NFL
By: Stephen Garner
As the reigning champion Sky have gotten off to a 2-1 start, and begin to have more key pieces return to the fold, it becomes more increasingly obvious that they have compiled a high-end assemblage of talents.
The Starters
At the top, they have one of the best to ever touch the ball in the world in Candace Parker, who has a plethora of intangibles that are coupled with a bag of skills on the floor that make her as unique as any player, especially in high-leverage moments.
Adjacent to her is a Finals MVP who’s coming off of not only a WNBA Championship from October, but an April EuroLeague MVP, and now a May Spanish League Championship & Finals MVP, and that’s Kahleah Copper.
After that is the ever-dynamic spousal tandem of “VanderQuig’s” in Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley. The former being one of the best point guards to ever grace the hardwood with all the crafty subtleties in generalship and skill, as well as a propensity for timely baskets and shooting. The latter being one of the best shooters to ever grace the hardwood and doing so off movement, as a relocation savant, and off-screen menace. How she functions is an offense in-and-of itself. She can create something out of nothing, finishing plays or being properly positioned within sets to allow play off of her gravity. Add to that her ability to make plays off the dribble for herself (generating rim pressure driving closeouts on her own and finishing) and others, and you see the core pieces of this iteration of the Sky.
The versatility in skill and variety displayed in the collective shot profile of these four is enough to fill up an opposing scouting report with bolds, italics, and highlights marking points of emphasis all the same. It also demands a strong, connected, and disciplined efforts from opposition as, the way they operate offensively is not centred on one player, evident by their league-best 23.7 assists per game and assist percentage of 74.7% (out-doing their league-bests of last season with 21.8 and 70.7%). There’s plenty of ball movement and player movement enabled by the collective IQ and skill of these players to free-flow in a read and react style of play, and they have plenty of their own discipline to execute in their sets, hardly making self-induced mistakes evident by a league-best 1.78 assist-to-turnover ratio (out-doing last seasons 3rd best 1.50).
That leads to a level of unpredictability that often renders defenses completely helpless, and we’ve see just that as it’s come in waves already.
A set could start with any one of these four initiating offense in transition or the halfcourt, then flow from an empty corner pick-and-roll to a swing second-side that see’s a “throw and get” or any variation of handoff or dribble handoff actions with Copper or Quigley, all while the floor is viably spaced with Azura Stevens’ growing confidence to attempt and ability to knock down the open looks she gets off the many dynamic surrounding her and occupying her match-ups pressing need to protect the rim.
Or, they can put teams in a pinch regarding their communication and rotations with Spain pick-and-roll, including multiple talents in one action, or allow Quigley to wreck in off-screen play of floppy or staggered screens. It’s peak optionality at James Wade’s disposal.
Add to that them almost always having five players who can drive a closeout and you see the perpetual frenzy of rotations this group can force.
The Reserves
Look past the predicted starting group and you see a collection of talents that can operate both in place of any of the starters in the rotation, or produce, now, independently of that collective.
Been just over 2.5 games but Emma Meesseman has already been such presence for the Sky as a scorer, screener, roller, & connector
As well as her added value & activity defensively
That all-encompassing impact is going to pay big-time dividends as games grow more meaningful
— Stephen PridGeon ☯️🏁 (@StayTrueSDot3) May 15, 2022
They have a spark plug in 2021 all-rookie team select Dana Evans with her growing dynamic changing the tempo, an all-encompassing connector in 2019 WNBA Finals MVP Emma Meesseman and added value on both ends of the floor, and glue piece in experienced “rookie” Rebekah Gardner with her two-way multiple efforts of frenetic energy (more to come on these three), shoring up what’s sure to be one of the toughest top eight of a rotation across the league.
Now, where have we seen this one before… 3️⃣@rebekah_jasmine @Danaaakianaaa | #skytown pic.twitter.com/0V5PFBG56x
— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) May 15, 2022
As a three player lineup, they are a +4.5 in 13.1 minutes shared through two games.
When Copper returns to the fold, I expect for the starting lineup to be what it’s typical been, Vandersloot-Quigley-Copper-Parker-Stevens, with some potential variance based on matchups down the line (a Parker-Meesseman frontcourt pairing, which is +7.0 through three games could be it) seeing how well Meesseman has already meshed with that group.
However, the productivity and effectiveness of their bench lineups, built off of those three’s connected two-way play, will be key.
#NoCeiling, Collectively
Each of their top eight can serve as a pressure point in their own unique ways, forcing rotations from the opposition that’ll generate good to great looks, and blending to make for a collective punch that is downright exciting.
They can all knock down open looks from deep, keeping the floor viably spaced. They provide head coach and tactician James Wade with ample options in versatility regarding his lineups, schemes, and gameplans on both ends of the floor. All while also having continuity at the core.
There are a ton of dynamics that have already pre-existed within this group. Then, there are other dynamics that have begun to show themselves, early (whispers, Emma Meesseman is a +10 on the season, shooting 50/37.5/100 in her 13 points per game) along with looming one’s (like Copper having running mates in Evans and Gardner who can all change ends no different than sprinters out of the starting blocks on the track) sure to rise to the surface once the full complement of talents are all in the fold.
The Chicago Sky are properly structured to double up on their efforts of last season. Their 2-1 start, even while not being whole quite yet, has shown plenty. As the trek forward with a few players slated to return (making them whole) relatively soon and the schedule gets tougher, we’ll begin to see just how solid this team is and how they respond to the looming tests the rest of the W is sure to offer as they are indeed the hunted.
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