So, the Chicago Sky have played their game against the Atlanta Dream in preseason here, and I think the Atlanta Dream look good. I think there’s a lot of spots for concern for the Chicago Sky. The Atlanta Dream still played Angel Reese to five, and Angel Reese still really struggles with layups. I don’t know when she’ll get it, if she’ll ever get it.
I thought Angel Reese was really good today. I thought she was really good today. I thought her effort was good. The defense was there. I like how first possession of the game she shot a three.
People say, “Oh, she’s not a third or fourth option on this team.” Yes, she is. Ryan Howard and Alicia Gray are the first two options on this team. It is what it is. They are the first two options on this team whether Angel Reese fans like it or not. And then when Brionna Jones comes back, Brionna Jones is the third option.
That being said, you’re looking at a super dangerous player as a fourth option in Reese. She’s super dangerous as that for the rest of the Atlanta Dream team.
Angel Reese was five of 14 from the field. I know Cardoso had some flashes looking good. She’s big. She’s really big, strong, and has a lot of really positive things for Kamilla Cardoso.
I really like Maddy Westbeld as well. I get it. The four of 14 from the field isn’t ideal. She obviously missed her last however many shots, but this is a player who clearly has it. Whatever it is on the basketball court, she has it. Late in the shot clock putting up this type of shot, and early on in the game she was cooking. She was absolutely cooking.
Again, not shooting the ball the greatest, but it’s funny because when you watch a game while looking at the box score, you get two very different opinions of the game. I thought she was playing exceptionally well.
Again, I turned it off at the start of fourth quarter. At this stage she was four of 10 from the field, but it didn’t look like a bad four of 10 for the Chicago Sky.
Rakia shooting 20% was not good. Rachel Banham hit some shots. I thought HVL coming off the bench looked good. Then Sydney Taylor was somebody that was just cooking. She was cooking from the second she set foot on the floor. Like where did she come from?
Sydney Taylor has not played a WNBA game yet. The last place she played was Poland this year, and she averaged 23 points per game in EuroCup and 23 points per game in Poland. Honestly for Sydney Taylor, this could be crazy for the Sky.
I did not think JC shot the ball particularly well. I think there were a lot of times JC got missed on cuts, and it is a concern for the Chicago Sky.
Kamilla Cardoso, at this stage there has to be some level of concern there for Sky fans that maybe Kamilla Cardoso is just a fine WNBA player. Maybe she’s not the star, and maybe the game moved past her. The hope is that maybe when Skylar Diggins comes back, something looks better here.
It was not good. She got a nice highlight block on Angel, which was nice, I guess. She got two blocks early. That’s all we really saw from Cardoso.
I think HVL looked pretty damn good for the Sky. She’s looked good again. Westbeld coming in looking okay.
I think Latasha Latimore is better than Ajša Sivka. I would be concerned. By the way, I think the UCLA rookies have not looked good. I understand it’s preseason. I didn’t think Kiki Rice looked great today. I did not think she looked great from what I saw anyway. I think Douglass looked complete garbage. I didn’t think Lauren Betts looked great. I didn’t think Betts looked bad, but I didn’t think she looked great.
And Janiah Barker looked completely terrible through three quarters. She had only played five minutes up to that point, and I was like thank God the Fever dodged the bullet there.
Thank God the Fever dodged the bullet on Gabriela Jaquez because I’m not joking when I say this: Raven Johnson might actually be a better wing than Gabriela Jaquez. The Sky might have botched that draft pick.
One player I did really like from Sky is the player they drafted last year in the second round. I really do like her. I think she has something about her. But I also like Latasha Latimore.
If you look at the Sky roster, they already have nine players, and then they have four out injured right now. They traded a pick to keep Maddy Westbeld and HVL. So are they just going to cut Latimore? Latimore could be good.
Could they cut Gabriela Jaquez? I think she’s on a guaranteed deal. They might trade Jaquez genuinely.
The Sky are missing five players. The Sky might actually trade Jaquez before the season starts. It’s one of those situations.
Or do they try to trade Westbeld? What I don’t get is they traded a pick to keep both of them.
The Sky, when they get these players back, they’ll be a lot better.
For the Dream, missing Brionna Jones and Naz Hillmon, I thought they looked okay. Rhyne Howard is going to hit shots. I thought Borlase looked great. Okot looked better than I thought she was going to look.
And I thought Angel Reese, other than the fact that she still for some reason can’t make layups, had a pretty good game.
ALSO READ: LATEST TRENDING NEWS
