ESPN picked Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts as its early front-runner for WNBA Coach of the Year.
In a panel featuring Kendra Andrews, Kevin Pelton, Alexa Philippou and Michael Voepel, the latter two selected Tibbetts as their coach of the year.
Now in his second season at the helm, Tibbetts had led the Mercury to the third-most wins in the WNBA through the first 10 games of the season, despite dealing with a plethora of injuries.
The Mercury have missed four-time All-Star Kahleah Copper (left knee) and forward Natasha Mack (lower back) for the entirety of the regular season, and new-addition Alyssa Thomas has missed the past five games due to a calf injury.
But with the string of injuries, Phoenix is 6-4 to start the season for the first time since 2018, which matches the team’s second-best start through 10 games in franchise history.
Should coaches on teams expected to play well be rewarded? Or should voters lean toward coaches whose teams are overachieving? Neither choice is wrong, but the nod goes to Tibbetts … The Mercury have had success, led by Satou Sabally (20.5 ppg) and several players who are in their first season in the WNBA but have pro experience overseas.
As the shorthanded Mercury have played the most games in the WNBA, after just finishing a stretch of nine games in 18 days, defense has contributed to much of the team’s success.
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The Mercury are fourth in the league in steals per game (8.7), fourth in defensive rating (97.0), fourth in points allowed (78.1) and tied for fifth in opponent field goal percentage (42.4%).
In addition to the team’s defense, depth has been one of the team’s strong suits. Monique Akoa-Makani (a 25-year-old rookie) and Kathryn Westbeld (a 29-year-old rookie) have started in each of the team’s games, while Lexi Held (a 25-year-old rookie) has come off the bench and scored 54 points over the past three games. It’s the first time a Mercury rookie has scored at least 50 points over a three-game span since Brittney Griner did so in 2013.
The Mercury have also scored at least 20 bench points in seven of their 10 games and are tied with Washington for the most games with at least 20 bench points in the WNBA.
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