Chicago Sky/WNBA 2025 season thread

[TheSuzerain]

Yes, the WNBA is helped by getting 4-year college stars as rookies. Those who watched the college game are already invested in Page, Citron, Paopao, Kiki, and so forth.

To return to the Sky, Cardoso remains a work in progress. Her entire game is about getting the ball 3 feet from the basket, which isn't as silly as it would be in the modern NBA, because in the WNBA unlike the NBA that still happens a lot for centers. But in this game at least the Fever were effective in denying that play, and when they did, forcing Cardoso further away from the rim, she looked lost. She needs to get found, because the Sky's plan is to build around their twin towers. That's not going to happen if Cardoso doesn't become more versatile. (Angel, too, but that is a lesser problem.)

Cardoso kind of a bum honestly.

Reese and Atkins are fine. Other than that it's ugly.

Reese is limited offensively, IMO.

People keep saying she's going to develop an offensive game. That's like saying Jaxson Hayes will develop the Dream Shake.

I'm not saying she's tapped out, but there's an upper limit on how good she can be. She does not have natural touch and coordination, and her mechanics are just terrible.

However, she's a great rebounder, and she's active.

The bar is pretty low honestly. Like yes she's lacking in touch. But most of the players on the team can barely even move or do anything athletic.

[Hold That]

Sky won’t be good this year but it seems as if the front office is going to keep putting the LSU championship team together and likely take FlauJe to go with former LSU players HVL and Reese

[Shill]

I hadn’t even seen that when I just took a shot at Reese. What a soft clown. I feel bad for Sky fans.

P.S. I’m not one of those dopes who just hates on Reese because Caitlin is the Great White Hope. I hate that Shyte.

Reese is just an embarrassment in my opinion. It would be hard for me to root for the Sky if they were my team.

Her jealousy of Clark is just seeping through her pores.

It's so unnecessary.

There's plenty for everybody to eat.

[Ice Man]

All these WNBA players who treated Clark like crap last year

It's pretty hard to find direct evidence of anybody who did, aside from Chennedy Carter, who perhaps not coincidentally has been blackballed from the WNBA, receiving no offers as an FA despite being 26 years old and coming off a season where she finished 14th in the league in PPG.

At any rate, one of the Fever's new signees (Bonner?) said it best when asked why she signed with Indiana. Her answer, to paraphrase, was "Who wouldn't want to receive passes like that, and maybe win a title?" I mean, my Lord, it's better than toiling in Chicago. OK yes, that last line translates to the NBA, too.

[Ice Man]

The bar is pretty low honestly. Like yes she's lacking in touch. But most of the players on the team can barely even move or do anything athletic.

The NYT picked the Sky to have the 6th best record this season, out of 13 teams. That does seem a bit optimistic.

[TheSuzerain]

The bar is pretty low honestly. Like yes she's lacking in touch. But most of the players on the team can barely even move or do anything athletic.

The NYT picked the Sky to have the 6th best record this season, out of 13 teams. That does seem a bit optimistic.

Yeah I doubt that.

There's some crap teams out there though. Fever could roll people this year.

[jc23]

Yes, the WNBA is helped by getting 4-year college stars as rookies. Those who watched the college game are already invested in Page, Citron, Paopao, Kiki, and so forth.

To return to the Sky, Cardoso remains a work in progress. Her entire game is about getting the ball 3 feet from the basket, which isn't as silly as it would be in the modern NBA, because in the WNBA unlike the NBA that still happens a lot for centers. But in this game at least the Fever were effective in denying that play, and when they did, forcing Cardoso further away from the rim, she looked lost. She needs to get found, because the Sky's plan is to build around their twin towers. That's not going to happen if Cardoso doesn't become more versatile. (Angel, too, but that is a lesser problem.)

Cardoso kind of a bum honestly.

Reese and Atkins are fine. Other than that it's ugly.

Cardoso has been disappointing since she dominated in the national championship game. I dont think she has the personality to own the paint. Aaliyah Boston is a much smaller player and she bullied Cardoso a few times.

[Shill]

There's some crap teams out there though. Fever could roll people this year.

If they play defense like that consistently, the bottom-feeder teams are gonna be lightwork.

[Jeffster81]

TBH, both Clark and Reece have worn me out about the WNBA. I had to look up who won the championship last year.

[Jcool0]

Yes, the WNBA is helped by getting 4-year college stars as rookies. Those who watched the college game are already invested in Page, Citron, Paopao, Kiki, and so forth.

To return to the Sky, Cardoso remains a work in progress. Her entire game is about getting the ball 3 feet from the basket, which isn't as silly as it would be in the modern NBA, because in the WNBA unlike the NBA that still happens a lot for centers. But in this game at least the Fever were effective in denying that play, and when they did, forcing Cardoso further away from the rim, she looked lost. She needs to get found, because the Sky's plan is to build around their twin towers. That's not going to happen if Cardoso doesn't become more versatile. (Angel, too, but that is a lesser problem.)

Cardoso kind of a bum honestly.

Reese and Atkins are fine. Other than that it's ugly.

Cardoso has been disappointing since she dominated in the national championship game. I dont think she has the personality to own the paint. Aaliyah Boston is a much smaller player and she bullied Cardoso a few times.

Sky made a mistake passing on Rickea Jackson.

[Andi Obst]

Cardoso kind of a bum honestly.

Reese and Atkins are fine. Other than that it's ugly.

Cardoso has been disappointing since she dominated in the national championship game. I dont think she has the personality to own the paint. Aaliyah Boston is a much smaller player and she bullied Cardoso a few times.

Sky made a mistake passing on Rickea Jackson.

Definitely. And I say that as someone who likes Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese as players. I just never understood the full commitment to the double big lineup (they traded up to get it done!) when that wasn't necessary at all. What hurts the most is that the two bigs can't (really) shoot but also struggle to finish inside (especially Angel, of course). It's hard to imagine a good offense built around Angel and Kamilla.

[Ice Man]

What hurts the most is that the two bigs can't (really) shoot but also struggle to finish inside (especially Angel, of course). It's hard to imagine a good offense built around Angel and Kamilla.

A lot of WNBA bigs struggle to finish layups. My guess/speculation is that it's insufficient coaching. It's just so easy for them until they get to the WNBA. Never mind high school, even in college future WNBA bigs mostly face slow 6' 1" "opponents who can barely jump. There just aren't that many tall and atheltic women basketball players. But when they get to the WNBA, which only has 13 teams, every squad has players who can physically challenge them and those layups become struggles.

My suspicion is that their previous coaches could have taught them how to compete against people who were their athletic equals by matching them up against men, but they didn't see the need because their stars were getting the job done for them. Just a hypothesis, of course.

[Andi Obst]

What hurts the most is that the two bigs can't (really) shoot but also struggle to finish inside (especially Angel, of course). It's hard to imagine a good offense built around Angel and Kamilla.

It's just so easy for them until they get to the WNBA. Never mind high school, even in college future WNBA bigs mostly face slow 6' 1" "opponents who can barely jump. There just aren't that many tall and atheltic women basketball players. But when they get to the WNBA, which only has 13 teams, every squad has players who can physically challenge them and those layups become struggles.

Don't know about the coaching part because I know nothing about coaching at these levels, but that part is definitely true. Angel scored 24 points per game at okay efficiency in her last season at college. I think at some point last year I asked in this thread how that was even possible given her super low release on layups(!) that we're now seeing in the W. It just didn't matter, apparently. And it's probably even crazier for Kamilla, who is clearly not used to match up with players her size (or close to her size).

For the Sky to go anywhere, they'll need to show improvements fast.

[Ice Man]

Angel scored 24 points per game at okay efficiency in her last season at college. I think at some point last year I asked in this thread how that was even possible given her super low release on layups(!) that we're now seeing in the W. It just didn't matter, apparently. And it's probably even crazier for Kamilla, who is clearly not used to match up with players her size (or close to her size).

In fairness to the scouting process, Angel dropped to #7 in the draft despite being the year's biggest NCAA star except Clark and despite having great college stats because of concerns that her offense wouldn't translate to the next level. The scouts got that right, but of course they underestimated how spectacularly her rebounding ability would translate.

[panthermark]

Reese makes me not want to watch at all. Clark would entice me to sit down and watch a game.

What is it about Reese that makes you not want to watch at all? I mean, I get that her game isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing, but she’s a highly decorated player and has played at a high level on every level that she’s been on.

She is far more known for her personality and social media than her actual play on court, which is pretty damn meh. But I'm not a huge fan of big on court/field talkers anyway, especially if you can't back it up.

[Ice Man]

She is far more known for her personality and social media than her actual play on court, which is pretty damn meh. But I'm not a huge fan of big on court/field talkers anyway, especially if you can't back it up.

Reese had a hugely positive +/- last year, in the sense that the Sky were a breakeven team with her on the court and terrible without her. Her offensive woes are frustrating to watch, but the rebounds & defense do seem to make her a valuable player.

[Shill]

Fever's defense was horrible and couldn't keep ATL off the offensive boards.

[Ice Man]

Fun fact - Caitlin Clark is now tied for 1st in all-time WNBA games with at least 20 points and 10 assists.

[fleet]

Fun fact - Caitlin Clark is now tied for 1st in all-time WNBA games with at least 20 points and 10 assists.

In only a small fraction of the number of games played

[Ice Man]

Fun fact - Caitlin Clark is now tied for 1st in all-time WNBA games with at least 20 points and 10 assists.

In only a small fraction of the number of games played

Clark is tied with Courtney Vandersloot, who has played 430 games. Clark has played 42. As a side note, Clark is now the sole WNBA career leader in games with at least 25 points and 10 assists, having passed Sabrina Ionescu.

This is one of those cases where the NCAA accomplishments very much did foreshadow the professional performance.