Sky Wide Open: Chicago’s Perimeter Defense Is Broken

Veteran center Elizabeth Williams was asked after yesterday’s game about these struggles and what the Sky need to do differently when defending the perimeter.

“Just running people off the line at this point,” Williams said. “I think teams make a lot of threes because they also shoot a lot of threes against us. So we have to adjust to that and knowing that teams are playing kind of outside in against us. So just a higher level of aggression running people off the line.”

Williams is correct: teams do shoot a lot of threes against the Sky. Chicago’s opponents are averaging 27.5 three-point attempts per game, which is third-most in the WNBA behind the Sparks and the Mystics.

With that being said, the high volume of shots from their opponents doesn’t explain the 40.9% success rate from beyond the arc. If anything, you’d think the percentage would come down considering how many threes their opponents are taking. The Sparks are holding opponents to 33.8% from the outside and the Mystics are even better at 30.9%. 

And then there’s Chicago, nearly ten percentage points higher on a comparable number of shots. Sky opponents have made 11.2 threes-per-game, by far the highest number in the league. They’ve simply been decimated from beyond the arc this year, and it’s a huge reason why the Sky are consistently down big in games.

This weekend seemed to be the culmination of Chicago’s inadequacies defending the perimeter. Phoenix broke a franchise record by draining 17 threes on Saturday against the Sky, while Atlanta followed suit on Sunday with 16. Combined together, the Mercury and the Dream went 33/68 (48.5%) from deep this weekend. That’s not a winning recipe if you’re Chicago head coach Tyler Marsh.

Marsh was asked about his team’s difficulties on the perimeter following the Phoenix loss. 

“We struggled staying connected to their shooters,” Marsh said. “They’re a team that wants to get up a ton of threes, we knew that going into it. I thought we lost connection to them way too often.”

“We talked about overhelping on their drives and AT [Alyssa Thomas] was still able to draw defenders and kick out,” he added. “And they knocked them down… just overall we’ve gotta have a better approach.”

The Sky seem to recognize the importance of improving their outside defense. It’s essential that they do. Teams around the league are taking and making more threes than ever before. Outside shooting has become such a big part of the WNBA and the Sky suffer mightily on both sides of the equation. They shoot just 30.3% from deep as a team in addition to the issues defensively that we've covered. In a league full of shooters, the Sky are in danger of being left behind.

Their turnover issues (18.2 per game, most in the WNBA) exacerbate these difficulties as well. When you can’t hold on to the basketball, it makes it really tough to keep things organized on the defensive end in transition.

This is a Chicago team full of problems. Closing out shooters on the outside might not magically launch them up the standings, but it would be a start. As long as teams continue to shoot over 40% from deep against them, it’s going to be a long season for the Sky.