As if selling women’s pro basketball to greater Guyville wasn’t challenge enough, the new Chicago Sky faces another hardship. The Sky just isn’t very good. Like any expansion sports franchise, the Sky was constructed from the leavings of the other teams, their least-wanted players. So unless some miraculous chemistry develops among teammates who’d always wanted playing time and never gotten much of it (a la the Bulls’ playoff-bound inaugural squad back in 1967), they’re destined to be losers their first few seasons.
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What’s more, the Sky got no breaks from the Women’s National Basketball Association in the recent draft of college players. As a team composed of the worst players of other teams, one might have expected the Sky to at least start out with the top pick in the draft, which would have allowed it to bring Marshall High alum Cappie Pondexter back home from Rutgers. Yet (again like most expansion franchises) the Sky was told to take its punishment for at least a full season to earn that top pick–the worst WNBA teams from last season were adamant about that–and instead was awarded the sixth choice. By then, Pondexter was off the board, gone to the Phoenix Mercury, and the Sky selected Candice Dupree from Temple. Dupree has an array of talents, from an erect outside jump shot reminiscent of Bob Love’s to decent size at 6-foot-2, yet she didn’t figure to be either an instant “franchise” star or the boffo box-office draw Pondexter would have been.
Worst of all, the Sky didn’t play well as a team. The players allowed the Monarchs a bunch of easy hoops on back cuts, and on offense were reluctant to move without the ball. As the ball handler tried to create a shot, everyone else tended to stand around and watch. Like the Bulls with their draw-and-dish offense, the Sky did a lot of driving and drawing attention, but there wasn’t much dishing to open shooters, and when the Sky did get an open shot it was usually missed. The other teams drew on chemistry created in seasons past but the Sky could not, and Cowens didn’t seem able to instill any; he also couldn’t find an advantage in his players’ athleticism. With each game the Sky looked more like an expansion team.
