The Toronto Tempo play WNBA basketball for the first time ever tonight. So, what’s that going to look like?
Talking to head coach Sandy Brondello and the players in the lead up to the season, they’ve provided a vivid description of the style of basketball they aim to play on both ends of the floor. It’s high-pick-up-point, high-pressure, taxing defence and five-out, point-five, ball-movement-based offence.
Brondello made these philosophies known on the first day of training camp.
“We want to make sure we’re a defensive, tough-minded team,” she said. “So we have principles of play there. Trying to get early pickups, you know, the full court pressure, our pick-and-roll defence. So, we broke it down. Trans D is a big thing for us, because that’s where a lot of teams can get to score.
“Offensive, down the other end, just our running habits. We’re a five-out team, predominantly. And just getting used to that, because some of them are not used to that, and getting comfortable with the movement. You know, we like to move the ball. Point-five mentality, you’ll hear me say that a fair bit. We don’t like to hold it, we want to move it, but then also how do we create advantages?”
If you’re a Toronto Raptors fan, this probably sounds familiar. They pick up high, play a high line of defence (particularly in their recent playoff series) and were among the best transition defences in the NBA. Their coach Darko Rajaković also preaches an egalitarian, point-five offence that features five-out concepts. Tempo hoops could look quite similar if Brondello’s vision is realized.
“There’s a lot of non-negotiables in the defence,” Brondello said at Tempo media day. “If you saw the Raptors last night (in Game 4), we want to be a great defensive team like that. You know, how connected they were and how hard they competed. And that’s so important because in the end, defence wins, doesn’t it?”
On the offensive side, point-five basketball is named after how long a player should take to decide to shoot, dribble, or pass – 0.5 seconds. The idea is that as the ball moves quickly and players make the right decisions, small advantages are created and cascaded into larger ones until ideally, an easy bucket.
The effectiveness of this style of play hinges on reading the defence correctly. But it also necessitates being on the same page as your teammates. Knowing their timing and tendencies. A read can’t be made without knowing where ones teammates are and where they will be. Implementing such a system with a new team is prone to growing pains.
“Just stay true to the principles of play,” said Brondello at training camp. “The hardest thing is the decision making, isn’t it? Training isn’t all about breaking it down. It’s very simple, you draw two, you kick it. If it’s just one-on-one, you create until you draw someone else.
“But we’re very intentional of how do we create advantage and how do we keep advantages. We’re gonna learn by doing. Sometimes I’m like ‘No that’s not right’ because still everyone has to be on the same page. Players want to play on a string, but still reading, who do we want to put in the action and continuing to evolve that part of the game.”
Playing five-out on offence has also come into vogue in the W. Brondello said: “With our three-second rule, a lot of us are playing five-out.”
One popular five-out concept is delay action, where the centre handles the ball outside of the three-point line – ideally drawing the opposing big out and opening up the paint – while cutters and spot up shooters run action around them. So far, through two preseason games, the Tempo have put it into practice often.
In the first clip Temi Fagbenle toggles through a couple options before making a methodical handoff to Lexi Held, pivoting in the process to give her extra room off the edge. It comes in handy as Held knocks down a step-back three.
Next we have Kia Nurse lifting off a Chicago (or Zoom) action (off-ball screen into a handoff), taking the handoff from Nyara Sabally, and banging a triple with zero hesitation.
Then we have another Zoom, as Fagbenle completes the handoff and the ball is cycled back to the inital screener, who successfully drives the closeout.
Last we have Kiki Rice toss to Fagbenle above the break before receiving a back screen from Aaliyah Nye. Nye, who has since been waived, then curls off the handoff and drains a tough triple.
The final clip included above doesn’t feature delay action, but is just a good example of point-five basketball. Rice hands the ball off, Nye back-cuts and drives baseline and Held – who finished the first preseason game with a team-high 21 points on 5-of-8 from long range – cans the open 3. The first good decision was turning the corner off the pitch, the second was the baseline cut and the pass to find them, and the third was finding the open corner shooter. Quality hoops rewarded with a bucket.
Sabally, who came into camp already familiar with Brondello’s system after playing under her with the New York Liberty, thinks the roster is well-suited for this style of basketball.
“It fits really well if you look at our roster,” said Sabally, who is questionable for the Tempo’s opener due to concussion protocol, at training camp. “I mean I think it’s exactly tailored to that.
“So, I think it’s going to be a huge success, just the way we play, fast pace. Even our bigs are really known for their fast pace and running habits. The guards are – I mean you can just take a look at the guards.”
The Tempo do have the WNBA’s first million-dollar backcourt after all and selected another promising young guard in Rice with the sixth-overall pick to boot. Their first pick in the expansion draft, Julie Allemand, is also a guard proficient at handling the ball, passing, shooting. Guard stuff. Toronto is stocked with skilled players capable of playing with the speed and precision to make this system work.
“We can just go out there and just play basketball,” said Brittney Skyes, one half of the million-dollar backcourt, on media day. “We don’t have to think about nothing else. We read the defence, and I like that for us. It’s not much thinking, we’re literally responding to what it is that the defence is giving us.”
Skyes, usually referred to as “Slim,” also later lamented the team’s struggles with turnovers during the preseason.
“I mean, shit, yeah, turnovers,” Slim said to reporters. “I think we’re just trying to get that consistent flow, not be so stagnant. We’re all new. We’re all still trying to figure each other out offensively and defensively.”
Growing pains.
Key word there is growing. Adjustments will undoubtedly come as the season rolls on and this group discovers more about themselves. That’s the beauty of basketball. The incremental progress. Winning each possession. Each moment. And when you lose, figuring out why and finding a solution.
“Important for us as we continue to learn more about this team is putting them in situations that they can have success,” said Brondello. “I’m sure our style, as we get to know them even more, will probably evolve, and adapt, and be flexible.”