Coming into 2023, the Indiana Fever desperately needed a culture shift.

The 2022 season was a disaster for Indiana, the Fever stumbling to a franchise-worst five wins and ending the season on an 18-game losing streak.

General manager Lin Dunn wanted a new coach who would set new expectations and rejuvenate the franchise. She found that in Christie Sides.

“From the time we hired Christie, and she began to hire her own staff, we saw a change in culture,” Dunn said. “She values that culture, a strong culture where everyone feels valued, everyone feels safe, and everyone is all in. That is really important as you build up a championship team, like the foundation of the house.”

Sides, who had never been a head coach before, came into the Fever’s 2023 training camp on the first day to set clear expectations: This would be a team focused on discipline, and a team that would not get too high or low no matter the result.

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Mitchell and Vivians are the most veteran players on the roster; they were both drafted by the Fever in 2018 and played their entire six-year career in Indiana. For Mitchell, who has been a starter since she arrived but hasn’t seen more than a 13-win season in her career, this year was one of hope.

"I really believe if you keep people in a happy place and in a positive environment, you know, you're gonna get better, better things out of them," Sides said. "We've had some moments this year where we could have really gotten down on ourselves down on each other, and they didn't show that. They were really disappointed in a lot of games … But that's a good sign that they can wake up the next morning and do what we need to do, whether in practice or get ready for a game.”

Sides needed to reset the culture, and she delivered. Returning players to the Fever noticed a significant change between the 2022 and 2023 teams.

“It was fun to play throughout the year,” Hull said. “Last season, the second half was tough. This year, I feel like there was hope in every game, we were competitive in every game, so it’s just exciting that we’re being led by a really good group of people and a group that I believe in, our team believes in.”

Hull was one of five players to return to the team from the 2022 roster, joining Emma Cannon, Kelsey Mitchell, NaLyssa Smith and Victoria Vivians.

The culture, which starts from the leadership, has been simultaneously more positive and more regimented this season. The Fever have the tools to become a team in playoff contention again. They just need to make sure the discipline from 2023 carries on.

“We picked a good group, and I think we did a good job of staying resilient this year,” Mitchell said. “I think that it’ll pay off in the end.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WNBA: Indiana Fever confident culture shift will 'pay off in the end'