I don’t think Aliyah Boston is doing that bad this season. Even though she isn’t performing as well as she did last season, it’s pretty unlikely for a player to suddenly regress in all of their offensive skills. It makes no sense for the reigning ROY who was an All-star in her first year to become a bum after one off-season. I do think she was in a shooting slump, but otherwise her underperforming has more to do with the circumstances she is in.
The Fever’s offense is so bad. Aliyah doesn’t get the ball enough and it feels like she’s left out of their offensive sets. When she does get the ball, it’s with 4 seconds left on the shot clock and she’s got two defenders on her under the basket. Just straight bombs in her hand. Anyone would miss that layup in those conditions. She’s always out of position to set screens. It’s just so clear that this new offense is not catering to her strengths. Aliyah has also sacrificed her stat sheet on defense to help the team win. That said, I’m truly the most worried about her mental health.
She’s always been soft spoken and shy. We know she’s very kind and encouraging, which makes her a good leader, but I also get the sense that she gets rattled easily. Last game against the Mystics, you could see from her body language after she got fouled in the 4th quarter that she was really feeling the pressure to make those key free throws. She was like “please no why did it have to be me”. Then you could see her mentally crumble after missing both.
Or she gets it 16 feet from the basket wide open and has to choose from a long jump shot or trying to drive it herself into established post defenders – neither option is really great. Example (She made that one when the defender cleared but is that the kind shot they want from Boston? Step into a midrange jumper?)
