Programming Note: The Sky Townies will be publishing every other week from now until things calm down in our lives. Our Lead Basketball Analyst is starting a new job, the Voice of Gen Z just adopted two kittens, and I’m in the throes of trying to finish another writing project. Wish us luck.
So the Dallas game on Sunday was kinda heated. The tipping point came in the fourth quarter when Dana Evans got tangled up with Dallas guard Odyssey Sims. They had words for each other, both ended up with technical fouls and Sky forward Ruthy Hebard got ejected for storming the court to defend her bestie.
The day after the game, our national correspondent sent us this.
I have mixed feelings about this. That content is very “shareable” and so I think you can argue it’s good for the WNBA. It gets people interested, it gets people talking. Come for the drama, stay for the ball movement, or something like that.
Personally, I’d rather the conversation around the Dallas game be about Marina Mabrey’s 32 points, or how we held Arike Ogunbowale, one of the league’s top scorers, to 6-18 from the field.
There are just so many good hoops stories happening that if somebody needs social media hoopla to get excited about the league, then I say: f*** ‘em. They were never gonna be a real fan anyway.
But hey. You can’t really have that attitude about a league that wants so desperately to grow.
Put Dana In
In 2021 the Sky traded for Dana Evans, a rookie point guard out of Louisville, and the Sky Townies immediately started screaming “put Dana in!” We scream this at Wintrust Arena, at our TVs, and in our sleep. It’s satisfying to scream, and it gets a lot of head nods, because who doesn’t want to see Dana in the game?
She’s 5’6, so she’s an underdog, and she’s also a Certified Dawg, somebody who doesn’t give a damn and will demand the ball late in the game, like she did here with Courtney Williams.
Dana Evans makes momentum plays: deep threes, fourth quarter floaters, technical fouls. She’s the classic spark off the bench, but she was a stud in college, so you can tell she’s been ready for her WNBA role to grow.
And yet, after she improved a lot in 2022, Coach Wade sort of kicked Dana out of the rotation. The Townies thought that was insane. We needed a little youthful recklessness from Dana to spice up the Old Lady basketball of last year. “Put Dana in!” we’d shout, after any of the old ladies made a mistake. Instead, Wade rode his starters and gave back-up PG minutes to Julie Allemand.
This year, in her third season, Dana is finally getting the minutes she deserves.
And the Townies are loving it! She’s even showing up on prediction lists for the 2023 Most Improved Player award (Alanna Smith is usually at the top of these lists btw)!
That’s not to say the season has gone perfectly for Dana. She can be a little trigger happy, and as a point guard, she will probably need to add a chill-out-and-get-us-under-control mode to her natural get-us-hyped-up-mode.
As our Lead Basketball Analyst puts it: “I think she is forcing too many of her threes. I feel like this is reflected in her 26% three-point percentage so far this season. In our more recent game against the Lynx, I noticed her taking threes that were early, deep, and off the dribble. I think she can find ways to be more selective and take in-rhythm threes off the catch.”
Maybe if Coach Wade would have given her more minutes last year, she’d be avoiding some of this year’s growing pains.
The Missing Piece Myth
A few weeks ago I was watching the group stage of the World Cup. I don’t know much about soccer, but everyone could tell the USWNT was struggling, so I told an associate that we should consider “putting Dana in.”
I thought about how the Townies favorite saying—“put Dana in!”—is both a legitimate plea for deserving player, and a version of the Missing Piece Myth.
If you’ve ever loved a sports team, you know about this myth. It goes like this: if we just made this one substitution, if we just changed this one tactical set-up, then all of our problems would have disappeared, and we would have won.
The Missing Piece is usually a good suggestion, something that really might have made the beloved team better. For example, Dana Evans really is an exciting and gritty player who would have helped us last year. What makes it a myth is that we exaggerate its impact. We tell ourselves that the Missing Piece would have literally reversed the team’s fate.
And despite the exaggerated nature of our claim, nobody can prove us wrong.
Nobody can prove to me that Dana’s on-court presence wouldn’t have changed the outcome of Game 5 of the Semi-Finals last year. All we needed was one fourth quarter bucket, and who loves a fourth quarter bucket more than Dana Evans? The Missing Piece Myth lets me believe that, despite their limits, the Sky could’ve won the WNBA Championship last year.
The Chicago Sky’s Limits Last Year
Candace Parker’s knees
Our starters’ weak perimeter defense
The Las Vegas Aces
Final Thoughts
One of my favorite books says that sport needs hyperbole, but it also needs irony.
When the Townies scream “put Dana in!” we really gotta believe that she can change the game, even if the game is soccer and she’s not on the team. But we also gotta acknowledge the absurdity in our beliefs, or else we turn into Fan Monsters—people who have forgotten that sports is supposed to be playful and can no longer hear how ridiculous they sound.
Our next game is TODAY August 11th @ 7 p.m. against the New York Liberty on the road. Watch on Ion!
You make wonderful points! But also I am low brow and love trash talk haha.
I appreciate the honesty and reflection. The Dana people used to annoy the hell out of me. I could plainly see her difficulties on the court in 2021-22, and understood why she didn’t play more more. I’m glad she is getting more time, and I’m rooting for her. She’s got a great attitude and work ethic. The Dana people got their wish this year, and unfortunately the more she plays, the worse she shoots. Quick shots, forced shots. This is a problem. With her at point guard the Sky frequently end up with rushed shots late in the clock. Too many turnovers. Defensively she’s better but also vulnerable. I hope that Dana continues to get better because I love the story, and I want to join the call to “play Dana.”