Sky race to lay foundation amid training camp injuries, absences

Sky race to lay foundation amid training camp injuries, absences

Training camp is a race to lay the foundation. And so far, the reports out of the Sky’s camp sound good. Players and coaches are using the words you want to hear: “competitive,” “high-energy,” “locked in.”There’s been a lot of teaching from coach Tyler Marsh, and many new students. Not a lot of time to study the notes.“The W is very accelerated,” Skylar Diggins said on Day 1. “Hi, nice to meet you. Now get over there and set me a screen.”That helter-skelter cadence is true across the league. Some teams — New York, Las Vegas, Atlanta — have the luxury of returning their cores.The Sky are not one of them.Of the players active for the first two days of camp, only three — Hailey Van Lith, Maddy Westbeld and Rachel Banham — shared the floor at Wintrust Arena last season. The rest will have to learn each other on the fly.Diggins. Azurá Stevens. Rickea Jackson. Players who now represent the future of the team.Luckily, they have some touchpoints. Diggins played alongside Banham in Unrivaled this winter, and with Stevens in Dallas. Jackson and Stevens overlapped with the Sparks and in Unrivaled, too.Maybe that will speed things along.What’s working against them is the usual training camp chaos: overseas commitments and early-season injuries.Kamilla Cardoso, who spent the offseason playing in China, has not yet reported. Veteran center Elizabeth Williams just finished her EuroLeague season. Both are expected back soon, but the Sky have only five days until their first preseason test…

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