While the upside of establishing a championship dynasty is the bells and whistles that come with said championships, there can also be a downside.
The downside is that players all of a sudden become more expensive and that coaches are looked at with more curiosity from other teams. That is the case for the Las Vegas Aces.
After the Core Four of A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young brought a pair of championships to Sin City, the Aces took a bit of step back in 2024. Becky Hammon’s team was ousted from the playoffs in the semifinals in four games by the eventual champion New York Liberty.
But the Aces have already seen exactly the effects of what happens with many a championship franchise. The Golden State Valkyries tapped former Aces assistant Natalie Nakase as its head coach.
In addition, Tyler Marsh – another Las Vegas assistant – was recently announced that he will be the new head coach of the Chicago Sky.
Marsh cut his cloth with G-League teams prior to moving into the NBA ranks with the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers. He then crossed over into the WNBA by first becoming Las Vegas’ Head of Player Development beginning in 2022 – when the Aces won the first of those two championships.
If Angel Reese says the hire is a win then the hire is a win.
The hire of Marsh reminds us a lot of the hire of James Wade prior to the 2021 season. That hire was universally praised around W circles and it ended up being a key component in the Sky claiming its first-ever WNBA championship with Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley and Kahleah Copper as part of the team’s core.
The Sky’s repeat effort in 2022 was stopped short at the hands of the Connecticut Sun which staged that miraculous comeback in Game 5 of the semifinals to advance to the Finals with the Aces.
Wade then left the team in 2023 to assume an assistant coaching job with the Raptors. Last season was the first – and only season – with Teresa Weatherspoon as head coach.
The thing is Coach Spoon was also a widely praised hire. Her problem was that she was eventually kneecapped by Chicago’s front office. Even though the Sky had marquee names such as Reese, Kamilla Cardoso and Chennedy Carter as part of its 2024 rendition, we forget that Chicago was in the throes of a rebuild.
Add in the fact that Reese, Cardoso and Carter all were injured at one point in the season and one can see that the 13-27 record the Sky finished the 2024 season with did not do it justice.
That mark by the way only had them two games shy of the final playoff berth – one that was eventually claimed by the Atlanta Dream. Despite this, Weatherspoon was given her walking papers after only one season.
When the Weatherspoon fire was announced, we remember how heartbroken many Sky players – most notably Reese – was at the reality that the front office overstepped its boundaries. The 2024 season was a trying one for Chicago – both on the court and between their ears. Weatherspoon was the rock that kept those players lifted and the front office decided to make an abrupt – and many say uncalled for – change.
Marsh is getting similar praise. The question is will he get the same amount of support from the front office. The Sky’s history has told us that the front office has been the primary thing that has held back the franchise. In many ways, the Sky won that 2021 championship in spite of the front office – not because of it.
The front office needs to take more of a hands off approach and simply let Marsh be Marsh. Given the abrupt firing of Weatherspoon and controversy over a massive season ticket price hike for 2025, Chicago has to rebuild trust of its fanbase.
Marsh in many ways was a key cog in what the Aces have eventually become – but that was because Mark Davis has invested a massive amount of money into making sure the Aces are the Aces. Over the years, that has not been seen with Chicago and it is a franchise that has been susceptible to questionable front office moves.
After how heartbroken Sky players were about what happened with Weatherspoon, the Sky could not afford a swing and miss on this hire. Based on social media reaction to Marsh being tapped as Chicago’s new head coach, it is a step in the correct decision.
The reality is that the Sky had to find someone to assume that job. How Weatherspoon was let go from the Sky did not exactly lend credence to the idea of Chicago being a desirable gig.
The idea of coaching Cardoso, Reese and Carter is one thing. The idea of having to deal with the Sky’s front office another. Hopefully Michael Alter and Jeff Pagliocca learn from their error in letting Weatherspoon go after one season and allows Marsh to be Marsh.
