With the entire WNBA offseason on hold while we await a new collective bargaining agreement, the WNBA coaching carousel is in full swing. Five teams entered the offseason needing new coaches. The Storm, Wings and Liberty all parted ways with their coaches after the season, while the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire needed coaches for their inaugural seasons.

The expansion teams were the first ones to strike, with Portland hiring Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Alex Sarama and Toronto reportedly landing former Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello. I believe both hires offer important clues for not only what these teams will look like, but the direction of the league as a whole.

Alex Sarama joins Becky Hammon, Teresa Weatherspoon and Nate Tibbets as recent NBA assistants who came to the WNBA for a head coaching gig. This could be part of a growing trend, as Milwaukee Bucks assistant and former Grizzlies and Kings head coach Dave Joeger is reportedly one of the candidates for the Dallas Wings job.

If this is indeed becoming a trend, I think it is a positive one for the WNBA. Hammon and Tibbets just met in the WNBA Finals this month, while Weatherspoon’s one season with the Chicago Sky looks like a triumph compared to Tyler Marsh’s 10-34 record. I would certainly rather see NBA assistants parachuting in the W than to see James Wade abandon the Sky for an assistant position in the NBA. At the very least, it shows that a head coaching job in the WNBA is seen as a step up, and the salaries are competitive. None of these coaches were likely to land an NBA head coaching job anytime soon, and there is a risk they are looking to use the WNBA as a stepping stone to head coaching gigs in the MNBA. That being said, these former assistants have largely been successful in the WNBA, and I believe Dave Joeger is a good coach, too. While I don’t want to see the WNBA become a feeder program for NBA coaches, I can’t argue that getting quality coaches in the league is anything but a good thing.

As for Sarama specifically, he is considered a leading authority on the Constraints-Led Approach to training, or CLA. It is quite trendy in soccer and European basketball, and with the expansion Fire, Sarama will have a blank slate to build his staff and the roster with people who fit into his system. Before his one year as assistant coach and Head of Player Development with the Cavs, he was the Director of Player Development for the Rip City Remix in the G League. With that in mind, I would expect Portland to take a longer-term view to team building. The Golden State Valkyries put together a veteran roster with two-way players and parlayed that into a playoff berth in their first season. I think Portland will skew younger and might even make some trades for future assets.

Sandy Brondello is much more of a known commodity, owing the Mercury and Liberty records for most head coaching wins. She also won a WNBA title at each of those stops in addition to coaching Australia’s national team to three medals. Of course, Brondello had All-Time greats in Diana Taurasi in Phoenix and Breanna Stewart in New York, and she is unlikely to have anyone of that caliber on this team in the near future.

Brondello was far and away the best head coaching candidate available, having interviewed with the Wings and Storm before reportedly taking over the Tempo. At the very least, this signals that Toronto is a serious organization that is willing to invest in its on-court product.  Neither Phoenix nor New York were particularly known for player development when Brondello was there, though that could simply be the nature of competing for titles with MVPs in their prime. Even so, I would be surprised if Toronto didn’t try to make the playoffs right away. A lot will depend on the new CBA, the expansion draft and free agency, but I think this could look very similar to the Valkyries last season.

I feel like Brondello is known more as an offensive coach than a defensive one, but creating an above-average offense in year one may be an uphill battle, regardless of how they fill out their roster. She does have a reputation around the league as someone players love, and that could be an asset in free agency, especially if Toronto is targeting veterans. With all but two of the league’s veterans entering free agency this season, any advantage could be significant.