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The Dallas Wings have a lot of question marks going into the season with first-year head coach Jose Fernandez.
Fernandez, who turns 54 this month, spent the last 25 seasons with the South Florida Bulls and is coming to the WNBA for the first time. However, he feels like the system he is bringing to the Wings is a pro-style offense and defense.
”Make no mistake — if you’ve seen us play at USF and you’ve seen the system, it’s a pro-style system. It has a lot of Euro-influence in the amount of things that we do offensively with player movement and with ball movement,” Fernandez said h/t Mavs Moneyball contributor Matt Martinez.
“Our best players are going to get the basketball. We’re going to play with great spacing and we know the importance of putting the entire five on the floor where they’re comfortable.”
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Fernandez was extremely successful at South Florida, reaching the NCAA Tournament 11 times and nine times since 2015. He wants the Wings to be the No. 1 team in the league in terms of effort.
”The identity of this team has got to be collaborative between the staff and the players,” Fernandez said h/t Martinez.
“We’re going to play harder than anybody in this league. We’re going to rim-run harder, our wings are going to sprint harder, we’re going to attack the rim, we’re going to create second shot opportunities, we’re going to cut hard, we’re going to screen hard, we’re going to stop the point of attack early and we’re going to be tough to play against. That’s going to be the identity.”
There will be a learning curve as the Wings’ job will be different than what he did with the Bulls, but the principles should remain the same. That should make Wings fans excited for the future.
READ MORE: Jose Fernandez hire could lead Dallas Wings to surprise WNBA Draft choice
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