Everybody wants to know if the Fever can make the playoffs. How good will Aliyah Boston make them right away?
Well, it won’t just be about Aliyah Boston. The return of Erica Wheeler will be huge, as will how big of a sophomore leap NaLyssa Smith takes. But even if it was just the addition of Boston and not Wheeler too, people would expect a lot, even in Year 1. Because Boston is not considered just any No. 1 pick; she is considered to be a franchise player. Rhyne Howard led the Dream to improvement as a rookie and that was seen as a success even though they missed the playoffs. Will the Fever have to make the playoffs for Boston’s first year to be seen as a success? Boston does have more hype surrounding her than Howard did initially.
But the 2022 Fever, being five games worse than the 2021 Dream, have further to go. Just getting out of last place might be seen as an accomplishment; Indiana has been dead-last two years in a row and was eight games back of the second-to-last team in 2022 with a franchise-worst winning percentage of .139.
For now, Kelsey Mitchell is still the best player on this team. She came in at No. 25 on our list of the Top 30 players in the WNBA and was the only member of the Fever to make the list. Boston received one 30th-place vote.
Indiana is…
