Subscribe
Follow Us
Two preseason games, two games with 20 turnovers for the Phoenix Mercury. Despite an optimistic and promising Mercury training camp, head coach Nate Tibbetts and Satou Sabally were surprised.
However, Sabally remained optimistic as usual. Following Sunday's 84-79 loss to the Golden State Valkyries, Sabally didn't seem concerned about the consecutive games with 20 turnovers.
Satou Sabally remained “optimistic” when I asked her about the back-to-back games with the Mercury having 20 turnovers. pic.twitter.com/DUqqDauDRJ
— Hayden Cilley (@HaydenCilley) May 12, 2025
“For sure, we had a lot of sloppy turnovers,” Sabally said. “Those can be limited. A lot of times, they just turned their aggression on a little bit more, and then we had another 3 turnovers here and there, including myself, way too many. I had 4.
“I'm not too stressed because it does come with the game. Like I said, with team chemistry, you will know blindly where your teammates are, and we just don't have that yet. But it looks so much better than it did the first day in training camp, so I'm very optimistic.”
Rewinding five days prior when Phoenix was in Las Vegas, that same level of optimism wasn't there. It wasn't evident due to Tibbetts's thoughts about the 40 minutes within the game.
The 85-84 buzzer-beating loss stung like a hornet. Although the starters were on a minutes restriction, there were some careless turnovers.
As a result, the Mercury surrendered 20 turnovers. Following that performance, Tibbetts was taciturn in his response about that specific metric.
“Yeah, a little disappointed in our 20 turnovers,” Tibbetts said. “We had some careless ones. I thought we got to the rim. We probably missed four to seven layups, and those are ones that you want to make.”
Five days later against the Valkyries, the Mercury were without Kahleah Copper due to injury. Still, her absence didn't discount the careless turnovers. The X-factor endured another game with 20 turnovers.
Nate Tibbetts isn't pleased with Mercury's turnover struggles
Seeing a silver lining in most things is extremely beneficial. Again, the team has only played two games. The chemistry is still forming. Furthermore, there are three All-WNBA players on the floor simultaneously.
They have different skill sets, but again, chemistry remains a focal point. Some of those turnovers are due to the Big 3 not knowing where they will be.
With Copper being out, it put a damper on the chemistry. No matter what, allowing 20 turnovers to a team like the Valkyries isn't appealing in the slightest.
Nate Tibbetts was honest with me when I asked him about having 20 turnovers in the lone two preseason games.
“I would say after two games, it’s concerning.”
He mentioned that some of the turnovers were “just us.” pic.twitter.com/6YRKsBK0g9
— Hayden Cilley (@HaydenCilley) May 12, 2025
“I would say after two games it's concerning,” Tibbetts said. “I think part of it is just us. We got to play against a different defense and it's going to take a little bit of time.
“Too many turnovers once again. We'll watch the film tomorrow, and make some corrections.”
The championship aspiration and standard is evident with the second-year head coach. After making the playoffs last season, Tibbetts has a different direction and vision for the team.
He had Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi, the two best players in Mercury franchise history, with the latter being the WNBA's greatest player ever.
They brought that winning standard. Fast forward to the 2024 offseason and Griner went to the Atlanta Dream and Taurasi retired. Still, both players clearly left a championship ideology within Tibbetts and his coaching staff.
Satou Sabally's optimism despite Mercury turnovers is encouraging
Even though Tibbetts's criticisms were valid, Sabally's point stands loud and clear. The team is finding a way to establish chemistry quickly and effectively.
Those things take time. However, Sunday's game had chemistry between Sabally and fellow All-WNBA forward Alyssa Thomas. Either way, there's more work to do.
The Mercury will take on the Seattle Storm on Saturday in the regular-season opener. By then, they will hope to have the turnover problem solved, or at least figured out to some extent.
Satou Sabally's beaming optimism shows how much trust each player has in one another.
If they don't solve the turnover crisis, though, Phoenix could be in for a rude awakening.
