Thank you to everyone who wrote in about this head-scratching Sky season. Keep the questions coming.
• How does [general manager Jeff Pagliocca] justify his decision to sign three players [Azura Stevens, Courtney Vandersloot, DiJonai Carrington] who are/were injured such that they were not able to start the season? — Doressia H
That’s the big question, isn’t it? The simplest way to put it is that Pagliocca and coach Tyler Marsh really wanted these players in the program, so much that they were willing to wait for them. They love Stevens as a floor spacer and think she has a ton of upside offensively. They love Vandersloot’s ability to run a team, and they love Carrington for all the things she’s known for.
The second piece of it, though, is that they believed the rest of the roster was strong enough to “hold it down” in the players’ absence. Maybe that would have been true if the Sky hadn’t lost Rickea Jackson to injury, or shot so poorly to start the season, or if Marsh had more experience — I’m really not sure. But they certainly weren’t expecting to be 5-12 when Vandersloot returned.
• How do they recover from Rickea Jackson’s injury? [Jackson, the team’s leading scorer, tore her anterior cruciate ligament in the fourth game of the season.] — X.com
I think the team is starting to discover a way forward. The Sky have won two of their last three games, in which they averaged 100-plus points. Everyone from the Wings’ Paige Bueckers to the Aces’ Jewell Loyd has told me that the Sky are far more dangerous than their record shows.
But it has taken a lot of progress to get to this point. Stevens had to regain her confidence after a knee injury. Kamilla Cardoso had to find another gear. Sydney Taylor had to prove herself, and Marsh had to trust her with the starting job.
If only they could’ve hammered out some of these things before sinking to the bottom of the standings. But changes are bearing fruit: Over the last eight games, the Sky are a top-three offense in the league.
• Will the return of DiJonai Carrington turn this thing around? What’s the timeline for her return? — Kayla M.
Let’s start with the positive: Having a great wing defender such as Carrington is a huge asset. There are many great guards around the league — Bueckers, Rhyne Howard, Olivia Miles, Caitlin Clark — who require special attention, and Carrington is just the player to give it to them.
Her leadership will help, too. Carrington is a fountain of knowledge on defense, and the Sky want to define themselves on that side of the ball.
But I think what’s at the heart of your question is this: The Sky have put themselves in a pretty big hole at 6-13, so it’s tough to see one player digging them out of it, especially considering Carrington will need time to settle in when she does return.
When will that be? I can tell you that she has been doing individual workouts (shooting, ballhandling, etc.) and rehab, but she has not returned to practice. The team hasn’t given any target date.
• Why does the offense stray away from Kamilla Cardoso? — X.com
That was an early-season failure that the team recognizes and has gotten much better at. The last five games prove it: Cardoso has been consistently involved, averaging 21.8 points on 75% shooting.
Her avoiding foul trouble is key. Also, it does take more effort to get her involved than some of the better scorers in the league, many of whom you can just give the ball to on the perimeter and let go to work.
• Is there a favorite song making its way through the team right now? — Mike P.
I asked rookie forward Aicha Coulibaly about this, and she couldn’t think of one. But she did say that she has been singing “Say My Name” every day in the locker room, and Rachel Banham is tired of it.
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