Sky\u2019s<\/a> loss, possessions like this stood out: attacking space, as her coach calls it.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s been a priority of her development this season. At 6-7 she has always been a force around the basket. Now the challenge is recognizing a simple but important truth: she is just as fast, powerful and smooth when she\u2019s away from the basket as she is right next to it.<\/p>\n
Learning to take up space has been a process throughout Cardoso\u2019s career. In college at South Carolina, Dawn Staley wanted her to be more assertive \u2014 to tap into a monster inside that she thought Cardoso didn\u2019t yet know existed.<\/p>\n
Sky coach Tyler Marsh has seen flashes of that monster as a pro. But for a lottery pick and projected franchise cornerstone, Cardoso is sometimes deferential. After games she\u2019ll often sit beside Angel Reese at the podium, shrugging at questions and saying, \u201cI\u2019m just here for moral support.\u201d<\/p>\n
She won\u2019t be able to keep a low profile much longer. Reese\u2019s future with the team is in flux, and even before that, Cardoso\u2019s play had risen to a level that demanded more attention.<\/p>\n
Opponents were the first to adjust. Since the All-Star break they\u2019ve done everything they can to keep her from catching on the block \u2014 knowing that if she does, it\u2019s a bucket.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer and [Brittney Griner] they just know how to get to their spots,\u201d Wilson told the Sun-Times. \u201cAnd it\u2019s like: You cannot stop this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardoso ranks among the league\u2019s most efficient high-volume scorers, converting 53% of her attempts.<\/p>\n
Still, she is somewhat ambivalent about her performance this season. She told the Sun-Times last week her year \u201ccould have been much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though she feels she can improve everywhere, she recognizes that her play has surged since the All-Star break.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just her scoring average \u2014 14.6 points per game \u2014 that\u2019s climbed. Everything else has, too. Her focus and attention to rebounding has improved. Her assist total jumped to 3.1 per game from 1.7 before the break. She\u2019s defending well in space and staying disciplined without fouling.<\/p>\n
A big part of that development has been her coming out of her shell within the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople can consider her quiet,\u201d former South Carolina teammate Aliyah Boston told the Sun-Times. \u201cBut when she\u2019s super comfortable she\u2019s always cracking jokes, always laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her teammates have started to appreciate her one-liners and comic relief. Now when Rachel Banham makes goofy faces at her, Cardoso makes them back. They are, as one teammate put it, seeing \u201cthe real Kamilla.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s translating on the court, too. She has become more vocal in practice and in games, taking ownership of the defense as the eyes of the back line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something we talk about all the time: me having a better body language, energy, whatever the case may be,\u201d Cardoso told the Sun-Times. \u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019m working on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the real Kamilla will probably always involve a little deference. When asked on Friday if she\u2019s becoming a team leader, she said the team already had great ones.<\/p>\n
But even in interviews, she\u2019s speaking with more conviction. She told the Sun-Times on Friday that no matter their record, this is a \u201cspecial group\u201d that can finish strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the good thing about basketball,\u201d Cardoso said. \u201cIt helps build a sisterhood.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Kamilla Cardoso caught the ball outside the arc, with A\u2019ja Wilson \u2014 arguably the league\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-145207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}