Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Same championship goal for new-look Las Vegas Aces

Becky Hammon

Eric Gay / AP

San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks, Friday, Nov. 12, 2021, in San Antonio. Hammon is now the head coach for the Las Vegas Aces.

The Aces have done just about everything a franchise can do since moving to Las Vegas in 2018. They’ve drafted multiple No. 1 overall picks, they’ve signed star free agents, they’ve made mega trades, they’ve had players collect tons of individual awards and they’ve provided plenty of memorable moments. It’s a long list of accomplishments — with one giant, championship banner-sized exception.

They haven’t been able to win the whole thing.

Las Vegas has come close. The organization’s all-out pursuit of a championship has brought them to the precipice three years in a row, with Conference Finals trips in 2019 and 2021 and a Finals appearance in 2020. All ended in bitter defeats, including last year’s gut-wrenching Game 5 loss to Phoenix.

That was enough heartache for owner Mark Davis, and the organization made sweeping changes in the offseason. Head coach Bill Laimbeer and All-Star center Liz Cambage are out, and at the team’s first training camp practice this week, new head coach Becky Hammon and incumbent superstar A’ja Wilson were excited about the fresh direction.

Wilson said she’s never been part of a team or organization that’s gone through so much change over the course of one offseason.

“In college, I went through two assistant coaching changes, but nothing where it was clean house, ever. But I think it’s the beauty of the WNBA and the business we’re in,” Wilson said.

Hammon comes to the Aces after a long stint as an assistant for the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich, and she plans to install a Spurs-like offensive system that relies on spacing the floor and attacking stretched-out defenses.

“We want to play with a lot of pace and space and share it,” Hammon said. “It’s pretty simple, it’s pretty basic. We’ve got to get to where they start trusting each other that when they do give it up, they’re going to get it back probably. There’s four other people passing back to you. We’re going to see probably a lot more pick and roll, and we’re certainly going to shoot a lot more 3’s than we did last year.”

That style is a departure from how Las Vegas ran its offense under Laimbeer, who was an old-school devotee of the post-up. The Aces regularly played multiple bigs and bruised their way to the hoop; now Hammon wants her players to spread out and embrace a more modern approach.

That applies to Wilson, the 2020 MVP who has thrived while mostly operating from the free-throw line and in during her time as a pro.

Even after just a couple practices, Wilson said the difference in play style is stark.

“It’s a lot of space,” Wilson said. “A lot for everyone to operate at their positions that they’re really good at. It opens the floor up for everybody, and everybody gets an opportunity to do their things. I think that’s the biggest difference.”

Wilson had another stellar season in 2021, following up her MVP campaign by averaging 18.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists. She only attempted one 3-pointer, however, despite flashing good shooting form from other areas of the floor (87.6% from the free-throw line).

One of Hammon’s top priorities will be stretching Wilson out to the arc to take advantage of her sweet lefty stroke.

“I think it helps her game,” Hammon said. “I think it expands her game. Her ability and just the threat of her shooting the 3 is going to open up the free-throw line for her, it’s going to open up driving lanes for her, as well as for our team. We want to give her space on the block so that she can go be A’ja.”

Wilson isn’t resisting that effort. The fifth-year pro tries to add to her scoring arsenal every season, and she’s open to extending her range to the 3-point line. But she also believes a more spacious offense will allow her to thrive in areas that are already strengths for her, such as the elbow and the low block.

“I spent all offseason evolving my game. I spent all offseason getting into my bag,” Wilson said. “But at the end of the day you’ve got to take what the defense gives you. I’m never going to lose sight of what got me this far, which is the face-up game. I’m never going to let that go; it just gets better with spacing.”

The ultimate goal, Hammon said, is to tweak an already talented team and find a way to extract maximum efficiency. The idea of making the Aces offense even more dynamic after they led the WNBA in scoring last year at 89.3 points per game is something that should strike fear in the rest of the league.

If it works and Hammon successfully unlocks a new level, that could be the difference between another heartbreak and the franchise’s long-sought championship.

“Obviously, we have the pieces,” Hammon said. “I think a couple tweaks. I’ve got a great foundation to work with, so it’s not about tearing down everything and completely rebuilding. We’ve got a lot of good pieces in place already. You don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, so we’ll build on that. I do think we can do a couple things offensively and defensively differently that I think will help put us over the hump.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.

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