{"id":270333,"date":"2025-11-04T05:58:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T05:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/270333\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T05:58:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T05:58:53","slug":"sky-gm-jeff-pagliocca-very-disappointed-by-bad-start-hopeful-for-turnaround","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/270333\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky GM Jeff Pagliocca ‘very disappointed’ by bad start, hopeful for turnaround"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 The Sky<\/a> believed they were ready to compete for a playoff spot this season with a team that could give anybody in the WNBA a fight.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no sugarcoating how sideways things have gone. They sputtered early, then lost veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot<\/a> to a torn anterior cruciate ligament Saturday night. They\u2019re near the bottom of the league both offensively and defensively after loading up on veterans in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Even understanding that growth takes time, the Sky shouldn\u2019t have been this bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a long season and there\u2019s a lot of games left, but this is unexpected, and I\u2019ve been very disappointed,\u201d general manager Jeff Pagliocca told the Sun-Times on Tuesday as he sat in the seats at Barclays Center watching the team\u2019s morning shootaround. \u201cWe had pretty big, significant expectations for this season. That\u2019s why I made the moves I made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pagliocca\u2019s assessment was that the Sky (2-6) need to improve \u201ceverywhere\u201d to address a lack of cohesion on defense and poor shooting. Going into Tuesday night\u2019s 85-66 loss to the Liberty,<\/a> they had allowed a league-worst 90.1 points per game and were shooting just 39.9%.<\/p>\n

Diving into the details of their ugly start, Pagliocca hit on insufficient pressure on the perimeter defensively, a lack of confidence in shooting, inconsistent effort and execution of coach Tyler Marsh\u2019s game plan and failure to curb opponents\u2019 runs before they become devastating.<\/p>\n

But every conversation about the Sky starts with forward Angel Reese \u2014 the price of being the face of the franchise. She was averaging 9.1 points and 12.3 rebounds entering Tuesday, both numbers down from last season. Her turnovers were up at 3.7 per game.<\/p>\n

That decline comes at a time when she and the Sky sought to broaden her game by stretching her shooting range and maximizing her play-making ability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that has yet to come together, but it\u2019s a necessity for us to win,\u201d Pagliocca said. \u201cShe\u2019s had some great games, and she\u2019s had some games like everybody else that haven\u2019t been her best. But she\u2019s our best chance at versatility on this roster. We need more production out of her, but we need her to help us in other ways, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been putting the time in. She\u2019s been a great teammate. She knows we need to use her in a variety of ways. We\u2019re still trying to pinpoint the most advantageous part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The alternative is that Reese stays the same player she was as a rookie, which creates redundancy and has her crowding the paint with center Kamilla Cardoso. Marsh indicated Tuesday he\u2019s inclined to stagger their playing time to get better spacing.<\/p>\n

Reese hasn\u2019t ducked responsibility amid the Sky\u2019s struggles. Asked before Tuesday\u2019s game where she needed to make more contributions, she said she\u2019s still seeking to diversify how she plays on offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put my head down and work every single day \u2014 I don\u2019t give up on anything,\u201d Reese said. \u201cI critique myself the most. I know it\u2019s going to translate. .\u2009.\u2009. I\u2019m just going to put my head down and work, and I know the results will show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Marsh, a 37-year-old first-time head coach who had only three weeks of training camp in which to implement his system. He quickly lost Vandersloot, whom he viewed as essentially an extension of his staff.<\/p>\n

Throughout this ordeal, Marsh has been trying to balance conviction in his scheme against pressure to adjust a plan that hasn\u2019t produced results. Pagliocca backed him emphatically, saying, \u201cThe record does not reflect the amount of work put in.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was especially pleased with Marsh\u2019s composure. The upside to the culture Marsh has established is that it could be the guardrail that keeps this season from being a complete disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of talented players here, so that\u2019s why we\u2019re not giving up hope .\u2009.\u2009. and they\u2019re not accepting where we are right now,\u201d Pagliocca said. \u201cWe\u2019re just going to keep leaning into that until we turn the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

But everyone knows that\u2019s not enough. Good attitudes don\u2019t factor into the standings. They might be the foundation of something in the future, but the Sky are in win-now mode.<\/p>\n

They desperately need to play like it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"WNBA<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The current CBA was set to expire Friday, and tensions have been rising in recent weeks as the sides try to work toward a new deal.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Chicago<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

After winning the 3-on-3 league\u2019s inaugural championship, Reese will spend the offseason elsewhere.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Las<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Though much of their professional legacies were built elsewhere, Parker and Delle Donne shined in Chicago. They headline the 2026 class.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 The Sky believed they were ready to compete for a playoff spot this season with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-270333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270333","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=270333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}