as the Fever had its first home preseason game versus the Dallas Wings last Saturday. The Louisville, Ky. native was a fan favorite among Hoosier Nation, and that sea of cream and crimson has followed her to the Circle City.
"People were yelling 'put Grace in'," Sides said. "Finally I was just like 'fine, put her in.'"
"She did a good job. She's got a learning curve like most rookies do. It takes a year or two to kind of understand the size and physicality and just the overall athleticism of this game in the WNBA. She's had a couple hits, but she gets right back up, and she's a fighter, and she has gotten better since training camp has started, really focusing on her shooting."
In two preseason games, Berger has played just under 29 minutes combined. She hasn't earned any starts just yet. Once the official roster is announced Thursday, the Fever will turn around and play its first regular season game versus the Connecticut Sun Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. ET.
"We have all these decisions to make over the next couple of days," Sides said. "It's going to be tough."
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