Chicago Sky begins camp with Tyler Marsh at helm, Courtney Vandersloot back
The Tyler Marsh era of Chicago Sky basketball is under way.
Two training camp practices in his rebuild job with the Sky, the new head coach said laying the foundation of a competitive environment doesn't require a complete teardown.
"I think it's implementing what we want to do and be who we are," Marsh said. "We understand that nothing that's happened in the past, good or bad, impacts what we're doing moving forward — and that's with any team. We're coming in just like the other 12 teams in the league — coming to establish an identity."
But Marsh is not the only new face with whom Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso are getting acquainted early in their second year. Courtney Vandersloot is back, and she knows something about winning.
Vandersloot returned to Chicago after winning her second WNBA title with the New York Liberty. She went to New York in 2023 after playing her entire 12-year career up to that point with the Sky — and winning a championship in Chicago in 2021.
Being the veteran and the mentor of the group is a role that comes naturally to Vandersloot.
"I've been kind of that status for a while now, just because I've played so many years," she said. "But it was important for me to come back and kind of kind of, I liked what they were doing, who they were building around, and just wanted to, you know, be able to still lead a team, and just teach the young ones, and continue this franchise for a championship caliber.
Vandersloot has the respect of the team with the résumé and the rings.
"I think that, you know, I've seen nothing but respect," she said, "and they want it. They crave it. They want the guidance. They want to be great."
Cardoso said she is excited, but has mixed emotions about facing her native Brazilian National Team in Friday's exhibition game at Louisiana State University. That game will be a special homecoming for Angel Reese.
"I'm super-excited to go back home where I had a championship," Reese said. "Yeah, I'm super-excited!"
The visit to LSU will also be a homecoming for rookie Hailey Van Lith.
