WNBA: Why the Chicago Sky maintain a positive outlook

It’s been a bumpy ride for the Chicago Sky this season. Once again, they started at the bottom of the ladder and are trying to work their way up.

As the All-Star break approaches, the Sky are currently 5-11, standing in 11th place among the 13 teams in the WNBA. Their status is attributable to the fact that they are led by a first-time coach in Tyler Marsh, who is tasked with maximizing the veteran presences of Ariel Atkins and Elizabeth Williams in a way that jells with emerging stars Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso.

At this point, things are not working on either end of the floor. Chicago ranks near the bottom of the league in both offensive and defensive rating. Their defensive rating is 113.6 and they have allowed 87.7 points per game. A failure to control the perimeter explains a significant part of their defensive woes. The Sky have allowed their opponents to take 27.6 3s per game and shoot 39.2 percent, the highest mark in the league, from behind the 3-point line.

On the offensive end, turnovers continue to plague their ability to establish an offensive flow. They are averaging 18.9 turnovers per game, the worst ball security in the league. That has resulted in the Sky squandering games that were going in their favor, or turning a potentially close loss into a blowout defeat.

This offensive problems been exacerbated by the loss of Courtney Vandersloot, whose season came to an end against the Indiana Fever on June 7 when she tore her ACL in the opening minutes. The temporarily absence of Cardoso, who’s competing for the Brazilian National Team in the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup Tournament, which goes through July 6, has further depleted the Sky.

But even with all their obvious deficits, the Sky have managed to cultivate some bright spots.

After a slow start, Reese has come alive as of late. She recently was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week, as she averaged 19.7 points, 17.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals. In addition, she shot 48.9 percent from the field and 92.3 percent from the free throw line. On June 24, Reese finished with 18 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and a season-high four steals in their come-from-behind win over the Los Angeles Sparks. Three days later, she tallied 17 points and 18 rebounds in the Sky’s loss to the Golden State Valkyries. On June 29, Reese rounded out her week with 24 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks in another win over the Sparks. Reese is expected to be a reserve at the upcoming All-Star Game in Indianapolis on July 19.

Elizabeth Williams has filled in effectively for Cardoso. Against the Sparks in LA, she had 12 points and nine rebounds. Ariel Atkins has admirably assumed point guard duties; her 3.4 assists per game are a career high. Rachel Banham has made her way into the starting rotation as a formidable shooter. Dating back to June 22, she’s averaged 10.5 points per game while shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc. Kia Nurse, Rebecca Allen and Michael Onyenwere have each stepped up in measurable ways at both ends of the floor.

Altogether, the Sky are looking at the road ahead and not in the rearview mirror. Marsh emphasized unselfishness as the foundation of what he is trying to put together for the long term, explaining:

That’s the team that we’ve had and the team that we knew that we had from day one, even through the ups and downs that came through the earlier part of the season.

Selflessness is what we preach from day one. And so I think that the willingness of everyone to pick up whatever may be voided at that given point in time throughout the season has been picked up in different areas. And so whether that’s been Rachel or Ariel or Angel or any of our players that have come off the bench and been able to provide a spark here and there, it just speaks to them and their willingness to do whatever it takes to win, but also whatever it takes to lift up the person next to them.

So that’s the culture that we want to create here, and not just for the foreseeable future.