{"id":257194,"date":"2025-10-28T19:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/257194\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T19:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:43:08","slug":"portland-fire-announces-decision-for-2026-season-as-cba-deadline-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/257194\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland Fire Announces Decision for 2026 Season as CBA Deadline Looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portland Fire\u2019s newest coaching hire, Alex Sarama, blends brains with basketball. Sarama is the author of the book \u201cTransforming Basketball\u201d about the theory and implementation of the constraints-led approach, or CLA. \u201cAt the Fire, we\u2019re not just creating a team \u2013 we\u2019re redefining how the game is taught and played, through an approach centered around adaptability and supported by evidence-informed methodologies.\u201d Sarama has said. While the process is well and good, Sarama also announced that he is after the results, too.<\/p>\n

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\u201cUltimately, I want to lay the foundation for winning a championship,\u201d He said in the introductory conference<\/a> with GM Vanja \u010cernivec. If Sarama\u2019s first season turns out anything like Natalie Nakase with the Golden State Valkyries, the Fire would be more than happy about it. Nakase has set a high bar for the incoming teams, but at the same time given a blueprint for them to follow. Sarama could take a few pages out of their book in their quest to build a championship-caliber team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, currently, there are exactly zero players on the expansion franchise\u2019s roster. With the CBA negotiations stalled and the deadline likely being extended beyond October 31,<\/a> the dates for the expansion draft are still not confirmed. Even with the uncertainty, \u010cernivec and Sarama have already started with their roster-building process. \u201cWe are also starting to focus to identify players that will fit our organizational kind of vision strategy and the way Alex wants to play, and are just patiently waiting for the answers about rules on the expansion draft and what the new CBA will bring,\u201d \u010cernivec said.<\/p>\n

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Their firm philosophy gives them an established base to target players instead of it being the other way around. The constraint-led approach is Sarama\u2019s claim to fame. Before his book, Sarama had successful coaching stints with the London Lions, Paris Basketball, and the RipCity Remix. However, his book fast-tracked his progress in the coaching world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson read Sarama\u2019s book and hired him as an assistant. Safe to say it worked. Atkinson adopted the approach last season as the Cavaliers had a 64-win season, the second-most wins in franchise history. But what exactly is this constraints-led approach, and which kind of players could the Fire target if and when free agency begins? Let\u2019s dive in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Portland Fire\u2019s Edge: Alex Sarama\u2019s Art of Controlled Chaos<\/p>\n

This style is not limited to basketball alone. The current Premier League champions (Liverpool), the Los Angeles Dodgers, the last two NBA champions (Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics), and many other teams across professional sports have already incorporated CLA to maximize performance. It is an approach that completely changes the coach\u2019s role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The core idea of this theory is that movement emerges from the interaction of individual, task, and environmental constraints, not from a single \u201ccorrect\u201d technique dictated by the coach. It changes the power dynamics between the coach and the player. Basically, the coach designs the environment around the player and hands them the responsibility to make the right decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The player needs to learn by himself through trial and error. This takes the practice away from the traditional rote learning, where the coach just tells the player what to do. \u201cIt changed my career,\u201d said Kelsey Plum, \u201cBefore, I was very skilled. But I don\u2019t think I was ever very purposeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This is not a unique tactical system like some other coaches have, but more so a training approach that will water down on the team. \u201cFans can expect a dynamic, up-tempo style of play,\u201d Sarama said earlier. The Portland Fire will need players capable of making their own decisions and, more importantly, learning from their mistakes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This technique also risks wasting valuable time in a short WNBA season waiting for players to catch up. In addition, this is a very new technique, so the squad will have to adapt, which will take time.\u00a0 Often, many talented players play under system constraints, which will not be the case here. We could also see a more entertaining brand of basketball from the Portland Fire. Sarama could bring chaos as this style trains players to adapt with each move. Unpredictability could be their biggest characteristic.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portland Fire\u2019s newest coaching hire, Alex Sarama, blends brains with basketball. Sarama is the author of the book…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-257194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}