Cheryl Reeve Validates Chicago Sky’s Bold Offseason Approach
Praise is not something the Chicago Sky are familiar with from last season. They won just 10 games, finished at the bottom of the standings once again, and only made headlines when Angel Reese called out the front office for its failed win-now strategy and said she wanted to play for a more competitive team—in Chicago or elsewhere, if there was no other way. The Sky granted Reese her wish and sent her to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for a couple of future first-round picks. That trade was just the first move in a busy offseason, which already seems to have paid off.
At the very least, they impressed Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve enough to finally garner some praise and positive attention.
“I was struck by their cohesion, their identity defensively,” Reeve said after the Lynx’s 79-86 loss to the Sky. “It’s very strong. Give them credit. They got us sort of out of sorts and sort of unaware of how to play against it.”
That simple praise validates the Sky’s entire offseason. No one would have even thought of praising the team’s identity or cohesion on either end of the floor last season. The fact that Reeve, a championship coach, did proves that Sky obviously made some good choices and changes this offseason.
The Sky found something with this new-look roster
Trading Angel Reese was only the Sky’s first move. They also traded Ariel Atkins for Rickea Jackson and a first-round pick for Jacy Sheldon. Then, they signed Skylar Diggins, Natasha Cloud, DiJonai Carrington, and Azura Stevens in free agency. Last but not least, they used their lottery pick to draft Gabriela Jaquez out of UCLA—a choice that took many by surprise and wasn’t met with great optimism at first.
After their last two seasons and the myriad of issues that came with them, fans found it difficult to trust the Sky. But they are definitely on to something. Rickea Jackson was playing like the star the Los Angeles Sparks hoped she would be when they drafted her before she suffered a knee injury against the Lynx (it’s still uncertain how serious that injury is), Jaquez is currently the team’s second-leading scorer, Kamilla Cardoso has more space to work with, and Diggins and Cloud have given the team some much-needed structure and leadership.
Moreover, Sheldon, Diggins, and Cloud provide a defensive tenacity and intensity that the Sky just didn’t have on the perimeter last season.
The Sky started last season without a win in their first four games. Now, they are 3-1 and tied with the New York Liberty for the second-best record in the league. That’s quite the turnaround despite injuries to several key players. Courtney Vandersloot, Carrington, and Stevens haven’t even been able to play yet.
Making drastic changes and bold moves is scary and often difficult to pull off successfully, but, so far, it looks like Chicago made all the right moves this offseason.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.