Reflecting on her rookie struggles, Leite said, "Last year was terrible. My rate at threes.
I was overthinking all the time last year. And this year I'm like, 'If you're open, you shoot, but with confidence.'"
Team and Coach Praise
Portland Fire head coach Alex Sarama explained that the team purposefully structured its offensive strategy around Leite's on-court movements and ability to read opposing defensive schemes.
"Her shot selection has improved drastically," said Sarama.
"Like a lot of the focus early season was you showing Carla the types of shots we want with the ones we don't want.
I think she's just embraced that and getting to the rim more."
Sarama added that the young guard has made major strides because she understands the team's exact intentions against varying defenses.
"We really designed a lot of the offense around Carla," he said.
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Teammate Bridget Carleton noted that Leite's developing vocal leadership on the floor has transformed the team's dynamic, helping her balance facilitation and aggressive scoring.
"You know, when you have the ball in your hands, you kind of have to like be bossy sometimes and tell them where to go.
So I think she's really embracing that now and she's getting more and more confident in like finding the balance," said Carleton.
"She's been really great finding the balance between like assisting and scoring.
Like, she knows when she needs to be aggressive and she knows when she needs to facilitate a little bit more and finding me and finding other shooters.
