Jose Fernandez Explains How Azzi Fudd’s Defense ‘Changes Things’ For Wings
After a somewhat slow start to her rookie season, Azzi Fudd looks like the player the Dallas Wings hoped to get when they drafted her first overall. She’s shooting over 38.% from three for the season on 4.5 attempts per game, playing well off Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale, and regularly makes huge defensive plays.
Making game-changing defensive plays, as well as the kind of matchups she takes on, is something Wings head coach Jose Fernandez believes she doesn’t get enough credit for.
“Her size and her defensive pressure really changes things,” Fernandez said in the postgame media availability after a one-point win against the Chicago Sky, per the team’s YouTube channel. “We talked about things that don’t come up on the stat sheet that she does, right? Cause you look on the stat sheet, most people look how many points did she score? How did she shoot from the 3-point line? How many assists did she get? She doesn’t get credit on who she guards. That doesn’t come out of here.”
Fudd regularly takes on tough assignments. Against the Sky, she guarded Sydney Taylor, who scored 30 and 24 points in the two games before facing the Wings, but she also had to guard veteran Natasha Cloud. Before that, she matched up with Gabby Williams, Cecilia Zandalasini, and Veronica Burton against the Golden State Valkyries. Against the Las Vegas Aces, she took on Jewell Loyd and Chelsea Gray, among other players.
The difficulty of her matchups doesn’t show up in the box score, but a lot of her defensive impact does—and it did in the win against Chicago.
Fudd filled up the stat sheet against the Sky
It wasn’t the most efficient outing for Fudd, but she finished the Wings’ one-point win against the Sky with a respectable 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. She also filled up the stat sheet defensively, recording 4 blocks and 1 steal.
She made a defensive impact early when she stopped the much bigger Kamilla Cardoso in the paint just about three minutes into the game. Just a minute later, she cleanly stripped the ball from Sydney Taylor, preventing an easy score on a fast break. Another defensive play that stood out was when she blocked a 3-pointer from Natasha Cloud to close out the third quarter.
Fudd is a big reason for the Wings’ defensive improvement
Dallas was a horrible defensive team last season, finishing 12th in defensive rating and allowing opponents to score 88 points per game. That has changed notably. The Wings still have defensive deficiencies—mainly, they struggle to defend the paint—but they rank fifth in defensive rating and only give up 83.3 points per game.
Fudd has a lot to do with the Wings’ improved defense. She is an active on- and off-ball defender on the perimeter and uses her hands well to bother whoever she is guarding. She leads the team in steals and blocks per game with 1.5 and 1.2, respectively.
No other guard in the W averages more blocks per game, and Flau’jae Johnson is the only one to also average one block.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.