Will Diamond DeShields Prove She Can Stay In The WNBA | Lindsay Allen & Brianna Turner Player Grades

Intro head coach Teresa Weatherspoon talked about how intense the Chicago Sky practices have been since they returned from the break we're going to talk about why that's important to get them ready for the second half of this season plus we're going to continue our player evaluations we're going to actually close them out today talking about Lindsay Allen diamonded Shields ambrian Turner we're going to get into all that plus more right after this welcome to Chicago Sky Central and here's your host hay what's going on Sky fans welcome to another episode of of Chicago Sky Central your number one spot for everything Chicago Sky related I'm the host ter Hayes but more importantly you guys can follow the channel at Chicago Sky pod on every social media platform we happen to be on with that being said let's go and get into this content for today I want to start this off before we get into the player grades which will be closing out our player grades today I know you guys are saying wait a second these are only going to be nine players there are 12 players on the WNBA roster why aren't we covering more that's because the other three players on the roster Elizabeth Williams who's out for the remaining of the SE season uh uh and then two new players that we just acquired in trade that haven't even suited up for the Chicago Sky yet so I'm not going to grade those players but in the next episode we will be grading uh Teresa weatherspoon's job so far as the head coach of of the Chicago sky so be on the look out for that but we do have word now from the coach Teresa Weatherspoon and how the practices have gone so far for the Chicago Sky since they returned from the allstar break which they're still on the Olympic break but we know we know how how that ends up shaking out and Teresa weather spoon seems really really confident over the practices they having saying this our last three practices have been absolutely enthusiastic uh the energy the effort the attention to detail has been everything we as a staff have been looking for our team went and did some things over the break uh kept themselves conditioned and brought the energy back to here to build momentum down the stretch of the season and I know those are words and I know every head coach is probably going to say that their team has had good practice if you're a head coach and you feel your team has had bad practices that comes back on you right well we'll get into that when we grade Teresa Weatherspoon but ultimately I like what we've heard uh Rachel banam really understanding that her three-point shooting is going to be hugely needed for this team and while she's never been a large volume three-point shooter and I'll be honest with you I don't have much hope of Rachel banam all of a sudden changing hugely changing the shot profile of the Chicago Sky just you know at 31 years old she's been a veteran she's never really been a volume three-point even though she's always shot it at a really good U percentage over the course of her career I'm I I I wanted I want her to come in and be effective but I don't necessarily expected to like drastically change the spacing for the Chicago sky but I would love to be wrong on that like this is a player who averages who averages 37 uh uh uh three uh uh sorry three-point shooting percentage over her WNBA career right and that spans all the way since 2016 she's eight years into her WNBA career and she's the the the lowest she's ever shot it was 32% that was in her in her second and fourth seasons in the league but other than that it's been 39 close to 40% every time so far this season for the Connecticut Sun she's been shooting the ball 37% um overall from the field with 36% uh from three-point range taking three and a half per game so what I'm seeing what that what that comes down to she's a solid three-point shooter over her WNBA career we just this guy needs so much spacing so much three-point shooting that let's hope that she can bring it because there are going to be some open looks for there and we'll see what Rachel B bam can bring as well as Elizabeth Williams as well was getting up free throws at practice so is Elizabeth Williams maybe going to return by the end of the season that's something that initially the Outlook didn't look positive on but you see her in practice she's engaged in practice she's getting shots up maybe the sky are hoping that she can return before the end of the season which I think would be really good for her to get some of those reps in and for the sky if the sky do make the playoffs which we're trying to do you have a player like Elizabeth Williams who can come in and be that veteran that calming factor for the Chicago Sky if Elizabeth Williams comes back this season there is a a high high probability that Chicago Sky front Court rotation is going to be among some of the best in the WNBA when you look at Camila Angel Isabelle Harrison and and and Elizabeth Williams like that is a great potential for women rotation when you look at it it's just is it and I don't want to put too much pressure on Elizabeth Williams either to return back from injury and be really good when it comes down to that we'll end up seeing more than likely her season's over I want to be clear here uh you know that they announced it as a season ending surgery but for the future of it even if Elizabeth Williams can't come back in the playoffs there at the end of the season just to see what she can bring I think we'll be something there Mariah Jefferson's in there as well we know that she has not been cleared yet uh uh you know to return to WNBA but Mariah Jefferson is another player who's out there practicing getting shots up so we'll see what the future holds for her as far as getting cleared for injury but this a big a big remainder of the season for the Chicago Scot you moved off of Marina ma right and you now brought in two players that uh you know both guards that maybe can help kind of you know extend the Chicago Sky offense and when you talk about the execution right and the one thing that I was hopeful that the Chicago Sky coaching staff would do is use this extended break to really do some things for this team change some things so to hear that the execution they've added some wrinkles into that offense this should be an offense that I'm not expecting it to change drastically with only having a month off but but it does give them an opportunity to really kind of work out some of the Kinks that they that they have done and find a way to integrate new players right if this would have happened in any other season we're talking about a week off before then Rachel banam and Mariah Jefferson got to be integrated right in in live games you've now gotten a month to get them the Playbook to understand the terminology and also now a couple of weeks of practices before we return to playing basketball that get that affords them another opportunity to really kind of acclimate better to their teammates without having to do it on the fly so you know let's hope that this guy can they're right now CED at the eight seed in the WNBA and this is going to be a competitive second half of the season for the last couple of playoffs playoff spots in the WNBA at least I feel yes the Dallas Wings have not been good this season I want to be clear there but they do have you know satus coming back they have an MVP candidate there as well and arque and uh and if those things all kind of come together for this team you're talking about a team that really uh the sky's the limit for them so with satu as well satu uh killing it over in an olympic play she's going to come back and be hungry and uh I wouldn't be surprised if the Dallas Wings team goes on a considerable run here to end the season in my personal opinion but then even outside of that you got the Atlanta Dream right who sit there three games below the Chicago sky as well those the Sparks the mystics and the Dallas wings those are the four teams right now out of playoff contention and we'll see if they can get back in there now with that said on this episode we are going to be reviewing players today and I want to get into the first player that we're Lindsay Allen going to talk about and that is Lindsay Allen Lindsay Allen is a player that looking at her stats you're going to ask yourself why is she starting on this team because if you just kind of look at the box score stats they don't scream out to you she averages 21 minutes per game averaging five points per game 1.4 rebounds only 3.3 assists and she's doing that shooting the ball 46% from the field which is really good um efficiency but 27% from three-point range but and when you get into the the advanced analytics of it you see why the Chicago Skies offense whether you look at it as it's a knock on how bad the point guard play was or it's she's actually having a positive impact when she's out on the court the Chicago sky are a uh per 100% possessions 12 points better they have a 12 point better offensive rating with Lindsay Allen on that basketball court as well as our assist numbers are better our true rebounding percentage is better as well our block percentage is much better our Ste percentage is much better and also our defensive rating is much better all with Lindsay Allen on the basketball court and that is why like it's not always going to you're not always going to be able to tell a players impact based off the box score now I will say this advance and atics as well can be a little misleading right but the truth is somewhere in the middle and Lindsay Allen provides a positive impact for the Chicago sky that to me is the most important thing here she is positively impacted the way that the sky play because she's a veteran who understands her role and what she needs to do she doesn't need a whole lot of shots to be effective she doesn't need that to stay engaged she's very much so willing and able to get other players involved in the game as well and as I've said before Lindsay Allen when you look at the Chicago Sky our most impactful lineups all involve Lindsay Allen in it period they all our positive lineups all have Lindsay Allen in it and I think that's something to be said there um and so that's a big a big reason why Lindsay Allen is getting the minutes that she's getting I don't NE necessarily see her losing her starting point guard role unless somebody comes in and really plays much better which at that point you can't be mad at if that if that ends up being the case and so when you're coming down to grading Lindsay Allen right and that's I I say all that to quantify uh what I'm about to get grade her uh Lindsay Allen's a solid C+ for me I can't give her a b because she hasn't really to me B's and A's of her kind of exceed expectations but Lindsay Allen steo did a great job identifying probably about six games into this that the sky should have probably G should probably go to Lindsay Allen being their starting point guard and while at that time I looked at it and I was like I don't know if I feel the exact same way as you do on that steo but let's see what she can bring um eventually you know when I looked and did that initial video earlier in the season where I looked at his all uh some of the sky total lineups on which was giving them the best things like that uh Lindsay Allen once I saw Lindsay Allen was was in every one of the of the sky positive lineups at that point in time to me it's it's screamed that yeah we got to double down on this we got to see how this is going to work out for the sky and overall I think that the offense has been better it's not perfect still we still need to run more actions for our bigs we need to be uh do a better job at identifying when we have our bigs open as well all those things still need to hold true we still got to get better at that but when you look at the positive rotations that we have every one of them involve Lindsay Allen whether she's playing the one or the two everyone every other lineup that does not have Lindsay Allen in it has a negative plus minus when they're on the court and I think there is something to be said in that so solid C+ from Lindsay Allen for me like I said the B's and the A's are kind of hard to get you got you only can really get that via um you know you exceeding what what your expectations were but Lindsay Allen's definitely having a big impact for the Chicago scy Diamond De Shields the next player that I want to uh do the review on and that is Diamond to Shields and this is a disappointing one for me I'm not even going to lie to you guys I held this off to the last episode because it it sucks like I keep in mind I'm not an new Sky fan that's not a shout at anybody who is a new Sky fan that's just to say I've been around and watched the Chicago Sky Team for about a decade right and Diamond the shields was a player that I think everybody who's been a fan of the guy that long has an affinity for Diamond the shields because we know her story right we not just know it we got to see her story the thing that she had to go through the injury the way she fought back just to get back to the game that she loves and eventually gets there and gets to win a title and is a big big part in that Diamond the shields is an ABS was an absolute dog over the course of her WNBA career in the One season she left the Chicago Sky it sucked to see her go I'm not even going to lie to you after we won that Championship it suck to see Diamond the shields go because of watching how and the way she fought back right this is a player that over the course of her WNBA career averages 12 points per game and does that on almost 40% shooting and we needed Diamond of shields When Diamond of shields was named as one of the starters in this team and in this lineup to start the season I thought it was going to be be a really good balance I thought she was going to give that dog mentality on both sides of the ball and while at times she has given that in very small spurts she has we've seen the games where she scored in double digits it's been a few not not a lot right over the course of the season but overall it's just like you see a little bit of that to start the season diamond and shield scored 14 points and 16 points in the Chicago Sky first two games of the season and she hasn't scored in double digits since then she hasn't scored since then since the first game of the season now she's flirted with it she had some ninepoint games some eight-point games things like that but she hasn't scored in double digits since the first two games of the season and much like I use the on and offc Court the plus minus numbers the advanced analytics to really look at Lindsay Allen and and the way that she benefits the team I got to be consistent and use that also to review Diamond the Shields and unfortunately other than the assist percentage which goes up uh almost 4% with diamond and shield is on the on the court and then still still we get one one one uh extra still while she's on the court as well everything else for diamonded Shields offensively is in the negative we are an 11 Point per game worst team with diamond and shields on the court offensively the uh the other team as well they end up scoring much better points when they're on the court as well when diamond is Shields diamond is Shields is not impacted the game offensively or defensively for the Chicago Sky Team at all really and it's un fortunate because like I said I love Diamond the Shields and she's had some big games for us absolutely but it just has not been at the level that we hoped it was going to be with her coming back to this team and me and stea were extremely hyped on getting diamond and shields back to this team extremely hype and it just has not been that at all like I said two double digit scoring nights for diamond and shields in her whole entire season so far and unfortunately because she was looked at as being the veteran she's looked at as being some some of the scoring punch for this team and she's gotten passed up by Kennedy Carter passed up by Angel ree rightfully so there's no problem with with that for those ladies but Diamond The Shield season is is a f to me it's the only F I'm going to give up it's it's a absolute like it's unfortunate and some of that let me be clear here this is not a objective these grades are subjective to my view right my view and the view that I had and the hopes that I have for Diamond the Shields coming into the season she hasn't lived up to any of them she hasn't rebounded the ball well she hasn't defended well she hasn't scored well she nothing and almost at the point where diamond is Shields unfortunately is almost borderline unplayable now we still going to have to play her just because of the the the lack of depth that we have but it's just it's been bad and I hate to say that I hate to come here and use my platform to talk negatively about a player um I'm I try to be a very optimistic guy in general right but it's this is bad and unfortunately Diamond the shields is going to have to show and prove over this last half of the Season that she deserves to stay in the WNBA she just is like I would not be surprised if Diamond the shields does not get signed by when you look at all the influx of talent that's coming in yes we're getting an additional team which opens up 12 more roster spots so maybe that that that she does still make a roster based off that and somebody wants to take a shot on her because we know what she can be keep in mind the last year the diamond the shields did play in the WNBA she did take off the 20 23 season but in the 2022 season she still averaged 13 points per game that was the third highest of her WNBA career so it's like where has this where has the talent gone and some for some players it does take a while to acclimate back if you watch NBA or basketball in general you know sometimes players that first year back from being out is kind of a throwaway year and then they're able to kind of get back conditioning things like that and then they they build off of that on The Following season and I hope that can be Diamond to Shield she's only 9 years old especially with how long into their late 30s players are playing in the WNBA she could still have a very long career ahead of her but she's going to have to get it together because I can absolutely see a world where diamond and shields is fighting to prove she deserves to stay on a WNBA roster but you guys can let me know what you think on that one down below all right the last player that Brianna Turner we're going to do for these player reviews before next episode we talk about Teresa Weatherspoon is Briana Turner and bana Turner is another player that you know theoretically brought something for the Chicago sky right when you look at her former top 10 top 11 pick something like that um but then you look at what she's brought to this team and unfortunately for my Bulls fans they'll understand this the ones that don't watch bulls and just watch WNBA they may not but I'll explain it anyway she's put up a Tony snail statline this whole season averages less than a point per game 1.1 rebounds 0.2 assists 0.1 steals now she's only averaging 6 minutes per game and she's only played in 16 games so far this season out of the if I'm not mistaken Sky played 24 games this season if I'm not mistaken so you know she hasn't played a whole hell of a lot and I want to be clear on that she hasn't but her play has hasn't dictated that either there are usually two mindsets that fans have when they look at a player not playing some people look at and say well they haven't been given an opportunity how can they play better my personal view is you got to play well to earn and show you deserve more minutes to me Banna Turner hasn't shown that now is there going to be a growing opportunity now with the roster changes possibly and maybe she can start showing some of those things that you want to see from her but much like diamond the shields when banna's uh uh Turner's on the on the court everything gets worse everything gets worse we are 17 points per game we get outscored by 17 points per 100 possessions when bana Turner is on the court that's just not good then you also look at our our defensive writing it goes in the toilet but it raises by almost 32 points keep in mind the defensive rating the lower numbers the better on it so when your when your rating Rises that means you're actually getting worse this team is Briana Turner has not impacted anything well in the game of basketball for the Chicago Sky now again Advanced analytics especially for a player that averages 6 minutes can be very very very misleading I want to be clear on that so please don't take this as just a perfect indication of of what Banna can bring or her what she's overall brought this season but it is just another data point to use in that case and that data point don't look good don't look good when you look at it Briana Turner is not part of any single positive rotation for the Chicago sky at all when Banna Turner's on on the court the the lineups that she's a part of either get outscored by 75 points 69 points 68 points 50 points 28 points and 20 points when bana Turner's on the court the Chicago Sky getting her ass kicked now that could be because she only plays in garbage time that's probably the case here but those numbers are glaring right and so you hope when I say that Michaela only we can do a lot with the opportunity that's given to her but she's probably going to be a starter there with banan Turner you hope that something's going to turn around because again um at being 28 years old I believe Banna Turner is um it's not looking good it's just not looking good and it's unfortunate because Banna Turner is a player that that like you hope every player in your team's going to end up rounding out right and end up playing well for you but Banna turn just hasn't G given anything any sign any indication any view any stat I go through these the reason why I use Advanced analytics so much is that I try to find one good angle to take so I could talk about everybody in a positive light and some route there's no positive light when it comes to Banna Turner the advanced analytics are the advanced analytics the stats of the stats and hopefully with an increased role if she does earn that increased role unless we're just going to be playing extremely smaller Isabelle Harrison's going to be playing a lot more minutes the last few games of this season um Banna Turner just it ain't it ain't been good it ain't been good so but that's my thought process those are my grades for this we'll be getting into Teresa Weatherspoon on the next episode guys make sure you guys sound off let me know how you guys feel on everything down below we are 10 days away from Chicago Sky basketball being back 10 days can't wait for it man make sure you guys are following the show at Chicagos skyp you can send us any feedback questions comments concerns Chicago skot Central atgmailcom and then lastly if you want to leave a text message and our voicemail for the mailbag which we're sharing it with Chicago Bulls Central now we may finish out the season sharing it with Chicago Bull Central but the way you guys have been turn uh uh showing out for us we're probably going to split it off into its own voicemail here soon so be on the lookout for that but you guys can send a voicemail 77327 2799 with the number one spot for everything Chicago Sky related but that's thanks to you guys and like I lik to in every episode on uh yeah see you guys next time we go to Sky y'all love you guys peace y'all this has been a presentation of the breaks media