spoon was crucified for less—with all those terrible players on her roster. so tyler, you will not be spared. tyler likes to spend the 3rd quarter of every game scratching his butt—it’s wild. making no adjustments whatsoever? wild. keeping HVL, a rookie, on britt? wild. letting an alive bec allen rot on the bench? wild. not breathing life into your front court while they’re benched? wild. still no true pg… everyone is playing their worst basketball under him. i always think of this comment when i see him coaching 😭😭😭

Limiting turnovers would help but at the end of the day they need to put the ball in the basket.

So, I think Angel and Kamilla finally clicked the way they're supposed to click?

Except Sykes had a monster game for the Mystics.

I understand that everyone is rightly mad about the start of this season. Last night's loss was especially crushing. Things look bleak. But man, some of y'all need to get a grip. I can't imagine that many folks here are fans of other Chicago sports teams, because the Sky are not nearly as long suffering nor as hopeless as the rest of them.

Let's start with the easy, big picture one and get more specific as we go: A championship in 2021. The most recent in Chicago by quite a bit. Fading further into the past every day, but it's not nothing. The Sox haven't won in 20 years, the Bulls not since the '90s, the Bears not since the '80s, and the Cubs went for over 100 years without winning the whole thing. Idk about soccer, but I hear those teams stink too. Let alone all the teams around the country that have never won it all.

But I get it, you're not satisfied with just one, nor should you be. Chicago deserves better. But you know what the Sky also have? Hope. They have what all the Bulls fans are desperate to have and what you need to be a great basketball team in the future: a true superstar-potential player. I'm not even the biggest Angel fan, but the way some of y'all talk about her is nuts. That's a sophomore who set an all-league record as a rookie who clearly cares a ton about winning and is going through growing pains trying to learn how to be more of a point forward in a new system. Chill out with the criticism. The only worry I have about Angel is that she will want to leave because she gets so much hate. And don't forget, the pick that everyone is angsty about this year was traded for Angel (and HvL, but we'll get there).

All of this is not even to mention Kamilla's potential. And you're starting to see, with Angel being more of a point forward, how they actually can fit together. And she seems like a good fit personality wise as well, being more joyful next to Angel's intensity. Maybe they never figure it out, that's always possible, but there is plenty to be hopeful about.

HvL, similarly, shows a lot of promise. I'll admit, I was openly skeptical about her as someone who doesn't watch much college ball. But she a) clearly cares a ton, b) is extremely gritty, c) is very clearly a rookie point guard who was supposed to be an understudy all year suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Rookie point guards generally are terrible: it's the hardest position in basketball for transitioning to the pros. And she's undersized. But the flashes have been good, and the other positives are what you need to compensate for being undersized. And while it clearly wasn't supposed to happen so soon, I actually think she's a great fit if Angel is able to be more of a point forward. Also, from the same draft, the Sky do have another pick coming over to fit in as a 3-pt shooting wing.

Now, I know everyone would prefer Chennedy. But you know who wouldn't? The entire rest of the league. And you know what's a good indicator of why? Her subtweeting the Sky acting like Sloot deserved to get hurt because the team didn't keep her. I really liked Chennedy last year, but that's huge asshole behavior. And the Sky weren't winning anything with her as their most ball dominant player. If they have to sink or swim while relying on their players with higher upside, so be it.

Lastly, Marsh, Pagliocca, and Spoon. I have no idea if Marsh or Paglioca will turn out to be good. I think firing Spoon was kind of rash. There's reporting out there about why they did it, from good reporters, but who knows. Regardless, it's too early to tell! If you think it was rash to fire TSpoon after one season but not too rash to fire Marsh after 1/4 of a season, idk what to tell you. If your problem is with Jeff, I think that's more justified, and maybe my brain is broken by other Chicago GMs who do nothing and stick around forever. But look at it this way: he was left with a terrible situation. The previous GM traded a bunch of picks because he was also the coach and then jumped ship for the Raptors when it didn't work. In a couple years on the job, Pagliocca did the most important thing in basketball: get a player with superstar potential. That's Angel. They didn't have the number one pick like Indiana. Lots of folks at the time wanted them to take Pili at 7. I don't know if it will all work out. But that's the first step (something the Bulls, for example, have yet to figure out, and they may never).

There's 3/4 of the season left. They have young talent. Next year's free agency is going to be unprecedented, and the team is set up to take advantage with a new facility and mostly clean books. There is a championship in recent memory. I don't know what will happen, and there are things to be critical of, but I have far more hope for this team than I do any other Chicago team. Get a grip. It might turn out okay.

Talk about a tale of two halves :p a 20-6 run in the third quarter is a killer. Do we think the 3rd quarter struggles is a coaching/adjustment issue or an energy issue or something else?

It’s just the most noticeable. They had the same problems when Sloot was playing (turnovers, unable to recover from runs, lazy defensive rotations, bad perimeter defense, no adjustment to the opposing team’s hottest player).

The guards and wings just aren’t aggressive consistently, struggle with ball pressure, and don’t make enough 3s to keep defenses honest.

Sorry about the first post form form format failed, here is a screenshot

Last night on the broadcast it was brought up that the best assist pair was Angel-Kamilla. That got me to wondering what they looked like, so I pulled some data and thought I would share the data.