The Sky return to action after the FIBA World Cup break to play the Mystics at home Thursday night. They have only four regular-season games left and already have been eliminated from the WNBA playoffs.
So, what’s at stake in the final stretch? Here are three things still hanging in the balance.
1. Coach Tyler Marsh’s job
It’s certainly possible that general manager Jeff Pagliocca already has made up his mind about Marsh one way or the other. But if he’s still evaluating, a few more victories could go a long way in bolstering Marsh’s case to return for a third season. Picture the Sky sweeping their final four games. It’s a real stretch of the imagination, given their longest winning streak this season is three. But if they do it, they’d end the season at 19-25.
That would be nearly double Marsh’s win total from his first season. It also would mean the Sky beat six of the eight playoff teams, a demonstration of Marsh’s impressive ability to keep his players motivated even after their playoff hopes were extinguished.
Of course, a strong finish wouldn’t erase the games the Sky blew during the heart of the season, derailing their chances of making the playoffs.
At this stage, it might simply be too little too late. Pagliocca has made it clear he believes the Sky had a strong enough roster to make the playoffs, even with all their injuries, meaning Marsh might have to bear the respon-sibility for falling short.
2. Course correction for the rookies
Marsh has indicated there will be more minutes for the Sky’s young players in the final stretch. That should be good news for guard Gabriela Jaquez, the No. 5 overall pick in this year’s draft.
She came onto the scene hot, looking like an All-Rookie selection through her first 15 starts. Then she got buried in the rotation as veterans returned from injuries, and she never quite looked the same. More minutes should give her a chance to show that, given the right opportunity, she can be the scrappy, dynamic wing she first appeared to be.
Fellow rookie guard Sydney Taylor should benefit from more minutes, too. The Sky’s breakout player this season, she has struggled to rediscover her stroke since suffering a groin injury and being put on a minutes restriction. But she returned from the FIBA break feeling healthy, and Marsh thinks she’ll be able to handle something closer to her previous workload.
3. Measuring up to the Mystics
Marsh and Pagliocca have maintained all season that their young core of Taylor, Jaquez, center Kamilla Cardoso and forward Rickea Jackson (sidelined since mid-May after tearing her left anterior cruciate ligament) is on par with that of the playoff-bound Mystics. They’ll have a chance to prove it at home Thursday, and again on the road on Sept. 24.
The Mystics whomped the Sky 90-72 the first time they met in early June, when the Sky were mired in a five-game losing streak and played disorganized, uninspired basketball. It was a troubling display of the divergent paths the teams were taking.
A year ago, the Sky and Mystics were in basically the same position: struggling teams with some promising young players. But this year, the Mystics have completely turned things around. They’re 24-16 and currently hold the No. 7 playoff seed, while the Sky are again on the outside looking in.
Are the Sky really just a few tweaks and turns away from being on the Mystics’ level? Actually competing with them would lend some credibility to that idea.