The first bit of Indiana Fever news is I don’t know. I don’t like this. I’m going to be honest here. I don’t love this move, but I don’t hate it. Deir Dantis is a player who, if we’re being completely honest, at her peak is really, really good. When Demirus Dantis puts on a Brazilian national team jersey, you’re looking at one of the best players in the world.
The problem is Demirus Dantis has not shown that for the Fever. To say Demirus Dantis was terrible last season in the WNBA is an understatement. I would in fact say outside of the Atlanta Dream game, Deir Dantis was one of the worst rotational pieces in the entire WNBA. For a playoff team, I might say she was the worst.
A one-dimensional offensive player who averaged five points per game on 34% from the field and 26% from three. Man, Dantis at 33 coming off a year where she shot 33% from the field and 26% from three. The Fever are just unserious. The Fever are unserious. She’s not a good runner. She plays no defense. They are just unserious. She doesn’t run the floor. She doesn’t play defense. She occasionally hits the Dantis shot. What are we doing? This is completely unserious from the Fever.
You can find someone to shoot these percentages in the third round. I get it. Dantis has been better, but she’s not shown it once in the WNBA. They are literally about to run it back with a player who has not played well once in the WNBA and she will be 34 years old at the end of this season.
We took a slow non-defender, ironically when she plays for the Fever, a non-shooter who doesn’t play any defense at all, can’t run, doesn’t rebound particularly well, doesn’t block shots, doesn’t pass ever. She just doesn’t pass. The Indiana Fever are running it back to be the fifth seed.
Now that we have advanced stats in the WNBA, she is statistically one of the worst players in a rotation for a playoff team. She might be the worst player who played for a playoff team and the Fever are running it back.
I don’t hate Dantis as a person. If Demirus Dantis can play like she does for Brazil, this is an unbelievable signing. But she’s going to cost more than the minimum. She’s going to get money. It’s going to be Dantis and Howard splitting minutes at the four.
The entire Fever team—there’s going to be one player who shoots, maybe two. They’re more likely bringing Dantis back and getting rid of Sophie Cunningham. This is terrible. This is terrible.
It’s not that the Fever aren’t going to compete because if you have Kelsey Mitchell, Caitlin Clark, and Aliyah Boston, you can compete. But they’re going to run it back with a supporting cast that, if you have any other big three in the league outside of what Vegas or New York have, wouldn’t make the playoffs.
I would use the word borderline incompetent. I’m not going to use incompetent because Deir Dantis is somebody where there is a chance she becomes what she is for Brazil. There is still always a chance that she figures it out.
If her percentages go up to 44% and 36% in the same minutes, then she’s a solid end-of-bench contract. The problem is they’re probably paying her close to league average. I think we’re going to see a borderline All-Star player on another team making less money than Dantis.
If Dantis is on a minimum contract, it is what it is. But this is a player who last year missed the playoffs and the team got better. Every single thing points to Deir Dantis not being a positive player for the Indiana Fever last year.
She was in shape last year. The year before she was injured and not in shape, and she was hitting shots. It was like, if she gets in shape, this could be a really good backup. But she was in shape last year.
I’m going to question the fact that she’s slow, a slow decision maker, doesn’t play any defense, is flat-footed, runs like she’s got bricks in her feet, and unless she is giving you efficient scoring, is completely a negative.
The only thing is you have to respect her at the three-point line. But there is no reason why you re-signed Demirus Dantis on a guaranteed non-minimum deal. There’s no way Dantis is better than taking someone in the second round.
She doesn’t rebound. I don’t get it. I don’t get it. Deir Dantis is the first free agency decision. What are we doing again?
Maybe this is just an end-of-bench thing where Roberta got the scoop. Maybe this is just her getting the scoop. But if Dantis is a real rotation move, it looks really bad right now.
Maybe in two to three months, we’re looking at this deal and saying this was a bold move and it worked out. But how many seasons of poor Dantis play do we have to see before we stop going back to it?
People say she’s a proven vet. A proven what? A proven bad vet. The Fever would rather sign a player who’s proven to be bad than an unproven commodity.
Long offseason coming.
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