Portland Fire guard Sug Sutton says playing overseas has prepared her for the style that the new expansion team wants to play.
The style? Fast.
“I’ve played in the international world. So I think that’s what it gives a little bit, … it’s a fast pace, and I think that’s something that I like, and it’s how I want to play the game,” Sutton told reporters during a media availability on April 20.
The Fire opened their inaugural training camp on April 19 at Portland State University. The team has just a short time to learn head coach Alex Sarama’s unique system before the WNBA season opens on May 9.
Sutton, 27, has traveled the world for basketball. Originally drafted out of Texas by the Washington Mystics in 2020, she bounced around internationally, playing in Poland, Australia, Turkey and Israel.
She also had a stint with Phoenix in 2023, which included scoring the first triple-double in Mercury history.
Last season with the Mystics, Sutton played in 43 games, averaging 7.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists. She also played for Rose BC in Unrivaled earlier this year.
Sutton has also been reunited with her former Mystics teammate Emily Engstler, who averaged 3.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 40 games for Washington last season.
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Sutton, who was selected by the Fire in the expansion draft and officially signed last week, is among the older players on Portland’s roster. The Fire will likely lean on her as a leader, a role Sutton says she’s embracing.
“I just want to continue to grow in my leadership role, and I think that I can do that on this team. We have a lot of rookies, a lot of young players, but also, like, I’m still young too, and I’m still trying to grow in the game as well,” Sutton said. “But I think from everything that I’ve learned on past teams, learning from big-time players, I can bring that to this team, and I can bring a big leadership role to this team. So I’m super excited to see how much I grow this season.”
The Fire are embracing the player-led team approach, facilitated by Sarama and his “contraints-led approach,” which emphasizes creative problem solving rather than traditional drills.
On Monday, he ran drills with a seven-second shot clock. He told the players: “We’re going a million miles an hour, but that’s by design.”
“It’s amazing to see how passionate your coach is, and it kind of makes us become more passionate as well. We’re having fun because he’s having fun. He knows what he’s talking about,” Sutton said. “He has a lot of intent to what he does, and that’s just going to carry over to us, and it’s just going to continue to allow us to have fun and bring that intent to practice.”
The Fire are practicing at Portland State while they await the completion of a new practice facility, located west of Portland, that they’ll share with the NWSL’s Portland Thorns. Both teams are operated by the same ownership group, RAJ Sports.
A few of Portland’s players have not yet reported to camp, including top expansion draft pick Bridget Carleton, who recently wrapped up international duty with USK Praha, a EuroLeague team out of the Czech Republic. Carla Leite and Frieda Bühner were also overseas, playing for different teams in the Spanish league LF Endesa.
The Fire will only have a few practices in Portland before heading south to Eugene, Oregon, where they’ll hold a four-day minicamp. While there, the Fire will hold a camp for local kids and other outreach events.
Then, on April 29, the Fire is off to Seattle for their first preseason game against the Storm.