{"id":850393,"date":"2026-09-17T00:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T00:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/850393\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T00:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T00:56:12","slug":"skys-courtney-vandersloot-wasnt-the-closer-she-hoped-to-be-but-shouldnt-have-to-fill-that-role-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/850393\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky’s Courtney Vandersloot wasn\u2019t the closer she hoped to be, but shouldn\u2019t have to fill that role next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

With four games left in the regular season, the Sky\u2019s<\/a> focus will be on developing young players and building for the future rather than a postseason run.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not where this team wanted to be.<\/p>\n

Everyone expected this roster, built around legendary point guard Courtney Vandersloot, to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Say what you want about the decision to build a team around a 37-year-old \u2014 and the critiques will continue until the Sky are winning again \u2014 but Vandersloot does not shy away from acknowledging her shortcomings.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s owned up to the Sky\u2019s struggles in close games all season long<\/a>, including in an interview with the Sun-Times on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I had opportunities where the ball was in my hands to make plays for us down the stretch in a couple games, and I don\u2019t think I had the right decision-making ability at the time,\u201d she said. \u201cOr my comfortability in those moments was not what it was used to being.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think part of it was just not playing, not having a lot of \u2018big moment\u2019 reps. I feel like I never really got to be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vandersloot returned to Chicago to help lift the Sky back to the playoff standard that existed when she departed in 2022, but an ACL tear early in the 2025 season interrupted that. When she returned this season, she lacked the end-of-game heroics she was known for back in 2022.<\/p>\n

Overall, she doesn\u2019t feel like she \u201cimpacted winning\u201d as much as she wanted to.<\/p>\n

Some aspects of her game certainly declined; her finishing at the rim is 10 percentage points lower than it was in her prime, and quicker guards keep targeting her defensively.<\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t lose 15 clutch games because of one person. Nearly every starter had a fatal blunder at some point, and the blame for this season should spread from the top all the way down.<\/p>\n

Now the focus turns to next season. The roster is likely to look similar, with 9 of 13 players effectively under contract. Vandersloot still has faith in the potential of this group, and she believes that using the offseason to rehab can take her own performance to another level.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy knee is in a good spot, but I came back with the idea that this was part of my \u2018return to play,\u2019 and now I want it to be like a \u2018return to perform,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m out there performing and excelling \u2026 at the level that I think I can play that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s just being able to put myself in a better place to help this team win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many aspects of Vandersloot\u2019s recovery were encouraging. Her return in late June gave the offense an instant boost, with the team scoring a franchise-record 124 points. Her individual production since returning is in line with where she left off in 2025 \u2014 9 points on 43.3% shooting to go along with 5.2 assists.<\/p>\n

Getting more comfortable in end-of-game scenarios will help. But rather than trying to get back to her old self, success for Vandersloot next season may also include adjusting to a more complementary role.<\/p>\n

Star forward Rickea Jackson will be returning from an ACL injury and is just the kind of shot-creator you want to give the ball to at the end of games. Sydney Taylor has also revealed her clutch gene, becoming the first player to hit multiple buzzer-beating threes in a season since Vandersloot in 2022.<\/p>\n

Developing those two youngsters as closers should be the priority next season.<\/p>\n

If she\u2019s willing, Vandersloot can take a little bit of pressure off herself and settle into being more of a shepherd rather than a savior.<\/p>\n

Of course for an all-time great competitor, that\u2019s easier said than done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With four games left in the regular season, the Sky\u2019s focus will be on developing young players and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-850393","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\/850393","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=850393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}