Can the Chicago Sky build a winner in Angel Reese?

Athletic has a live report on Sky vs. Fever from the WNBA opening weekend.

Chicago – At the first possession of the pre -season of the Chicago Sky, Courtney Vandloot was the ball on Angel Reese on the left wing. The all-star turned in the second year, drove to the right side of the basket and earned a foul.

However you classify the piece – a handover, a trip right or something different – it would have been a rarity last season. Reese received two hand over last season (ended with an offensive foul and a missed elbow jumper) and drove 34 times or once per game.

Doesn’t matter. The sky, which was led by head coach Tyler Marsh in the first year, preached all off -season that Reese’s versatility (as well as that of Kamilla Cardoso) goes far beyond what she showed last season and is confident enough to present it from the leap in 2025. The only limits of Reese’s potential was made from a place in 2024, which on the way and the play make-make and the maturity, which has playing and the Mature Breast Mature Breast Mature Mature Mature Mature Maturity.

The sky entered the low season and knew that the only way to build their franchise front court was to remedy these defects, especially at experience in experience. A year after three of their top five-minute getters had three or less years of WNBA office, the roster turned over and is getting older.

“We want the best players, but we also have to make sure that there is a balance and the best teams work with veterinarians,” said general manager Jeff Pagliocca during the training camp.

needed the spin at 5 in 4k 🔥#Skytown pic.twitter.com/qhvrveswms

– Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) May 7, 2025

In the past season, too much was placed on the shoulders of Reese, who immediately took on the role of the face of the franchise and ended the season as Chicago’s Best Player and lonely all-star. The Sky cratered without Reese, and its net rating fell from plus 0.8 to minus 21.0 points per 100 possessions when it was in court. Although Reese Mentoring from the then coach Teresa Weatherspoon and the Luminaries searched in the league, Chicago’s goal for this season was to bring players for Reese in the house in order to concentrate on their game instead of leading the team preventively.

Vandersloot is only the tip of the iceberg. The sky also acquired Ariel Atkins and Rebecca Allen by trade, signed Kia Nurse in Free Agency and welcomed Elizabeth Williams after an injury limited her to nine games last season.

“I just love that we have a group of leaders,” said Reese. “Having these veterinarians is like a touch of fresh air, and becoming the knowledge and direction was the best for me.”

Vandersloot, Atkins and even Marsh can convey the championship knowledge that Reese is looking for. In total, this trio was part of five of the last six WNBA titles. Reese said that in the late season the whole offseason left a bad taste in her mouth. As a spectator to go to the final, she motivated more motivation to follow the playoffs in her second season.

Reese has already inspired the conditioning of Vandersloot, who said the 14-year-old veterinarian was a “well-oiled machine” and still looks 21 at 36.

“It is something you can’t really record,” said Marsh. “These are people who were in this league in this league and showed their value on the pitch for a long time, but they certainly have a value in our changing room when it comes to our younger players and show them the ropes how to work and how to be a professional.”

The veterans are also nearby to make Reese easier on the pitch. Too often last season, the Chicago Post players worked in a lot. Now Atkins and everyone come as a career as 36 percent 3-point shooters to pull defenders out of color and create space. With the returning Rachel Banham and Michaela Onyenwere, the sky will always have at least two credible shooting threats on the ground.

Vandersloot also organizes the offensive in a way that only a few point guards have in the history of the league. Her teams were seven of the last eight seasons in the top three-day, including three first placements. Her first set-up for Reese was a sign of the upcoming things for both young contributions. She then had four pick-and-roll templates for Cardoso in the second pre-season game. Cardoso had 19 baskets as a scooter last season.

In 2024, Chicago recently ended in the League Assistant Percentage, and the players did not seem to be on the same side. The Chicago Tribune told everyone when she played against the sky as a member of the Phoenix Mercury: “I remember that last season they had to be quite vigilant as a defender against Chicago just because they didn’t know what would happen next – and I don’t think they did it too.”

More space and games enable the coaching team to bring Reese to different areas of the soil. More than half of their possessions as a rookie came to post-ups, cuts and putbacks. Marsh wants to put them in the pick-and-roll games, turn games out of the short role and occasionally even jump out of the screens. Reese can sometimes make the crime easier as a trailer in the transition and as a point forward.

“It is about creating space and making defenses honestly. Ultimately, they ultimately open the color,” said Marsh about the new system. “We don’t just want to restrict (Reese) to rebounders because it is so much more that its potential is so much more than that.”

By concentrating their future on their young front court, he avoided other team building paths. Chennedy Carter was a leading goal scorer in 2024, but did not receive a qualified offer and is currently not on a WNBA squad. As Pagliocca found on the Media Day, without showing Carter specifically: “Perhaps a talented player will move on to ensure that a good fit is in the long term.”

The sky discovered a talent base in 2024. Now comes the difficult part of the construction of a foundation around Reese, Cardoso and the next design class from Hailey van Lith and Maddy Westbeld. Brain confidence found that the best way to surround young people with proven veterans, even if this meant, to sacrifice a draft of the justice.

The franchise has a specified goal of returning to the playoffs from Pagliocca at the top, who said: “We will always be in Win-now mode” to Reese and the rest of the squad. There is no appetite for a slow build.

As Reese in this opening, the sky moved resolutely in this low season. You are looking for an immediate result.

(Photo: Melissa Tmez / Icon Sportswire about Getty Images)