1 Fever Offseason Addition That’s Already Living Up to Expectations, 1 That’s Not
The Fever kept their core together this offseason when they re-signed Kelsey Mitchell. They were also able to retain some of their most important role players with Lexie Hull and Sophie Cunningham, who both inked new deals with the Fever.
But they also had to bring in some new faces. Natasha Howard, Bri Turner, and Odyssey Sims all left in free agency. The Fever reshaped their frontcourt by signing Monique Billings and Myisha Hines-Allen and added guard depth with Ty Harris and Raven Johnson. None of those additions has jumped off the page as an offseason steal quite yet, but one has delivered exactly what you would expect her to bring to the table. Another, meanwhile, hasn’t quite lived up to the vision yet.
Raven Johnson’s defense has been as advertised
Raven Johnson left Dawn Staley’s South Carolina program as one of the best defensive players in college basketball. She is a menace on the perimeter, but also successfully defended Sarah Strong in the Final Four. There were some doubts about her offensive production in the WNBA, but her defensive impact promised to be great.
The Fever’s starting backcourt of Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell provides a lot of scoring and playmaking, but not a ton of defense. So, drafting a defensive specialist like Johnson to come off the bench made sense for Indiana.
Johnson’s scoring has been up-and-down, as expected, but her defense has translated well. Stephanie White even trusts her to close games as a defensive sub for Clark in close situations. However, Johnson needs to be careful with her fouls. She picked up six fouls in just 10 minutes in an atrocious 100-84 loss to the Portland Fire. Hopefully, it was just the kind of rough game that rookies simply have every once in a while.
The Fever could use more production from Monique Billings
As a rim-running big with an exceptional motor, Billings seemed like an excellent fit for the Fever and a sneaky free agency pick-up.
She’s off to a slow start, averaging 5.4 points, 5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1 steal per game and shooting just 38.7% from the floor. The Fever’s frontcourt production has been very thin behind Aliyah Boston, so if Billings can up her output soon, it would go a long way for Indiana.
Adjusting to a new team is not always easy, so Billings deserves some more time to figure out her fit with the Fever before it’s time to ring the alarm bells.
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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.