Fever HC Stephanie White highlights the importance of veteran leadership on star-studded roster

Stephanie White and the Indiana Fever are attempting to find their groove in the upcoming season. The focus of the head coach would be to build chemistry quickly within the team to integrate the new members of the squad.

The WNBA teams started training camp on Sunday. Reporters asked White following practice on Monday how she intends to balance intensity and patience in a roster that features several WNBA stars.

White admitted that her team is the best WNBA roster she has been a part of. However, she's looking to implement an accountability culture within the team to facilitate winning.

"I think one thing is that any of us who have been around for a long time understand that player-led teams are the best-led teams. The ability to hold one another accountable, to be held accountable, and yet give grace when we know that we're going through all these changes... I mean, we have five returning players, everybody else is new," White said [2:14].

"We're not anywhere near where we're going to be when it comes time for the playoffs. And every single day, we've got to grow through some uncomfortable things," she added.

She also mentioned the importance of growing comfortable being uncomfortable. The 47-year-old is interested in running a tight ship this season.

White is entering her first season as the head coach of the Indiana Fever after spending the last two years with the Connecticut Sun, where she had earned coach of the year honors and led the team to the WNBA semifinals in both seasons.

White brought along DeWanna Bonner in her transition to Indiana to pair with Caitlin Clark, Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston, and Kelsey Mitchell. The Fever also added Sophie Cunningham, Sydney Colson, and Natasha Howard during the offseason.

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White believes the key to the Fever's success is defense

As the Indiana Fever attempt to figure out their rotations and build relationships with the new players, White told reporters in the same interview that one of her key talking points to the team has been the defensive side of the ball.

"The first emphasis is defense really and making sure that we understand the expectation on that end of the floor," White said. "How we want to play, the physicality with which we want to play, the mindset, how we want to be on the defensive end of the floor."

Indiana's defense will have to improve from last season, as they struggled on that end down the stretch of the season.