DHJ Quick Take: The Blueprint Revealed
- Culture Over Everything: Miller‘s emphasis that they accomplished their talent goals “without sacrifice” to the locker room is a direct nod to the high-character mandate he’s championed. By targeting Alanna Smith and Jessica Shepard as “culture-first” players, the Wings have ensured that their stars—Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale—are surrounded by elite teammates, not just elite stats.
- Unlocking Awak and Li: The most tactical takeaway is Miller’s plan to use frontcourt depth to move Awak Kuier to the small forward (3) position. Pairing her length with a picking-and-popping Li Yueru gives Jose Fernandez a “European-style” spacing advantage that will be a nightmare for traditional WNBA defenses to track.
- The “Ultimate Piece” Strategy: By bringing in veteran point guards like Odyssey Sims and Lindsay Allen, Miller is intentionally freeing up Paige Bueckers to be a multi-positional threat. This depth ensures that Dallas doesn’t lose its offensive identity when Arike Ogunbowale or Azzi Fudd are off the floor.
- The Fudd Gravity: Miller’s assessment of Azzi Fudd’s “shooting floor” vs. her “self-creation ceiling” is the key to the Wings‘ offensive evolution. In a system built on ball movement and misdirection, Fudd’s ability to punish teams that over-help on Paige or Arike is what will ultimately dictate the team’s July and August surge.
DALLAS — Dallas Wings general manager Curt Miller sat down with Dallas Hoops Journal ahead of Sunday’s training camp opener with plenty to discuss. After one of the most transformative offseasons in franchise history, Miller broke down the frontcourt additions, guard competition, Jose Fernandez’s system, and what fans should expect as this new-look roster comes together.
“I’m excited about the pieces Jose gets to mold and how it all comes together,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal.
That’s the throughline of everything Miller discussed — patience, depth, and belief that what the Wings have assembled this offseason will look considerably different in July than it does when camp opens Sunday in Arlington.
The Frontcourt Vision
Miller was effusive about what Alanna Smith and Jessica Shepard bring to a frontcourt that has been rebuilt from scratch — and specific about how the two complement each other and the rest of the team. But he started with the culture piece first.
“We’ve accomplished without sacrifice what we wanted to do in the locker room. We wanted to continue to not only raise the talent level, but also maintain great chemistry with great culture, people first and foremost. They both check the culture box and are great teammates in the locker room, so we’re really excited about that,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal.
On the court, their skill sets dovetail in ways that give Fernandez genuine flexibility. Shepard’s passing ability and perimeter decision-making make her a natural fit in pick-and-roll actions alongside Bueckers, while Smith’s ability to stretch the floor and attack closeouts off the dribble creates a different kind of problem for opposing defenses — one that punishes both soft coverage and aggressive help rotations.
“Jess Shepard is on the perimeter and is a really, really good decision-maker and passer. When Alanna is on the perimeter, she can really stretch it, score it, or drive by you on a bad closeout. Jess is a tremendous finisher around the rim,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “So they complement each other — they can play inside and out.”
The pair weren’t afterthoughts in Dallas’ offseason planning — they were the targets from the beginning, even as the market around them shifted daily under the most compressed free agency timeline in league history.
“We had four or five names on a piece of paper — one kind of faded for us — so every night I’d go to bed looking at two or three names,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “We ended up with Jess and Alanna, and those were our two targets. I can’t be happier.”
Awak Kuier, Li Yueru, and the Frontcourt Depth
The Smith and Shepard additions didn’t happen in isolation. Miller made clear they were part of a deliberate plan to give Fernandez the frontcourt depth necessary to unlock Awak Kuier‘s versatility — specifically her ability to play the three, a spot she thrives at but one that requires reliable post depth behind her to make it sustainable.
“It was a huge goal to re-sign Awak, and then we wanted to sign impactful post players,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “We needed that depth because of Awak’s versatility — we can play her in a lot of different places, including the three. Awak enjoys playing the three, but you have to have the post depth in order to play a talented player like her not at the four.”
Li Yueru adds another dimension to that frontcourt equation that Miller believes is still being underappreciated. The 6-foot-7 center’s ability to step out and shoot off pick-and-pop actions gives Dallas a spacing option at the five that few teams in the league can match — and Miller sees that skill set only getting sharper under Fernandez’s ball-movement-heavy system.
“Having post depth with Li allows you to do a lot of different things with Awak, and now you have a really big lineup at the 3, 4, and 5,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “I sometimes love Li more picking and popping than picking and rolling. She had a good year at the arc, and she’s only going to get better. I just think her best basketball days are still ahead of her.”
Retaining Yueru after the expansion draft wasn’t a given — the Wings had multiple players exposed, and losing her would have created a meaningful gap in the frontcourt depth Miller was trying to build. When the dust settled and Yueru was still in Dallas, it confirmed a key piece of the organizational vision was intact.
“When the Expansion Draft was over and the dust settled, knowing that Li was going to be back with us was really exciting,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal.
The Guard Depth
Dallas’ backcourt has become the most discussed element of the roster — with guards competing for a handful of spots alongside Paige Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale, and Azzi Fudd. Miller explained the philosophy behind assembling such a deep group.
“It was an emphasis to bring in some veteran point guards to compete for a spot on our roster, because we like to move Paige off the ball at times,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “So when an Arike or an Azzi are off the floor, and you can bring in a quality point guard, it allows you to move your ultimate piece — Paige — around on the court. That was really important.”
Miller was specific about some returning guards who have already earned his trust — and equally specific about the newcomers he believes can push the competition to another level.
“JJ had a tremendous year. Grace did what we needed her to do when she came in during a tough time last year. Now we have Lindsay Allen and Odyssey Sims all fighting for a spot to really take hold of,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “I’m excited about that, and ultimately how it allows Paige to play different positions.”
And that’s before accounting for a player who hasn’t even entered the conversation yet — one Miller clearly views as a significant piece of what Dallas is building.
“We’re not even talking about players like Maddy Siegrist yet. Our depth has greatly increased from last year,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal.
On Jose Fernandez’s Scheme
For fans still getting acquainted with Jose Fernandez after his arrival from USF, Miller offered the clearest window yet into what his system will look like at the professional level — and why the roster Dallas has assembled is specifically designed to thrive in it.
“The easiest way to sum it up is he gets the best players the ball, and he puts them in position to find success. That’s underrated,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “He loves player movement, ball movement, and a lot of misdirection — very much more European style. I’m excited to see how it all comes together.”
The size question — how a guard-heavy roster holds up against bigger lineups — is the one critics will point to most often. Miller addressed it directly, and his answer reflected a coaching staff that has already thought through the matchup problem from both sides.
“We’ll be small compared to some teams with bigger lineups, but we still have Maddie, we still have Alysha — Alysha Clark trying to win a spot on the roster — and we have the ability to move Awak around,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “At times we’ll be small, but as Jose keeps mentioning, they have to guard us too when we are small.”
For all the attention on the headliners, Miller’s point is that the Wings’ depth extends well beyond what most observers are even discussing yet — and he used one name specifically to illustrate how far down the roster the quality runs. Players like Aziaha James and Maddy Siegrist, coming off productive seasons, provide necessary depth for Dallas.
“I love our depth. We’re not even talking about players like Aziaha James yet. We’re not talking about Maddy Siegrist yet,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “Our depth has greatly increased from last year. I’m excited about the pieces Jose gets to mold and how it all comes together.”
Azzi Fudd’s Ceiling
Fudd’s shooting ability has dominated the pre- and post-draft conversation, but Miller’s most animated moments in the interview came when the topic shifted to what she will become once defenses can no longer devote their best perimeter defender to stopping her every night.
“Her floor right away is being one of the elite shooters,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “She just spent the entire year being guarded by the best perimeter defender on the other team. Now she comes in, and when you talk about Paige, Arike, and the other guards we have, she won’t have that level of defensive attention every night.”
Fudd is coming off a strong 2025-26 season with UConn. She started all 39 games, averaging a career-high 17.7 points per game on personal-best shooting percentages by shooting 48.9% from the floor, 45.5% on 3-pointers, and 95.5% on free throws. For totals, she set single-season career highs in points (673), rebounds (100), assists (117), blocks (18), and steals (97).
The shooting floor is already established. What Miller is most focused on is the ceiling — and he identified two specific areas for development that, if realized, would make Fudd a significantly harder player to game plan against than she already is. Opponents will have to determine how to match up against Bueckers and Ogunbowale, while also creating chances for Fudd to attack weaker defenders.
“Her movement, her unselfishness, her ability to score the basketball — I’m really excited about. But I’m even more excited about her growth areas: continuing to improve her self-creation, and ultimately, she’s such a good foul shooter — how do we get her to the foul line more?” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “I think you’ll see that evolve over the next few years. When she adds that element, getting to the line more, she has such a high ceiling.”
Patience Is the Theme
With so many new faces, so many international arrivals still in transit, and a head coach installing a system for the first time at the professional level, Miller was careful to set realistic expectations for what the first few weeks of the season will look like — and equally clear about where he believes this team is headed once the pieces click.
“This team is going to have to wear name tags early. There’s a lot of new pieces,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “Multiple post players will be late to camp because of international obligations or immigration issues, so he’s going to have to work really hard. What I know is this team is going to look a heck of a lot different in July than it does in May. We’re going to have to have patience as this group comes together.”
Sources told Dallas Hoops Journal earlier this week that at least five players are expected to arrive late to camp, with between 16 and 17 players anticipated in Arlington on day one.
None of the logistical challenges — the late arrivals, the compressed timeline, the sheer number of new faces — appeared to shake Miller’s conviction that Dallas has assembled something worth being excited about. The offseason was chaotic. The roster construction was not.
“We’ve accomplished without sacrifice what we wanted to do in the locker room,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “We wanted to continue to not only raise the talent level, but also maintain great chemistry with great culture people first and foremost.”
The Wings open training camp Sunday in Arlington. Dallas faces the Indiana Fever on the road on Saturday, May 9, at 12 p.m. CT to open the 2026 WNBA season.
More Wings Coverage on Dallas Hoops Journal
- Dallas Wings Sign Kyla Oldacre And Grace Sullivan To Training Camp Contracts
- ‘We’ve Known For A Little While’: Greg Bibb On Why Azzi Fudd Was The Only Choice For Dallas
- ‘She Was The Right Fit’: Jose Fernandez And Curt Miller Detail Drafting Azzi Fudd, Dallas Wings’ Free Agency Moves
- ‘Nothing I Could Have Imagined’: Azzi Fudd Reacts To Dallas Wings Selection And Paige Bueckers Reunion
- ‘Ecstatic To Add Her’: Curt Miller Breaks Down Azzi Fudd As No. 1 Pick For Dallas Wings
- Dallas Wings Select Azzi Fudd No. 1 Overall, Reuniting Her With Paige Bueckers
- Rebecca Lobo On Azzi Fudd Going No. 1 To Dallas Wings: ‘She Has WNBA All-Star Potential As A Rookie’
- ‘Our Top Target’: Dallas Wings Sign Reigning WNBA Co-Defensive Player Of The Year Alanna Smith To Three-Year Max Deal
- ‘I’ll Do Everything To Earn A Spot’: Costanza Verona Eager For Dallas Wings Training Camp
