Indiana Fever training camp roster features a combination of veteran leadership and young talent in preparation of 12th season

The competition will begin on May 15th as the Indiana Fever begin their 12th season as a franchise. Thursday, the team finalized their training camp roster which features a mix of quality veterans and talented youth.

When fans think of the Fever, they immediately turn to Tamika Catchings. Entering her 10th season in the league, (after sitting out 2001 with an ACL injury) one of the most prolific WNBA stars of all time is still searching for her first WNBA Championship.

The hometown favorite is of course Katie Douglas, who played at both Perry Meridian and Purdue. The streaky-shooter hopes to bring her hometown their first league championship.

In addition to Douglas, there is another hometown gal on the team in a different capacity. Stephanie White, one of the original Fever players in 2000, returns to the Fever as an assistant coach. White replaces Jim Lewis who took the lead assistant job for the Georgia Tech women’s program.

Stephanie White is most visible during the winter months as a women’s college basketball analyst on both the Big Ten Network and ESPN. White was previously an assistant for the Chicago Sky, Toledo, Kansas State, and Ball State.

The Fever have been atop of the league for the last half-dozen years, making the playoffs in each of those years. In those six years, they have gone to the conference finals three times, advancing to the WNBA finals just once.

This offseason, GM Kelly Krauskopf made some big moves hoping to get her team back in the WNBA Finals. First, they parted ways with long-time point guard Tully Bevilaqua who is now in San Antonio. They also chose not to resign Ebony Hoffman—she returned home to LA and signed with the Sparks.

To stabilize the guard position, the Fever drafted Jeanette Pohlen out of Stanford with their first-round draft pick. Then they opted to trade for Erin Phillips, an Australian native, to complete the point guard position. January, Pohlen and Phillips will be a strong trio at guard.

Moreover, the Fever added a couple names that can resonate with fans. Center Angela Smith will be entering her 14th year in the league and should work nicely with Tammy Sutton-Brown and Jessica Davenport inside.

Another nice addition is that of Ben Davis product Shyra Ely who played her college ball at Tennessee. Ely is an aggressive forward and boasts a nice tough around the rim.

Indiana will also feature new uniforms this season (as modeled by first-round draft pick Jeanette Pohlen).

The new adidas Revolution 30 technology is “designed and developed by adidas and using the same technology on NBA courts, the uniforms are 30 percent lighter and dry twice as fast as previous WNBA uniforms to help keep athletes cooler, drier and more comfortable on the court.”

The challenging part now for the Fever will be trimming the roster. Indiana dropped their third-round draft pick in Jori Davis, after trading away for Erin Phillips. Thursday, the team also announced that they waived Joy Cheek.

I was personally disappointed to see Jori Davis cut before even getting a chance to compete. I’ve watched her for four years at Indiana and boy, she is a competitor. She has been forced to carry her team and willingly took on the task. She deserves a chance in the league.

After a couple weeks of camp and preseason games, their 15-player training camp roster unfortunately has to be cut to 11 by June 2nd. It’s hard to speculate what final changes will be made. Due to budget crunches, the league is down to a 11-player maximum per team, meaning many players worthy of the playing in the WNBA will be left out.

The roster currently features four players with 10 or more years in the WNBA and seven players with less than three years experience – a quality combination.

The Indiana Fever open the regular season at home against Chicago on Saturday, June 4th.

Follow Scott Agness on Twitter: @ScottAgness