The Chicago Sky took on the Brazilian national team in their first preseason game. The game took place at the PMAC, home of the LSU Tigers women’s basketball team. It was a homecoming game for Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith. Reese attended LSU and helped lead them to their first national title in 2023. Van Lith transferred the next season for her senior year. She and Reese helped lead the team to the Final Four.
This was also a special moment for Kamilla Cardoso, who is Brazilian. This was the first time she was playing against her national team. She helped lead them to a gold medal at the 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup and named the tournament MVP.
Getting New Pieces
The Chicago Sky finished last season with a 13-27 overall record, which was third-worst in the league. They were in position to make the playoffs as the eighth seed but dealt with some injuries down the stretch. They missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
With Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso on the roster, it is important to surround those young players with good pieces. One of the first moves Chicago made in free agency was signing Courtney Vandersloot. Vandersloot makes her return to Chicago, where she spent the first 12 seasons of her career and helped lead them to a title in 2021.
They acquired Rebecca Allen in a trade with Connecticut Sun for Lindsay Allen. One of the issues the Sky had last season was shooting, and Rebecca Allen can help with that. They also signed Kia Nurse, another excellent shooter.
They also acquired Ariel Atkins from the Washington Mystics in a surprising blockbuster move that led to them trading the third pick in this year’s draft. They re-signed Michaela Onyenwere, who stepped up during the second half of last season.
Not only did the team revamp the roster, but they also revamped the coaching staff. They hired Tyler Marsh to be the new head coach for the Sky. He was previously an assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces. His father Donnie Marsh was hired as a basketball operations specialist.
They hired Courtney Paris to be one of the new assistant coaches. She was previously an assistant coach for the Wings. They also hired Tanisha Wright and Rena Wakama to be assistant head coaches. Wright was previously the head coach for the Atlanta Dream. Wakama was the head coach of the Nigerian national basketball team, where they became the first African team (male or female) to advance to the quarterfinals after defeating Canada.
In this year’s draft, they selected Lithuania small forward Ajša Sivka with the 10th pick. They traded with Minnesota to select Hailey Van Lith out of TCU with the 11th pick, reuniting her with Angel Reese. They also took Maddy Westbeld (Notre Dame) and Aicha Coulibaly (Texas A&M).
Expectations and Early Impressions
There are a lot of questions going into the season about the expectations for the Sky, particularly about their offense. The offense was a major issue last season, and it led to several changes in the starting lineup. Their bench was not much better plus the injuries they had to key contributors.
Not only is it important to surround the young players with talent, but it also important to develop those young players. On paper, the Sky have the right pieces around Reese and Cardoso. On the court will tell a different story. The players believe that they have the potential to be a playoff contender.
Their win against the Brazil national team in the preseason showed an offense that looked ten times better than it did last year. There was nice ball movement, consistent flow, and great use of the pick and roll. There were still some shooting struggles, but a lot of that had to do with rust.
In her return to the PMAC, Reese finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds along with two steals. She is expected to lead the league in rebounding again and be a candidate for DPOY. And once she unlocks her three point shooting, there will not be many answers on how to stop her.
Kia Nurse finished with 11 points and shot 60% from three. She was brought to help with the three point shooting, and did exactly that. Hailey Van Lith finished with seven points and tied with Vandersloot for the most assists with five.
There is still several improvements to be made on both ends of the floor, b
Photo Courtesy: @LSUwbkb
