{"id":664995,"date":"2026-05-26T00:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T00:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/664995\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T00:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T00:03:09","slug":"sky-banking-on-better-ball-movement-to-revive-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/664995\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky banking on better ball movement to revive offense"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sky<\/a> had a nice long film session to start practice Monday.<\/p>\n

Coming off two straight losses, coach Tyler Marsh had plenty of material to work with.<\/p>\n

Like all those missed shots from their home stand.<\/p>\n

The Sky (3-3) are struggling to shoot \u2014 41.6% from the field and 27.1% from 3, which both rank near the bottom of the league. Marsh usually traces offensive problems back to ball movement, and he\u2019s seen it slow down since the team\u2019s 3-1 start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think over the course of the first several games we were really good at that, and we\u2019ve gotten stagnant over the last couple,\u201d Marsh said. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been for long durations, but it\u2019s been at important moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marsh is right that quick shots and isolation plays won\u2019t turn the offense around. Especially now that Rickea Jackson \u2014 their leading scorer and best shot-creator \u2014 is out for the season.<\/p>\n

But some of the shooting woes were predictable given the roster.<\/a> The Sky added many great downhill drivers this past offseason, but few sharpshooters. Their top free-agent addition, Skylar Diggins, is a perfect example. She can blow by defenders with her speed and skillset, but she\u2019s only a career 41.9% shooter and is shooting 39% to start the year.<\/p>\n

Marsh, of course, doesn\u2019t believe the team is doomed to poor percentages. He thinks that his system can generate clean looks, and he trusts great players like Diggins to knock down threes when they matter most.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re generating open ones, we just haven\u2019t knocked them down yet,\u201d Marsh said of the team\u2019s 3-point shooting. \u201cWe expect that number to turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hot streak from Diggins would certainly help. So would better shooting from veteran Rachel Banham, the Sky\u2019s only player with a career 3-point percentage above 35%.<\/p>\n

But until the team is fully healthy<\/a>, the fate of the offense might rest on whether young starters Gabriela Jaquez and Jacy Sheldon can get back to where they began.<\/p>\n

Both were efficient in the team\u2019s hot start. Sheldon has cooled off, scoring just seven combined points over the last two games. And Jaquez, whose teammates always say is playing like a veteran, had her first rookie-ish performance against the Lynx. She shot 1-for-8, missing layups she\u2019d been making and forcing shots she\u2019d usually leave alone.<\/p>\n

The tough outing didn\u2019t seem to faze her, though.<\/p>\n

Monday after practice, the rookie sounded like a veteran once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching the film today, we saw what we need to do,\u201d Jaquez said. \u201cBut also remembering \u2014 we still have it in us. We see the good clips as well. It\u2019s there. We just gotta do that more consistently. We have to create four quarters of consistent Chicago Sky basketball and that will lead to wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best aspect of Sky basketball so far has been their defense, which is still ranked in the top five, despite some recent slippage. But the offense has strong points too. The team rarely turns it over, which is a breath of fresh air from last season. And they get to the free-throw line more than almost any other team, with Jaquez, Diggins, and Kamilla Cardoso leading the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still believe in ourselves,\u201d Jaquez said. \u201cWe\u2019re still gonna be a great team. Just understanding how we have to adjust moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sky had a nice long film session to start practice Monday. Coming off two straight losses, coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-664995","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\/664995","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=664995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}