Sparks coach Derek Fisher emphasizing relationships, health in 2nd season

Derek Fisher began his WNBA coaching tenure last season with some fanfare and a few raised eyebrows.

The former Lakers point guard and five-time NBA champion had coached only once before, and the NBA’s New York Knicks went 40-96 while he was at the helm.

Then, in his first summer guiding the Sparks, he led an injury-riddled roster to a 22-12 record before they bowed out in the WNBA semifinals, victims of a Connecticut Sun sweep in a turbulent moment for the organization. Fisher drew flack for playing star forward Candace Parker only 11 minutes in the season-ending loss, soon after which longtime general manager Penny Toler was fired.

Now, Fisher is charged with leading the Sparks – again a star-studded squad with championship aspirations – to success in a confined, condensed season unlike any the league’s experienced.

During the team’s virtual media day Friday – streamed from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida – Sparks players said they think Fisher’s up to the challenge.

“Obviously, he knows the game,” said guard Sydney Wiese, adding, in certain terms: “The NBA is different than the WNBA … now he has an understanding of the different rosters, the people within the league, the different styles of play, and things that you can only understand with experience.

“And you can tell that he understands, amidst the circumstances, amidst the shorter season, the condensed everything that’s taking place, he knows the urgency that comes with only 22 games. Keeping that mind but also knowing we haven’t done organized sports for a couple months, he’s been really mindful to take care of our bodies.”

Fisher said he’s certainly put thought into keeping players healthy as the season nears, starting July 25 with a game against the Phoenix Mercury ahead of three more games in next seven days.

But he said he’s also prioritizing his relationships within the team.

“Great companies, organizations, teams, that’s what you see,” Fisher said earlier this week. “There’s a shared vision, an alignment in the culture, the way you want to do things. So for me, from year one to year two, doubling down on who we are and the culture and the type of people you want to be.”

That belief stems, he said Friday, from lessons gleaned from Charles Ripley, the his legendary high school coach in Little Rock, Arkansas, who died June 28 at 74.

“The most important thing I learned from Coach Ripley was this undeniable work ethic and the number of hours you have to put in and the way you make yourself available to people when you’re serving them, that it’s not really about you,” said Fisher of Ripley, who coached and taught at Little Rock Parkview for 27 years and turned the Patriots into a powerhouse in the 1980s and ’90s.

“I could walk from my house as a kid to the gym, and other than Sunday during church hours, this man was always parked at the gym,” Fisher continued. “That type of availability or accessibility … for your players, but also holding them accountable to playing the game the way it’s designed to be played – and that’s as a team.”

Parker said she feels good about the team so far in Florida, especially if she and her teammates can stay healthy. For her part, she said she’s in better shape entering her 13th WNBA season.

“Last year, in the offseason, I trained, but I didn’t train as diligently as I did this offseason,” said Parker, noting, with some humor, that the NBA season’s coronavirus-caused hiatus helped her focus on her health. “I wasn’t traveling for TNT, I wasn’t drinking with Chuck (Charles Barkely), so I think that helped a lot with me being in better shape.

“I will say I took care of my body this season. I don’t know if I necessarily did it to the best of my ability coming in last year, so I think that injuries had a lot to do with that as well. I’m older so I have to be diligent about taking care of my body and doing those things.

“But also,” Parker added, “it has to do with just getting to know one another. I don’t think things went as well as we would have wanted last year and we were still third. So I think it’s more motivation going into this year.”

Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, also back for her second season with the Sparks, put it in perspective.

“Bringing in a new group of players and coaching staff, there’s gonna be ups and downs,” she said. “But we made it to the semifinals, all in all. We gotta try and bring that same energy, and stay healthy.”