Michaela Onyenwere Officially Named As Starter For The Chicago Sky

the Chicago Sky return to the court this week and when they do Michaela on W is going to be in that starting lineup we're going to talk about that plus more sky news and more but first we got to play that intro welcome to Chicago Sky Central and here's your host [Music] hay what's going on Sky fans welcome to another episode of Chicago Sky Central your number one spot for everything Chicago Sky related steo myselfy we in the building today for this news that just dropped not too long ago steo me and you talked about it we called it I don't think we ever got a chance to actually talk about it on stream but Michaela on where has been officially named as the new starting small forward for the Chicago Sky how you feeling about that move steo um yeah I like it it's um it's expected uh she's a big body 61 maybe pushing 62 um constructs the floor and she plays defense and she does a lot of the nasty work that a lot people don't pay attention to and we just seeing her uh more and more get acclimated back into the lineup as I was screaming hollering for her to come back in but um yeah it's just expected there is nobody else on this team right now that I could say could fi her space at this point or even similar to a marina mabery so yeah I think it it might be even more fitting for what the team is fit to do right now and um we'll see how it goes but I think it was pretty much expected at this point yeah it it yeah I think it's the best decision possible of course you know I would have Lov Diamond the shields to be you know playing better to where she could have moved back into that because I think having her and and Kennedy Carter out there could have been dangerous but you know Michaela on where brings some defense she's shooting the three ball at I think a 40% clip so far this season not taking a bunch of them but she's shooting it at a solid percentage and she's really been playing well when you look at the last like three four games for the Chicago sky before the break uh she was playing really well over that really kind of hitting her stride so now being in that starting lineup I hope that uh Teresa Weatherspoon gives her Long Leash to kind of figure out the time timing and things being out there with those starters but she brings kind of the best balance of shooting defense and she doesn't need a bunch of shots to be effective either right you don't have to run a bunch of offense for her so that makes sense as well yeah she almost finds her own shots with this cut to the basket um being open at the right spots she likes to be in that corner a lot so we can generate a lot of shots for her in the corner and yeah just she just plays hard um and it's gonna be right real nice to see her next to Angel somebody that can almost nearly match her motor when it comes to it so we gonna be even more irritated on the offensive side and defensive side of the ball so maybe um our defense you know sometimes was slacking in that starting lineup sometimes so maybe she can add a little bit more up to the defense with this her being on the star lineup now that's a fact that's a fact we also got word today that uh Mariah Jefferson is healthy and she will be out there playing on Thursday this gives the sky an additional body out there so this for the first time this seon outside of Elizabeth Williams the sky are fully healthy um with that said now let me ask you this we know that uh we did also acquire Lotto shout out to uh to Rachel bandam in I love that they've been having a lot of fun with that um and Mariah Jefferson for uh uh Marina ma but both of these ladies are guards and so they're both veteran guards 30 and 31 years old they've been in the WNBA for a long time how do you see that bench rotation shaking out because now we're even smaller coming off the bench than what we were before we basically are all guards and Isabelle Harrison out there coming off the bench and hopefully maybe Diamond Shields plays better down the stretch as well yeah um as funny you I didn't know this was gonna be the topic as funny you said it because I was just talking to Jacob pone right before you came on here he was like you think Mariah Jefferson gonna be in a starting lineup because H La be coming off that [ __ ] could be good I'm like I wouldn't say immediately just because you know you got appclimate to the offense get to learning people but I don't see why down the road that possibly can't be something we see down the street because I think um what Mariah um is best in kind of hides what La is lacking in in certain situations so um I think um just getting her in general to add to this death this bench death we needed somebody that could pass more I do feel like she's a little bit more of a better passer than La so um I'm looking more for that connection between her and Camila to get the um Outlet passes right drop it down low to the nice spots when she needs to um the pick and roll being a little bit more cleaner as well and then you won't have such a problem when the bench come in it's so stagnant because we seen times even when uh Kennedy got moved to the starting lineup La came off the bench and if we need a bucket she' go get it if she needed to sett us down she was the one to do it so so I wouldn't be uh completely against uh either of them starting but I'm pretty sure La is still gonna be in the star line up until further notice yeah oh yeah I don't expect LA to be taken out of that that start I mean we've I've talked about it heavily on several episodes at this point like every one of the sky positive lineups includes Lindsey Allen in it and I'm not saying she's a perfect player but like you're not going to take that away now yeah you're you're making a change with bringing Mela on We Day in but at the same time you you're you're probably not going to make that change unless Lindsay Allen comes out and just doesn't look good in the second half of the Season or if Rachel banam or Mariah Jefferson are just shooting the ball lights out but Mariah's been out for a while you want to let her acclimate to injury Bantam as well like she hasn't really played a lot of minutes so I didn't really expect any changes to the starting lineup outside of whoever was going to play Marina ma but uh yeah I mean overall like I think you you want everybody healthy out there you need as much shooting as possible and with this guy gonna play much smaller here on the back half of the season um you want that shooting as well so uh we'll see ask this do you think either one of these ladies not initially but do you think either one passes up Dana Evans coming off that bench no because I think like I said well I I don't know because like I've been saying when it comes to Dana I just want her priority just to be scoring and it still looked like I don't know if it's her or if it's coach there's times where she still want her to come in the game and playmake and it's just like no so if Mariah shows that she can still do it at a higher level of both which is probably what uh spoon is going to ask her to do which is a mixture between make in scoring yeah her job could be in a Jeopardy but who knows cuz we all know that she has a a soft spot a real nice off spot for Dana and we all and we you know me and you do too like we know what she's capable of but she was one of the first people either back from her she was over in uh I think Mexico she was one of the first players back and she was in the gym she she was working so hopefully we see it turn out for the better for yeah I agree with that I we got to see what they're going to bring um player coming off injury like Mariah Jefferson you don't expect them to make a huge impact right away especially being on a new team new system things like that um but I think with Dana Dana's she's one of Teresa weatherspoon's favorites and I know that's not something that everybody appreciates because they look at how Dana's performed but she also is a dog defensively when she's put in that position and needs to do that so I think that that's that's that's the thing that is going to that it's going to stay focused on and uh yeah you know hopefully with bringing in more guards you're you're increasing the passing overall which can make Dana a lot more dangerous so yeah it it is what it is when it comes to that hope that's what I could just say fora hopefully she just works on that game and we see something come out of that yeah facts facts all right Brody uh well with that said we got two more topics to get into before we get up out of here both stemming from Angel Reese around Team USA this first one just a quick one uh so ESPN tweeted out right after team us say won their game and asked hey it's Caitlyn Clark Angel Reese Paige who's going to be on the next Team USA and I love thisr for people who's like Angel makes it all about her the stupid people her saying this let's just congratulate these women and let them enjoy this moment leave me out of this until my time comes how do you not love angel man that's why it' be funny that everybody say she she's literally the first person ever since she was at Maryland back in high school she talks about everybody else before she talks about herself she knows the spotlight is on her at all time so she don't need toast about herself now she does when she wants to but the most time she gives people they when when the the the lights is on you she's gonna give you your praise she gonna let you bask in your glory she's not a attention seeker like that she really ain't when she knows she's gonna get her shine when it's time but when it's when it's somebody else being talked about why are you talking about me she's always been like that I don't know how people don't hate it like I said when it comes to Angel people just have have selective hearing and that and that's just everything in [ __ ] life at that point yeah people just have their their chosen narratives about about angel Reese negatively and and no matter what she does they don't even really pay attention to that but if she says something like if she talks [ __ ] and has a competitive Spirit they pay attention to that and then they use that to solidify their already preconceived notions Angel's one of the most like like she she does give up a lot of props to the people around her and she respects the legends that came before her so got to chill with that man and that's proofing why all the legends that's a fact that's a fact and we also got to talk about this one so Gabby Williams coming off playing for her French national team Angel ree asked Gabby Williams to come play in Chicago and keep in mind recruitment Recruitment and that's one thing that that you gotta love um the former Sky led by by James I think James Way was still the GM there uh I won people say that they did her dirty I mean let's be clear here Gabby Williams did not live up to the hype around her draft position either but I will say that they they snatched away opportunity when they could have done better to developer as well I feel like it wasn't necessarily be done a dirty I think it we was in a situation for one at the position that she was at we already had Kalia there and we had Kia we had that's when we and then we behind that we got Diamond the shields she didn't she came into like we shouldn't have drafted her like we she should have went somewhere else like that's really what it was but um and that was right be her last season was 2021 that was right when we start making moves for that championship team yeah so she just went to the wrong situation which happens to most people that's just the politics of basketball it's all about most of the people that we think are going to be good it's not always up to you being good if you go to the wrong situation that can mess up your whole career so um but I'm sure you gonna go into the next part of can you yeah yeah well so Gabby did respond with hey let's play somewhere else together that they did a wrong in Chicago no yeah yeah so you know it I mean it is a completely different organization new head coach new gym several new owners now uh Dwayne way wasn't here yet um so you know we've added several people yeah Jeff flagio so we've added a lot that go ahead just because a lot of people think it was like can we get ahead you know I was like that anyway but I think like knowing her story I think getting her back into the W is going to be difficult for anybody because the main reason why she left was money she she's playing over and she went back to France she played three years in fance she's now playing in Turkey Turkey you can make you some good ass money I think she's waking in between 200 200 250 to 300 K a year and that's I think that's the issue what she's trying to make now in the W the top players are making so for in order for her to come back into the league and really take it serious she's going to have to do one to two years to prove herself to get that type of money I don't think she's willing to do that when she can play her ass off in Turkey make that money and then potentially if you get that call from Russia or China I'm really ain't trying to hear from the W that's 2 million three million dollars I can make in a year yeah so I think it's just I think um some sometimes in certain situations in the W right now like if you in the wrong situations you just kind of sour on the WNBA and you realize there's better opportunity elsewhere because it's just the hardest it's the hardest lead to make it into yeah it is it is and you know of course with with a new team creating 12 more roster spots things like that another team coming in in in a couple of years as well that I had another 12 to it of course you're going to see more and more people and don't forget too like at the end of the 2025 season the cba's up contracts are going to see a nice increase as well with the TV contract so that may be where you start seeing some of those players that go overseas um to to come back over to the WNBA um at that point Gabby Williams still be pretty young maybe that's where you could see Gabby Williams back but you know other than that I I don't expect Gabby Willams to come back especi during this season yeah I think for the next few years she gonna make some bread like she just she has the better opportunity especially with her outting in this Olympics not only is W calling people like I said Russia is calling uh PE Greece um China like those type of countries she can make serious money from and I I I don't judge her for um wanted to stay over there yeah I mean especially when the WNBA has had the problems that it's had so we'll see man we'll see yeah all right fam any other questions or topics or anything before we get up out of here man hey we got a game Thursday make sure y'all tune in t du will be back and we also got a busy weekend we got a double double we got to go play Saturday then we got to run it back Sunday night so I hope y'all get energy drinks cuz we going to be here that's a fact we're back finishing out this season man hopefully this finish with a sky playoff run that's the Hope here that we can get we can get Camila we can get Kennedy Carter we can get Angel ree awesome playoff experience in this and then I'm telling y'all this right now over the offseason we'll figure out how we're going to deliver content because WNBA isn't like other sports there's really no rumors like literally the WNBA shuts down and then we it's like three days before free agency you'll start hearing some rumors free agency happens and then the draft so we'll figure out how to do that but um yeah I expect a lot of overhaul again on this roster I think that it's going to be Angel Kennedy Camila cardoso are maybe the only players that I will guarantee comes back next season facts we'll see what happens we'll see what I hope Izzy comes back as well I love Isabelle Harrison but you know we'll see what happens there but you guys can stay T in tune with us man make sure you guys follow us at uh Chicago Sky pod you can send us any feedback questions comments concerns Chicago Sky Central gmail.com lastly if you guys want to uh send us any feedback questions comments concerns the number to do so 77327 2799 we're the number one spot for everything Chicago Sky related man we'll see you guys