Chicago Sky Offseason Update #8: Andddddd Breath.
Recapping the season so far for all of the Chicago Sky players in Europe as the international break comes to a close.
The international break in Europe offered many of the Sky’s roster overseas the chance to return to the States, spend time with family or even keep tabs on former college teammates. On the blogging front, the break offers me the chance to quickly review the highs and lows of the European campaign so far. Before we do that, let’s check in with a few members of the Sky stationed elsewhere in the world who’ve been active this past week.
Kahleah Copper (Team USA)
Last week’s match-up against Tennessee showed a lot of Kah’s game, but she turned up the intensity against the Blue Devils. Her aggression going to the basket kept the Duke defense honest and cleared the way for her and others to get good looks from deep. In total, Copper shot 7/9 from the floor, 4/5 from three-point territory and hit all three of her attempts at the charity stripe. This totaled to 21 on just 9 attempts in only 16 minutes. It’s no surprise to see Kah full of confidence in a Sky team built around her, but her assertiveness in a team full of superstars is indicative of just how high her (ever-rising) ceiling in the W is. In other news, Copper found a new gig with her alma mater.
Courtney Williams (Shaanxi — China)
Unfortunately, the TV coverage for Shaanxi has been limited over the last week, but we can still dig into the box scores to (at least partially) understand Courtney’s impact in recent matches. On Sunday, Shaanxi dropped a tight contest to fellow playoff contenders Fujian 89–86. Despite the defeat, Courtney’s offensive game stayed hot with 27 points on 10/17 shooting and another well above-average 3/5 night from behind the arc. Compared to her insanely high statistical standards it’s a meager effort, but she tacked on 4 assists and 2 steals in her 27 minutes.
Tuesday’s match against hot starters Inner Mongolia (now 10–1 and awaiting the debut of Jonquel Jones) ended in another frustrating defeat for Courtney and company by a final score of 92–72. We’re again operating in a world without tape for this game, but Courtney was decently efficient (7/15) on her way to a 14-point night with 3 rebounds, steals and assists. Despite their record sliding to 3–8, Shaanxi haven’t completely lost touch with the playoff mix just yet. By the time next week’s update rolls around, we’ll have footage from at least one of Courtney’s games — meaning we can dive into the action a little bit more intimately at that time.
Marina Mabrey & Elizabeth Williams (CBK Mersin — Turkey)
Mersin entered the international break on a six game win streak in all competitions that has them at 6–3 in league play (good for joint third) and 4–1 (top of Group B) in the EuroLeague. Unsurprisingly, Elizabeth and Marina have been a huge part of what they’ve accomplished so far at both ends of the court. Williams has acted as the team’s defensive anchor averaging 1.8 blocks and 1.4 steals across all competitions. Offensively, she’s shown the potential to contribute big numbers (20 points vs. Nesibe on 10/14), but has settled comfortably into her role as a third or fourth scoring option — which is reflected by her average of 10.4 points per game.
Mabrey, on the other hand, has often been the team’s decisive player at the offensive end. There’s been a couple of challenging shooting nights, but in total, her offensive numbers look solid with an average of 20.1 PPG on 40/31/83 shooting splits. From an efficiency perspective, I think Marina would be the first to tell you she’s expecting a slight uptick in, but a lot of her misses are coming on high-quality looks. Consequently, I think the three-point percentage should trend upward in the remainder of the season. Her scoring, while impressive, belies her global impact on the Mersin team. Mabrey’s work on the glass (6 per game) has been complementary to Williams’ while her distribution (5.3 assists per game) and defensive effort (1.3 steals, 0.6 blocks per) have also been exceptional. Based on their start, there’s no reason Mersin shouldn’t be contending to win both competitions they’re fighting for again this season.
Alanna Smith (Emlak Konut — Turkey)
Alanna’s injury temporarily stunted her red-hot start in Turkey, but her Emlak side still have everything to play for over the next few matches. At 2–2, they’re joint second in their EuroCup group with their remaining two fixtures against Gdynia (3–1) and Roche (2–2) set to decide their fate. In the Turkish League, Emlak — like Mersin — are 6–3 and in a tie for third place. On an individual level, Smith has backed up everything she did in Europe last season and reinforced her claim for a massive payout in the W. Her full season stats are impressive no matter how you divvy them up, but let’s take a look at the subset of games (6 in total) she played prior to injury to truly understand her impact.
10/1–10/22: 31.3 MPG, 22.3 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 2.5 APG, 2.7 SPG, 1.8 BPG
The way the Aussie blends length and athleticism with a willingness to go for every single ball makes her a unique all-around threat. Offensively, a lot of the lower-ranked Turkish teams simply have not had the size to combat Smith around the basket — meaning they’re forced to isolate a single defender or roll the dice on a double team. In most cases, Smith has had little to no trouble navigating through those doubles to find open teammates or finish directly through the traffic. An early season concern for Emlak was their limited offensive options when a team can shut down Smith, but recent games have shown great strides in that respect. A deep EuroCup run looks possible if Emlak can survive the next two group stage fixtures.
Dana Evans (Beşiktaş — Turkey)
Dana’s played 96% of Beşiktaş’ minutes, scored 30% of their points and delivered 29% of the team’s assists. Even if all of her assists were only two-point baskets (and there’s plenty of threes in there), she’d be accounting for 43% of all points that Beşiktaş scores. All of this volume is great, but improved efficiency is also bound to be a goal after Evans shot 29% on 3.7 attempts from behind the arc in the W last season. In that respect, Evans is already on course for improvement with her 42.2% clip on 7 attempts per game taking her well clear of the WNBA average (34.7% in 2023).
Dana, of course, brings her typical intensity on defense in Turkey, but she’s also capable of injecting energy as the offensive focal point. Beşiktaş’ coach Aziz Akkaya runs a pretty short rotation — meaning the team’s regulars have developed a good deal of chemistry already. Beşiktaş’ ball movement and spacing — with Li Yueru a force inside and Jovana Nogić knocking down threes — effectively keeps teams on edge. If there’s one thing an aggressive point guard like Dana loves to attack, it’s a defense in that state of flux. Evans staying aggressive while striking a great balance between scoring and playmaking has been key to Beşiktaş’ 5–3 league record, which places them fourth, and their 3–1 EuroCup clip — which has them leading their group.
Sika Koné (Perfumerias Avenida — Spain)
There’s no doubt that Sika has been the most promising of the Sky players overseas thus far. Her side remain unbeaten and on top of the Spanish league and are still in the mix for a knockout spot with their 2–3 record and fourth place position in EuroLeague Group B. Koné’s rate of individual progression has been staggering with the bad habits that opponents exploited in her first few matches seemingly fading into the background over the course of a few dominant weeks. In terms of her dominant rebounding, the 8.1 boards per game she’s grabbed over the last 9 matches speak for themselves. (I talked more about how good she was on the glass for the Sky here.)
Defensively, her increased allotment of minutes forced her into a sink or swim position— especially as it pertains to defending switches on the pick and roll — and she’s responded well. Coach Pepe Vazquez’s schemes have favored a more conservative approach to limit Koné overcommitting, but her reading of the game has also improved considerably in recent games. The overall progression may not be as big as my weekly praise suggests, but if we extrapolate the growth out over the course of a season (or seasons), the potential is pretty eye-catching. Offensively, the Malian is displaying a load of skill finishing around the basket and has coped well with being a focal point of the Avenida offense over the last 5 games.
Morgan Bertsch (Spar Girona — Spain)
While most players have taken on a bigger — and thus much different — role overseas, Bertsch must feel a little bit of déjà vu about the way her season is going. Having lost her starting spot largely because of injury in Chicago, Bertsch — despite having a bigger share of minutes — must again feel she has more to offer in Spain than her stop-start role is giving her the chance to. That said, the always unselfish Bertsch has, unsurprisingly, handled the fluctuating role with aplomb.
She has shot the ball well (60% inside the arc) and offered very steady defense with some impressive rim protection (1 block every 17 minutes). Her contrasting performances against T71 in the EuroCup perfectly exemplify her ability to contribute in different areas:
10/11: 24 minutes, 24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal
11/1: 17 minutes, 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Girona, to their credit, have found great success thus far. At 4–0, they lead their EuroCup group while a solid 4–2 record places them joint fourth in the highly-competitive Spanish top flight.
Robyn Parks (PF Schio — Italy)
Having stepped up a tier from a Campobasso team which didn’t play continental basketball last season to European contenders Schio, you could’ve forgiven Parks if her game suffered somewhat under the bright lights of the EuroLeague. Instead, Parks has actually found more success (by almost every metric) playing on the continent than in the Italian league. Given the decreased touches she has for a more talented Schio side, there’s actually no shame in her domestic numbers (8 PPG, 30% 3PT), but her EuroLeague figures (13 PPG, 44% 3PT) put them to shame.
Based on coach Georgios Dikaioulakos’ intentionality when it comes to getting her catch and shoot opportunities and the quality of looks Parks has been getting as a result, I have every reason to believe that her overall three point percentage (currently 37%) will trend closer to her EuroLeague average by season’s end. In any case, the same elite defense Parks offered in Chicago makes her a vital part of Schio’s title hopes on both fronts — even when she’s not shooting the ball well. Her 1-v-1 aptitude and knack for grabbing key boards (4.1 PG) are the two defensive qualities that have stood out most thus far. At 3–2 in Europe and 4–1 in the Italian league, Parks and Schio are still comfortably on course to compete for both of their major objectives at season’s end.
Taylor Soule (San Martino — Italy)
Soule’s number one priority for the offseason was simple: play lots of professional basketball. So far, that basic goal has been achieved as Soule has been a regular starter for San Martino and averaged 31.6 minutes per game over her first month with the team. Beyond that, Soule has regularly filled out the stat sheet with averages of 9 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals per contest in the Italian league. The tape, however, suggests she’s been even more impactful. At 5'11", Soule has decent size, but she plays much bigger and has the athleticism to close off passing lanes even when the ball appears just beyond reach. That same athleticism also makes her a positive contributor to her team’s transition game in both directions, and it’s no surprise that San Martino have been a very productive team when they can get out and running.
Soule’s efficiency (37/25/76) is still coming along, but she’s taking a suitable volume of shots relative to those percentages — meaning she’s never in danger of shooting San Martino out of the game. Crucially, she’s also been aggressive going to the basket (4.2 FTA per game), and her solid rate of success at the line means her drives can collapse the opposing defense (or, at the very least, keep them honest). All in all, Soule is making plays that contribute to winning, and San Martino have done their fair share of that so far. At 4–1, they’re currently just 1.5 games back of league leaders Venezia and comfortably inside the playoff line.
Check back again on Black Friday when we’ll recap the massive collection of games (19 in total!) over the next eight days including multiple domestic fixtures, a big round of EuroLeague games and all-important EuroCup games for Dana and Alanna. You can tap in live by finding the best site to stream the different leagues in this article I wrote earlier in the season.
Courtney Williams: Shaanxi
Thursday 11/16 @ 6:00 AM: Chinese League @ Xinjiang
Sunday 11/19 @ 5:30 AM: Chinese League @ Hebei
Marina Mabrey & Elizabeth Williams: CBK Mersin
Thursday 11/16 @ 9:00 AM: Turkish League @ Kayseri
Sunday 11/19 @ 5:00 AM: Turkish League vs. Canyaka
Wednesday 11/22 @ 10:30 AM: EuroLeague vs. UNI Gyor
Alanna Smith: Emlak Konut
Sunday 11/19 @ 8:00 AM: Turkish League @ Bursa
Wednesday 11/22 @ 1:00 PM: EuroCup @ La Roche
Dana Evans: Beşiktaş
Thursday 11/16 @ 10:00 AM: Turkish League vs. Fenerbahçe
Sunday 11/19 @ 7:00 AM: Turkish League @ Izmit
Wednesday 11/22 @ 10:00 AM: EuroCup vs. Mechelen
Sika Koné: Perfumerias Avenida
Thursday 11/16 @ 1:45 PM: Spanish League vs. Valencia
Sunday 11/19 @ 11:00 AM: Spanish League @ Ferrol
Wednesday 11/22 @ 1:30 PM: EuroLeague vs. Polkowice
Morgan Bertsch: Spar Girona
Thursday 11/16 @ 1:15 PM: Spanish League @ Ensino
Sunday 11/19 @ 11:15 AM: Spanish League vs. Araski
Wednesday 11/22 @ 1:45 PM: EuroCup vs. Gorzow
Robyn Parks: PF Schio
Friday 11/17 @ 1:30 PM: Italian League @ Faenza
Wednesday 11/22 @ 1:00 PM: EuroLeague @ Zaragoza
Taylor Soule: San Martino
Sunday 11/19 @ 11:00 AM: Italian League vs. Battipaglia
For TV listings on all games, check out this post I wrote earlier this season.
