The bright side of the Angel Reese trade still looks dim

The bright side of the Angel Reese trade is that the Sky can toss their "Twin Towers" strategy, which wasn't really working.

In 2024, the Sky drafted post players Reese and Kamilla Cardoso to lay the foundation for the franchise's future.

Both can score inside and dominate the glass, but neither entered the pros as an outside shooter. The Sky expected that to evolve.

Through two seasons, it didn't. They still scored most of their points in the paint and took very few shots from the perimeter. This shrunk the floor and made the offense predictable.

Meanwhile, the league was moving in the other direction. The most successful teams play with "stretch" bigs who can shoot from outside, forcing defenders into tough choices and opening driving lanes for everyone else.

Last season's top four teams in the regular-season standings — the Lynx, Aces, Dream and Mercury — averaged 7.1 3-point attempts per game from their post players.

Reese and Cardoso combined for 0.8.

The Sky knew this wasn't sustainable. Coach Tyler Marsh and general manager Jeff Pagliocca want to play a pace-and-space system that requires its bigs to let it fly.

With Reese gone to the Dream, they can target a stretch big in free agency to fulfill that vision immediately.

The problem is that the Sky don't have a compelling pitch for why the best ones should join them.

They've failed to construct a competitive roster the last two seasons. They've fallen behind the league's new standard in facilities and staffing.

And their best players in recent years — Kahleah Copper, Marina Mabrey and Courtney Williams — witnessed that dysfunction up close and left.

Does that sound like the kind of set-up that superstar free agents would consider, in the unlikely event that they choose to take their talents elsewhere? (The Sky are skeptical themselves that many superstars will be on the move this offseason, according to a source familiar with the team's thinking.)

Step down to the next tier of stretch bigs — Azurá Stevens, Alanna Smith — and the picture doesn't get much brighter. The Sky can try to woo them with a big payday, but they're not the only team flush with cap space, and certainly not the only team hungry for their skill set. Stevens and Smith will have plenty of suitors to choose from.

One way to look at the Reese trade: The Sky gave up one of the league's most exciting young stars on a team-friendly contract, just to chase solid veterans they may not land.

There's a subtler dark side to this ordeal, too, which is that Reese's stagnation as a shooter reflects poorly on the Sky's player development operation.

Reese was hungry to extend her range throughout both seasons in Chicago. Yet her shot profile and mechanics remained largely unchanged year over year.

Why couldn't Marsh and Pagliocca — who came billed as elite player developers — help?

Maybe two years with the Sky, and only one under Marsh, is too short a window to judge.

But Reese's new coach has shown it can happen pretty fast.

Dream coach Karl Smesko needed just one year to turn forward Naz Hillmon into a legitimate long-range threat. After attempting just six 3-pointers across her first three seasons, Hillmon took 165 last year, hit 32.1% and won Sixth Player of the Year.

If Reese's range suddenly blossoms in Atlanta, Smesko's reputation as a developer will grow stronger. The Sky's will take a hit.

Cardoso will need to take a huge leap this season to brighten it up again.