Imagine for a second a Chicago sports landscape where the Sky are at the center.
Not the Bears.
Not Connor Bedard.
Your eyes are closed thinking about sports in this city and it’s the Sky that comes to mind. Can’t quite see it?
Let Teresa Weatherspoon paint the picture for you.
“We will take over this town,” the Sky’s self-described fiery new coach said during her introductory news conference.
Considering the five-time All-Star’s reputation for energizing rooms by channeling the intensity with which she played into words, it was unsurprising she began with a striking proclamation. Its realization, or even just its slight moving of Chicago’s sports-landscape needle, will require some real work.
For a Naismith Hall of Fame player nicknamed “Finisher,” the work is nothing.
“You have to know you’re built to do this,” Weatherspoon told the Sun-Times. “My journey, the things I’ve gone through built me for moments like this. It built me to where I have a level of confidence and belief that these things will happen. That you can come in and make a tremendous difference.”
Co-owner and operating chairman Nadia Rawlinson said all the right things Tuesday while introducing Weatherspoon as the franchise’s seventh head coach. A new era was touted, and the team’s commitment to player support, resources, an improved marketing strategy and the securing of a new practice facility was reiterated.
Rawlinson’s description of the franchise’s vision sounded beautiful and was largely responsible for enticing Weatherspoon to take the job. But the work that follows will determine whether it’s a vision that can be realized.
“It’s about the little things that are necessary from the very beginning,” Weatherspoon told the Sun-Times. “Establishing that identity, playing the type of basketball we want to play, being an exciting team to watch and filling the arena. When you do those things, you start to build towards the vision.”
The hiring of Weatherspoon was a win for a franchise in desperate need of one after a tumultuous season that saw them narrowly clinch a playoff spot before being swept by the 2023 WNBA champion Aces in the first round.
The Sky’s execution of this vision — in conjunction with Weatherspoon’s hire — hinges on another major decision: who the franchise hires as its first individual general manager.
The unorthodox hiring of a coach before a GM was one Rawlinson defended, saying in part, “We do things differently.” She was adamant that the candidate they had in Weatherspoon was the reason they filled the coaching position first.
The Sky’s pursuit of a general manager is underway, but Rawlinson declined to share whether the team expects to have someone in place before free agency begins in January.
Weatherspoon said she hasn’t been left out of any conversations when asked about her role in putting the roster together. When it comes to who will have the final say in the hiring of a GM, Rawlinson said the franchise is working that out now.
The Sky have five players on protected contracts heading into the 2024 season: Kahleah Copper, Marina Mabrey, Isabelle Harrison, Elizabeth Williams and Dana Evans.
The new GM will have $951,752 to work with in cap space. After former coach/GM James Wade dealt a load of draft stock in a trade for Mabrey in February, the Sky largely will rely on free agency to build out a competitive roster, making the team’s hire of significant importance.
As it pertains to the Sky’s practice facility, Rawlinson told the Sun-Times she hoped the team would have an announcement before 2024.
While Weatherspoon’s hiring naturally marks a new chapter for the Sky, impending decisions by ownership will determine whether or not it’s a good read.
