Two things are happening right now for the Chicago Sky: we are bouncing back from a six-game losing streak with three nice wins, and also head coach James Wade abruptly resigned to accept an assistant coaching job with the Toronto Raptors.
The Townies have been thinking a lot about the chorus of “Congratulations!” for Coach Wade. Doesn’t it sort of imply that an assistant coaching job in the NBA is more valuable or prestigious than a head coaching/general manager position in the WNBA?
Like, if a friend in the high school sports world told me she was leaving her head coaching job at a women’s program to be an assistant for a men’s program, my first response would be, “Interesting, what led to that decision?” not, “Congratulations!”
Are we overthinking it? Maybe “congrats” is just the polite response to a nice guy making a career change. The Sky players have always seemed to like Wade and he generally did a good job for us (he had the highest win percentage of any coach in the organization’s history).
And let’s be real for a second—a coaching job in the NBA is more valuable and prestigious than one in the WNBA. You probably get better working conditions, more resources, and a higher chance of getting rich and famous if you succeed.
But if even we, the WNBA community, don’t resist the whole “the WNBA is the minor leagues” implication a little bit, then…idk. It’s just frustrating.
Kahleah Copper Embodies the Chicago Sky
While writing last week’s article, “How to Cope When Your Team is Losing,” I argued with a few associates about what a team is, exactly. As fans we root for the same team, even as the roster changes and even as our coaches receive “better opportunities” on the men’s side.
So what is “the team” then? Is it the jerseys? The stadium? The city? The fans?
One thing we agreed on was that the players who stick around the longest come to embody the team.
Kahleah Copper is that for the Chicago Sky right now. She is both our longest-tenured and our best player, which is a very cool combo.
As our Lead Basketball Analyst put it:
“Coming into the season, I thought Skytown might turn into Kah-town. With all of our veteran talent leaving, I thought Kah would need to shoulder more responsibility with scoring, rebounding, and leading.”
Seventeen games into the regular season, our LBA is still not convinced we’re living in Kah-town yet. Her scoring average is up to 16.7 from 15.7 points per game last year, but her shooting percentage (44%) and free throw percentage (69%) have probably held her back from the bigger buckets-increase our LBA was expecting.
I think Copper has a way of gaining steam as the season goes on. Through 17 games last year, she only averaged 13.8 points per game, and it actually took 27 games for her scoring average to hold steady over 15 points per game.
I wonder if instead of looking for more points from Copper, we should be looking for better efficiency. I’m thinking of the difference between superstar veterans Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd. As Gray evolved into the savvy vet that she is, her scoring average pretty much stayed constant, but what changed is that she just doesn’t…miss. On the other hand, Loyd’s scoring average exploded this year—she’s attempting way more shots and putting the team on her back.
I think the Chelsea Gray model—more efficiency through increased confidence and game mastery—might work better for Copper. As good of a scorer as Copper is, she doesn’t necessarily have a “give me the ball” attitude. Sometimes that prevents her from taking over in clutch scenarios the way we think she should, but it also means she’s the type of star who makes it easy for others to flourish around her.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Alanna Smith and Elizabeth Williams are having career years alongside Copper.
At the beginning of the season we asked ourselves how KFC (Kahleah Freakin’ Copper) has gotten her buckets historically and how this would change in 2023.
In general we expected her to get more buckets from becoming a better jump shooter, but figured she’d be challenged by 1) not having as many great passers around her and 2) teams around the league focusing on how to stop her.
That’s pretty much what has happened.
2023 KFC Buckets Analysis
Drives to the hoop (especially baseline). In Copper’s eighth season, the league has really figured out how to defend her in the half-court (send weak-side help ASAP, because she’ll always beat the first defender). I think this is why Copper has been more turnover prone this season—she’s getting swarmed like never before in the lane. So the next evolution in Kah’s game is to become a better decision-maker on her drives. She needs to work on the switch from head-down beast mode into slow-it-down-and-kick-it-out mode. We’ve noticed her doing this in the past few games and think it’s going to lead to more assists and fewer turnovers.
Jump shooting. With teams taking away her baseline drive, we knew Kah would have to add some mid-range sauce to her game. But we didn’t realize how quickly she would add it, and how good it would taste!!!
She’s also taking and hitting more threes, which we’re stoked about. Her three-point shooting percentage is ranked 6th in the league right now! We still think she should try to shoot more threes (at the very least one or two per quarter), even if it brings her percentage down a bit.
Assisted buckets at the rim. In our last KFC Buckets Analysis we wrote, “Kah has historically done some of her scoring by hanging around the rim and receiving sick passes from teammates. Last year, everyone around Copper—from Sloot the general, to Candace, to Quigley—was a great passer who could hit Copper in the lane.” This year’s team has struggled to find her close to the hoop.
Yes, some of her decline in paint-buckets is because she’s taking more mid-range shots, but some of it also has to do with the team’s inability to get her clean looks. Last year we’d hit Kah for a cutting layup at least once a game—now we only do it every other game.
Transition offense. Kah is still pretty much unstoppable in the full-court—she has the 6th-most fast break points in the WNBA this season. Honestly though, I feel like our transition break has been a little inconsistent ever since we lost Rebekah Gardner. I think back-up point guard Dana Evans does a good job looking up the floor for Kah, but I think Courtney Williams and Kah can improve their fast break chemistry. Courtney Williams (6.1 assists per game) has done a better job finding her post players than she has finding Kah.
Free throws. The other premiere bucket-getting guards in the league—Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Mitchell, Jackie Young, etc.—all shoot 80%+ from the line. So, looking at Kah’s 78% average coming into the season, we thought: let’s get that bad boy up a bit. Has not happened!
As a team, the Sky are currently last in the league in both free throw percentage and trips to the line per game, but this may change in the post-James Wade era. Despite our highly ranked offenses during Wade’s tenure, we usually finished at the bottom of the league in free throws. That always puzzled the Townies. Are the zebras really out to get us, as Wade suggested sometimes in interviews? Or was it something else?
Conclusion
We may not be living in Kah-town yet, but I think we are moving in, installing the flat screen, and finding the right sunlight for our plants. By the end of the season we may be ready for a lil’ housewarming party.
Our next game is TODAY Friday July 7th @ 7p.m. against the Atlanta Dream at Wintrust Arena!!! See you all there.