WNBA: Uneven Start Has Chicago Sky Firmly In Proving Ground Post Olympic Break
Many unknowns have to be settled as schedule turns up against best of the "W"
If you’ve got a bead on the Chicago Sky, please point the rest of us in the right direction.
Because between Candace Parker and Allie Quigley’s injuries, Stefanie Dolson’s dream chasing, and a schedule that’s kept the league’s pacesetters at arm’s length, the picture that’s been painted of them thus far is as clear as mud.
Especially when weighed against the championship outlook that materialized the moment Parker decided to follow her heart back home six months ago.
Granted, the train of thought that the former Finals MVP would help make champions out of the always-a-bridesmaid-never-a-bride Sky isn’t exactly running low on fuel (with her, Quigley, and Dolson at the ready, the Sky rank top-three in points per game, field goal and free throw percentage, assists, steals, blocks, and plus-minus since June 9).
But noticeably absent in the Sky’s first half were measuring stick games against the W’s top seeds Seattle and Las Vegas — two teams that account for half of the Sky’s remaining schedule, including today’s nationally televised tilt (3 pm CT, ABC) against the league’s reigning champion and first-ever Commissioner’s Cup titlist in the Storm.
Trying to make heads or tails of the pre-Olympic break version of the Sky has been a clouded process. The risk now is that a mountainous range of challenges may be on the other side of that overcast scenery.
The stubborn ankle and hamstring injuries that sidelined Parker and Quigley for nearly a month simply added more flies to the ointment early on.
Forget the worst losing skid the franchise endured in nine years. That Parker missed every one of those seven contests while Quigley and Dolson were on hand for just two of them, makes it hardly worth mentioning. At least with respect to the record seven-game win streak that immediately followed.
Except that, too, can be nitpicked.
Of the teams they beat during that stretch, only two currently own winning records. Those teams (including Minnesota — who, if the playoffs started today, would host the Sky in the first round — and Connecticut, who has a four-game lead on the Sky in the Eastern Conference) were either longing for a peripheral pick-me-up or not at full strength.
Of course, the Sky have as much power over their opponents’ records as they do their own schedule. Which is to say those steering wheels aren’t theirs to control.
But to a woman, Chicago can delight in rooting for the most promising Sky team since Elena Delle Donne and Sylvia Fowles called Allstate Arena home.
That much proved true when Parker returned home with the burden of expectation that’s followed her around like a shadow her entire 14-year-career. Her, Courtney Vandersloot, and Kahleah Copper earning All-Star honors this season with two more of their teammates (Quigley and Diamond DeShields) also boasting double-figure scoring averages is proof of the multi-pronged attack that has the potential to carry the Sky to their first Finals appearance in seven years.
With a dozen games remaining in the regular season, there’s still plenty of runway (albeit one swarming with formidable competition) left for the Sky to build a head of steam on toward the lift-off taken for the playoffs.
It’d be the plot twist most of us can see coming from a mile away, even as we continue to make sense of what’s before our very eyes.