Why getting Sami Whitcomb more shots is key to improving the Phoenix Mercury offense

Whitcomb, who is primarily known in the WNBA for her 3-point shooting, was joining a team whose head coach had said repeatedly that he wants his team to shoot a lot of 3-pointers.

The prospect of playing with a shooter like Whitcomb excited the Mercury’s star players, who looked forward to adding another layer of versatility to the team’s offense.

“We’re going to have Sami Whitcomb, who’s like the best shooter ever,” forward Satou Sabally told reporters at Phoenix’s preseason media day. “I’m so happy to be playing with her, with that 0.3-second shot. That’s just amazing.”

But in her Mercury regular-season debut, Whitcomb only got four threes up, converting on two of them for 6 points. After the game, head coach Nate Tibbetts indicated that his goal is for Whitcomb to take six to 10 deep shots a night.

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That wasn’t the first time Tibbetts had expressed his desire to see Whitcomb more involved. After the team’s second preseason game, he shared a similar sentiment.

“I think you want to see your shooters shoot,” Tibbetts told reporters. “We need to look for her a little bit more. That’s one of her strengths. … We’ll find shots for Sami, but everyone knows who Sami is in our league, and we need to help her.”

In the Mercury’s second regular-season game, a 89-86 win over the Los Angeles Sparks, Whitcomb barely reached Tibbetts’ desired mark, getting six 3-pointers up. But she only made one, a 25-footer in transition less than two minutes into the third quarter.

In Phoenix’s four games this season, Whitcomb has yet to make more than one three. On Sunday against the Washington Mystics, she finished 1-for-7 from deep. On the season, Whitcomb is averaging 6.0 points per game. She is shooting just 29.2% on 6.0 shot attempts per game. From three, she’s made just 23.8% of her 5.3 attempts per game.

The Mercury are 3-1 to start the season without two starters, including their leading scorer last season, Kahleah Copper. But their offense has been spotty at times, including when they shot 33.3% from the field on Sunday. Receiving the offensive impact they expected from Whitcomb would be a welcome boost for a team that’s already proven to have a strong foundation.

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In her nine WNBA seasons, Whitcomb has built a reputation as one of the league’s premier shooters. Her career 35.9% 3-point shooting might not turn as many heads, but single-season marks of 38.1% (in 2020), 38.5% (2023) and a career-high 42.5% (2021) show how dangerous she can be on the perimeter.

But while spot-up shooting is what she’s known for in the WNBA, Whitcomb is a very different player when she plays in the WNBL in her home country of Australia in the offseason. She’s still a sharpshooter, converting 43.1% of her threes in the 2024-25 season, but she also finds other ways to score, as evidenced by her averaging 21.0 points across 25 games played. In the WNBL, Whitcomb is one of the league’s top scorers, and she earned league MVP last season.

“When I go overseas, I normally do play a much different role than I play in the WNBA,” Whitcomb told The Next before Sunday’s game. “I am a scorer. I don’t just shoot threes. So I think it’s trying to find that balance of doing both, but understanding that a lot of my value here is just as a spacer, as a 3-point shooter, so understanding what that means. People are gonna close out hard, [so] to get downhill, get in the paint, draw some attention, kick out, that’s really valuable, too.” 

Adjusting between the two styles of play is something Whitcomb has done her entire career. At media day, she told reporters that she wanted to bring some of her WNBL qualities to the Mercury this season, and on the few shots she’s taken from inside the arc, primarily on drives to the hoop, she’s converted efficiently.

“I’m coming off of a [WNBL] season where I was offensively a threat, and obviously, I had some success in that,” Whitcomb said at media day. “So I think it’s going to help our ‘Big Three‘ be great. … I think they need me to be that player that I am overseas here to help take attention off of them. They’re all going to get double-teams. … So if there are opportunities for me to be aggressive and to draw the defense to help them, I think that’s important.”

Despite Whitcomb’s scoring inefficiency to start the season, Tibbetts still believes she’s a crucial component to the Mercury’s success. She’s third on the team at 26.1 minutes per game. Tibbetts still trusts her with the ball in her hands and still wants her to get shots up. But he also recognizes other aspects of her game that bring value.

“Sami just being on the floor is allowing others to have space,” Tibbetts said before the game against the Sparks. “A lot of the paint scores that you saw from Satou were probably [off] cross screens or back screens from Sami.

“Sami is the ultimate professional. She cares about one thing, and that’s the team, which is awesome. … If you were to ask her, she probably wants to get more shots, and we want her to get more shots, but the other team also knows where she is. And so just her being out there is allowing others to have room.”

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Phoenix is a very screen-heavy team. It uses them frequently in pick-and-rolls, but also in off-ball actions to free up players on the other side of the court, keep the offense flowing and keep the spacing balanced. Whitcomb plays a key role in that.

Even when she’s not setting screens, her presence outside the 3-point line draws attention. Defenders are wary of leaving her alone in the corner, open to catch a cross-court pass or a quick swing pass and get a quick shot off. This creates space for other players to work in the paint and get to the rim.

“There’s a lot of value in that,” Whitcomb told The Next. “Players in such situations, are they going to leave me and double-team and maybe give me a shot? Are they going to stay with me because they don’t want me to get a shot? And it creates a lot of opportunity and openings for some of our other players. …

“We want to run and push. We’ve got people who can get downhill, and if [defenders] have to stay closer to me and guard me, it’s [creating] bigger lanes for our other drivers.”

The Mercury are only four games into their season, and they’re not even at full strength. The players are still learning to play with each other and within Tibbetts’ system. There’s plenty of time for Whitcomb to find her shot and show flashes of being the player who won WNBL MVP. Until then, Phoenix needs her to continue impacting the game in ways that are invisible on the box score.

“I’m always ready and looking for shots,” Whitcomb said. “But yeah, I guess just [being] mindful of trying to get good shots as well as good looks. … I’m just trying to knock down the shots when I get them and stay confident.”

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