NFL
By: Stephen PridGeon-Garner
The Chicago Sky have one of the most unique attacks in the WNBA.
They have a collection of top-end talent as skilled and versatile as any team in the W, however, their attack being predicated on ball/player movement, and not driven by but aided by the individual skill of said players in the system, make for a unique and optically pleasing plan of attack.
Oh yeah, it’s also effective too.
Candace Parker spoke to me postgame on Wednesday about how, when they’re flowing, they’re hard to beat.
That aforementioned flow has been in abundance of late.
Over their last four games, they’re averaging 28.3 assists per game on their 35.0 field goals made.
Even more, they’re leading the W in scoring in this window at 91.3 points per game while also hitting the team gold standard of efficiency of 50/40/90, shooting 53% from the field, 43% from three, and 92.3% from the charity stripe.
Oftentimes teams can come into a game with a scouting report hell-bent on taking away one or two or three things.
With this Chicago Sky team, that’s not the case because the ball moves with no agenda, organically, and eventually almost always generates the most advantageous look in a possession.
Coaches across all levels of basketball love to preach ball movement. However, you must compile the prerequisite talents for your ball movement to garner the type of defensive attention necessary for said movement to be effective.
Most teams don’t have a collection of talents to garner enough attention from defenses to where they’re uncomfortable with certain rotations or defensive tactics, so their attack grows predictable. Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easier to defend, as, if your attack is predictable but the pieces leading your attack have an all-encompassing array of skill, that allows said team and players to dictate and play off of that gravity via attention.
The Sky have a collection of talent that all have unique skills allowing them to be a pressure point in the varying scenarios their system stresses defenses into, allowing their skill to not only be highlighted but grow even more effective, as what they bring to the table individually serves as a puzzle piece in collective picture painted on any given possession.
Notice their points per game marks from this streak:
That’s six players in double-digits for scoring. On the season, they’re presently at five (Copper, Meesseman, Parker, Vandersloot, Stevens) with Gardner and Quigley quickly ascending towards joining them.
Also of note: across the W, only four other teams can claim having five players in double figures scoring (LVA, DAL, CON, ATL). Im confident the Sky will finish the season with seven in double-digits there, giving yet another example of the uniqueness of their attack.
Their flex offense is so effective because of their many counters, and abilities to flow into off-script so seamlessly as well.
We’ve seen, numerous times, the timely cutting from the second-side of Rebekah Gardner or Kahleah Copper, array of give-and-go play of Vandersloot-Meesseman, and, of course, the perpetual movement of Allie Quigley, all generate offense independent of any set.
As soon as teams get ancy and detach from discipline and principles in anticipation of an action, boom, Gardner hits her check (who’s cheated an extra step over in help for the Chicago action about to take place) with a 45 or baseline cut for two.
Or a DHO/pick-and-roll/pop action in the empty corner with Vandersloot and Meesseman was defended well initially, so Slooty hits Meesseman, then her check gives attention in help but forgets Slooty is a threat to cut and before that’s all internalized Vandersloot’s hit a layup and is on the way back for defense.
This ability to adjust on the fly, have built-in counters, and repetitively generate good looks allows for their consistency in execution to grow overwhelming to opposition as they trek forward as a never-ending riddle of sorts.
Speaking to the good looks they manipulate, they have a scorching effective field goal percentage of 60% and a true shooting percentage of 63.6%.
This is enabled mainly by their trio of top-tier passers: Courtney Vandersloot, Candace Parker, and Emma Meesseman.
These three always have the ball in their hands in playmaking positions, but the ability for either of them to flip the switch from facilitator to pressure point in any given action based on a read they see, it just tugs at the strings of the oppositions defense time and time again.
Vandersloot, of course, is the initiator more often than not. However, the first player she’s typically passing to is one of Parker or Meesseman to start an action. Those two, who thrive as playmakers from the top of the key, slots, elbows, and the post, all serve as elite-level connectors.
That allows any given set to flow into the next action seamlessly, whether that’s a dribble handoff, a pitch to a screen, rescreening, or playmaking from the short-roll off a trap on any of their guards.
Evident here:
They flow from a double drag with Allemand to a second-side handoff and rescreen that see’s the Sun put two on Quigley. Quigley dupes the trap fundamentally with a high pass fake to low delivery on the bounce, and here’s where the stress begins, even with eight seconds in the shot clock.
Candace slips right to the nail where her second-to-none playmaking rings as loud as anyones in history. Smart spacing from Stevens puts Bri Jones in a tough situation to stunt and recover from distance, and Candace hits Stevens for perfect play out of the trap.
They also have elite cutters in their entire main rotation, understanding not just how but when to cut whether it’s for themselves or to generate another look behind the cut.
It is for these reasons pertaining to their offense (having spoken at length numerous times about their defense being the driving force already), that I feel they are the best in the W and are properly positioned to repeat the successes of last season.
They’re a well-oiled, multi-faceted machine that, when they hit their blend and play with flow into their offense, is virtually scheme-proof.
The pieces come together like a perfect harmony in the balance of their skills when they’re humming, rendering defenses absolutely helpless.
This will only grow more profound as they endure more repetitions in varying scenarios together. As it stands though, they are humming at the highest frequency in the WNBA.
