Canberra Capitals coach Paul Goriss says he has to be smarter with how he uses his players in a bid to avoid WNBL burnout on the club's mission to end a finals drought.

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The Capitals will start their season against the Bendigo Spirit at the National Convention Centre on October 6 and Goriss is already formulating a plan for a shortened season.

He admitted he overworked some of the team's stars last year when they fell just short of a play-off berth, but insists he will call on the squad's depth to spread the workload.

"I ran some players into the ground [last year] and I learnt from that a little," Goriss said.

"It hurts you in back to back games and it hurts you across the season, so my learning path from that was we needed to recruit deeper.

"It's my responsibility to make sure we find minutes for players and keep the rotations moving."

Goriss' new system will face its first test when the Capitals play the Spirit and then back up against the Adelaide Lightning less than 48 hours later.

But he has not only added depth to his playing squad, but also boosted his coaching ranks with the signing of WNBA champion Mistie Bass.

Bass, 33, and seven-time WNBL champion Natalie Hurst will add experience to a young Canberra roster.

"[Bass] is like having another coach out there on the court during practises and during games," Goriss said.

"Mistie is great at just pulling [players] aside and giving them a word or two and they now look to her to give them advice and to help them out a little bit."

Bass, the daughter of rock and roll legend Chubby Checker, has flourished in her new role in Canberra and is loving the opportunity and responsibility Goriss has given her in mentoring the younger players.

"I'm more like a player coach or court coach," Bass said.

"I have been playing basketball for so long, I see things that younger players wouldn't necessarily see or understand so being able to do that is exciting. It brings another joy to the game for me."

The Capitals lost their last pre-season game to defending champions the Sydney Flames last week, but Goriss is already managing player rotations.

The WNBL season has been cut in length, forcing clubs to play more double-headers with the regular campaign to finish before January.

"It's always going to be difficult," Gorris said. "It's a new season with back to back games so the more that we can rotate players, the more rest and recovery we can get will be ideal for us.

"Freely rotating people and not losing a whole lot when we do rotate, that's going to be a key component to this season."

Having to back up in the first round isn't major concern for Bass, whose focus is kicking off her first basketball season since giving birth to 12-week-old son Braven.

"Playing the first game, you have to make a statement as a team, as an organisation and as individual players," Bass said.

"You have to let people know what is going to come for the rest of the season so I think game one is huge.

"You don't want to start behind the eight ball, you want to make a big splash in a positive way and continue to carry that into the games to come."

CANBERRA CAPITALS WNBL DRAW

October 6: Capitals v Bendigo Spirit at National Convention Centre, 7.30pm.

October 8: Capitals v Adelaide Lightning at National Convention Centre, 3pm

October 13: Townsville Fire v Capitals at Townsville, 7pm.

October 15: Capitals v Melbourne Boomers at National Convention Centre, 3pm.

October 22: Capitals v Dandenong Rangers at National Convention Centre, 3pm.

October 25: Adelaide Lightning v Capitals at Adelaide, 7pm.

October 27: Capitals v Townsville Fire at National Convention Centre, 7.30pm.

November 2: Sydney Flames v Capitals at Sydney, 7pm.