Quick Three: Tyler Marsh’s Introductory Press Conference
Reflecting on Marsh's introductory press conference with the Chicago Sky.
Just under two weeks on from the Sky making it official that Tyler Marsh would be the franchise’s next head coach, he was introduced to the press at Wintrust Arena on Tuesday—just 385 days after Teresa Weatherspoon had been in the same arena for her introduction. Marsh’s skills as a coach are unquestionable, but Tuesday was one of his first chances to showcase his skills as a speaker, a motivator and a manager of the media (an all important aspect of representing a franchise). Of course, actions eventually speak louder than words, but we’ll have to wait until next May to see what actions Marsh’s team brings to the floor. In the meantime, let’s dig into three big takeaways from his official unveiling.
1. No change in values after coaching change.
Based on the reputation he earned in Las Vegas, this should come as no great surprise, but Tuesday’s introductory press conference once again made it very clear that the hiring of Tyler Marsh doesn’t represent a huge change when it comes to the Sky head coach’s ability to connect with the locker room. Like his predecessor, Marsh is a player’s coach in every sense of the word, and his comments were able to consistently demonstrate that—in a number of ways—he’ll be able to carry on some of the positives that Weatherspoon showed in her lone year at the helm. Like with last year’s introduction, this year’s started with the coach speaking to the importance of off-court values like family and faith, and it’s easy to see how that mindset and mentality will translate into the way that Marsh leads the organization in the coming seasons.
Marsh also spoke to the importance of the staff he eventually hires having a player-first mindset—saying that both he and his staff need to be ‘selfless.’ Again, this builds off the values that Weatherspoon brought to the organization a year ago. And in many ways, that’s not a hugely surprising shift. It’s becoming increasingly rare for organizations in any league to hire coaches that aren’t able to connect strongly with the locker room, and the W’s playing personnel—known for it’s social awareness and intelligence—is unlikely to go to bat for a coach that can’t build those strong bonds. Indeed, the cultural gain that Chicago hopes to realize by hiring an Aces assistant is largely predicated on Marsh’s ability to build and maintain interpersonal relationships with the Sky roster just as he (and head coach Becky Hammon) did in Vegas.
2. Marsh & Pagliocca quiet on tactical shifts.
Given the Sky didn’t expect a huge shift in how their new coach will manage relationships with players, there had to be some reason to make a change—right? On paper, it appeared the biggest shift the Sky were hoping to experience with the addition of Marsh was a tactical one. I talked about the potential changes that the new coach might bring at length earlier this month, but the new hire and his boss—GM Jeff Pagliocca—didn’t provide too much more information on what to expect from the Sky in 2025 on Tuesday. Pagliocca leaned on a series of cliches about defensive toughness and grit—mostly intangible skills that were overly emphasized during Weatherspoon’s onboarding process last winter. Meanwhile, the only comment Marsh gave on his tactical plans for the team were that he wanted more shots to go up—with center Elizabeth Williams (perhaps somewhat tonuge in cheek) a supposed candidate to start getting three-point looks up next season.
In many ways, the lack of directional commentary on the shifts in the team’s tactical focus is to be expected. Marsh has only just taken the job, and the shifts in roster construction that are likely to occur this winter will completely alter how the team plays—with adaptions to personnel coming as many from the 2024 roster seem likely to move on. Indeed, it’s rare to see a coach turn up at the introductory press conference and make any detailed comment on how they expect to alter their new team’s style of play; so, I wouldn’t call Marsh’s lack of specific comments a cause for concern.
In any case, there would have been conversations about the Sky’s tactical plans—roster change or not—during the course of the hiring process, and it’s perhaps a bit disheartening to see Pagliocca (the person responsible for altering the roster) swerve away from any detailed comment on changes for the future and return to the over-simplified commentary about “hustle” that partially contributed to the downfall of Weatherspoon’s tenure. That’s not to say that the Sky don’t want to be a team with great defense and great hustle. Instead, it’s to say that Marsh has been brought to the organization to go beyond those baseline expectations. In Las Vegas, hustle and great defensive play are a prerequisite for players to see the floor—with everything else that Hammon and her coaching staff bring (plus, in fairness, the individual brilliance of A’ja Wilson and the Aces roster) serving as the differentiating factor between Vegas and the other contenders during the 2022 and 2023 title-winning season.
Regardless, as long as Pagliocca and Marsh are able to go beyond superficial statements to better understand and address the team’s needs behind closed doors, this doesn’t register as a long term concern anyways. Indeed, even if Pagliocca had presented a sweeping plan for a change in tactical vision at today’s media appearance, the onus still would’ve been with Marsh and the players to make it happen on court next spring.
3. Chicago to push chips in for 2025?
Marsh, unsurprisingly, committed to laying the groundwork for the franchise’s future success immediately in 2025 when asked about the importance of a chance to “reset” the roster in 2026 (when the W welcomes more expansion teams and begins a new CBA). However, the unanswered question that should now linger over the Sky offseason is how the desire to lay a foundation impacts the Chicago’s roster building decisions this winter. Indeed, for the Sky to lay the best foundation around Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso in year one with a new coach, the top objective likely wouldn’t be to win. If a marquee free agent can be had and the Sky can skip a few steps in their developmental timeline, that’s great, but it’s far from the most likely outcome. Instead, the focus should be about building good habits and standards within the team—regardless of how that impacts the results.
Yet, the Sky’s key leadership figures now have unique, personal motivations for how the 2025 roster is constructed. Marsh knows that, in all likelihood, he’ll last long enough in Chicago to see the 2026 season. Thus, his goals for next year will be to (1) establish the aforementioned standards and (2) identify further “core” players around the young front court duo. Pagliocca, meanwhile, has to be aware that ownership, who most suspect played a role in dismissing Weatherspoon, has to drop the axe somewhere next offseason if things don’t go to plan in 2025—with removal of a second head coach in two seasons an unlikely choice.
Thus, the head coach and general manager, while aligned in their vision based on today’s comments, are inherently at odds when it comes to building next season’s roster. In response to a question about developing Reese and Cardoso, Marsh made a point to stress the importance of all 12 players that will be on the Sky’s roster next season to winning. With that in mind, it’s easy to see how a coach (focused on laying the foundation for the future) and an executive (with eyes on protecting his job long-term) could have different ideas of what type of players should take up spots 8-12 on the roster. It’s possible that Pagliocca is able to look past any concerns about job security and help Marsh build a roster that can build for success long-term, but the Sky’s general manager would hardly be the first to pursue “win-now” players to fill out the roster in hopes of winning more games and keeping ownership happy. For now, it’s only possible to speculate how that dichotomy plays out, but it’s definitely something to track when the Sky start to make decisions about filling out their roster next February.