The Portland Fire’s Alex Sarama does not have the traditional resume of a head coach in the WNBA.
Only 30 years old, the majority of his coaching journey has taken place overseas. (He is British, of course). He coached at Pallacanestro College Basket Borgomanero in Italy, worked for Paris Basket and the London Lions, coached for the Rip City Remix in the NBA G League and, most recently, was an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA.
He’s perhaps most known in the basketball community for
being the founder of Transforming Basketball, a coaching resource built on sports science and ecological learning.
So, how will Sarama’s path and philosophies shape the Fire’s expansion season
The two pillars of Sarama-ball will be the foundation of Portland’s offense
Sarama’s two main calling cards are his Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) and conceptual offense.
CLA a development methodology based on motor skills theory and conceptual offense. CLA deserves an article on it’s own, but in a basic sense it’s built on developing players within game-like environments rather than trying to develop them 1-on-0 or with static, block training. Conceptual offense is more straightforward: offense without rigid structure.
In a more tangible sense, conceptual offenses are built around principles and triggers, rather than set plays. The goal of offense, conceptual or not, is to create advantages: moments where the offense is in a position to force a defensive rotation or take a high-percentage shot. Set plays are groupings of consecutive actions run to create a specific advantage or shot. In conceptual offense, advantage creation is simplified into triggers. Fast triggers occur before a defense is fully set and stationary. Slow triggers, which include set plays, occur when a defense has become stationary.
Sarama wants Portland to play for fast triggers as often as possible. What that will (likely) look like is quick inbounds passes, pushing the ball up the floor and getting into early actions based on arrival spacing. If the team’s best screener arrives down the middle of the court, they might set an early ball screen for the ball handler to create an advantage. If they arrive down the slot area, they might set a wide pin down screen for the corner player to curl or come to the ball. Conceptual offense is based around these free-flowing triggers, allowing the players to flow freely with each other to create advantages.
Sarama will undoubtedly have some set plays, but don’t expect many—especially in preseason.
Portland will likely use the preseason as an opportunity to iron out their chemistry and work on flowing into triggers with all players on the same page. The downside to conceptual offense is that while simple, it’s extremely difficult to master. Players have to recognize spacing at a higher level than if they were running set plays with designated spacing alignments, and they have to be able to read each other to determine what kind of advantage they are trying to create. The upside to conceptual offense is that when a team masters it, it becomes virtually impossible to guard. When you set a good screen and understand how to play off of that advantage, defenses are forced to concede something, whether that be a switch, space for a roll, an open jumpshot, etc. Conceptual offense can stall out if players aren’t on the same page, but when it works, it’s fast and efficient.
Player buy-in will be incredibly important for Sarama and the Fire
Conceptual offense is also attractive to players. They are given the trust and freedom to make their own decisions, allowing them to “get their game off,” so to speak. Portland will be playing to their players strengths, rather than trying to make their players play to a specific identity or profile. Early in training camp, it was clear that Sarama and his style were resonating with the players brought to Portland in the expansion draft.
Emily Engstler, who came to Portland via the Mystics in the expansion draft, raved about her affinity for Sarama’s system, sharing:
He’s really an intelligent man. He’s really good at what he does. It’s funny, like, everything that he has put out for us to learn is the kind of basketball that I like to play, and I think that’s one of the reasons that he brought me here. I’m super excited to be a part of it, and to buy into his work ethic and what he wants to do defensively and offensively.
While it may not affect someone like Engstler, there is one hitch in Sarama’s publicized coaching philosophy that may turn certain players off of Portland as a destination: midrangers, or lack thereof.
Sarama has been known to not just play for 3s and layups, but actively prohibit players from shooting midranges because of their historical inefficiency. When he coached in Italy, he enforced a hierarchy of shot selection with his players. To encourage high-percentage shots, his team used a scoring system whenever they played in practice. Corner catch-and-shoot 3s, shooting fouls or wide-open rim finishes were worth four points. Any other 3-pointer was worth three points. Any contested rim finishes were worth two points. Mid-ranges were zero points even if you made them, unless it occurred late in the shot clock and was taken to avoid a shot clock violation.
While he hasn’t spoken about what specific scoring system he’s used in practice with the Fire, Sarama has made it clear that he still doesn’t believe in midranges as efficient forms of offense. For certain players, it will take time to get used to passing up midrange moments. For others, they will readily embrace a higher volume of 3s and rim attempts. Most WNBA teams, and high-level basketball teams as a whole, have strayed away from midranges, but Portland will probably find themselves at the radical limits of that philosophy.
Expect the Fire to be fun to watch during their expansion season
So, when Portland tips off their preseason against the Seattle Storm Wednesday night, what will they look like?
Expect them to play fast, create advantages, and naturally, make mistakes. Expect a lot of rim attempts and catch-and-shoot 3s. Expect a helping of position-less basketball.
The Fire will be at the forefront of conceptual offense, which should make them a fun watch, despite an apparent lack of top-tier talent in comparison to the rest of the league.
It’s not beneficial to put any expectations on a team in the first year of their existence, especially given the nature of their roster. However, the Fire can be fairly judged by their progress as a cohesive unit from the beginning of the season to the end. Wednesday will show us just how good or bad they may look at their worst.
Fire fans, have you like what you’ve seen so far from Sarama and the team so? What players do you think will thrive in this system? What are your expectations for this season? Share your thoughts in the comments.
