{"id":803581,"date":"2024-05-03T16:27:04","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T20:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=803581"},"modified":"2024-05-07T11:25:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T15:25:07","slug":"teresa-weatherspoon-chicago-sky-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/teresa-weatherspoon-chicago-sky-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Teresa Weatherspoon Talks Vision for the Chicago Sky and Her Own Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been a few weeks since the Chicago Sky announced in October that Teresa Weatherspoon will take over as head coach of the franchise, and the Hall of Famer is still processing. She hasn\u2019t officially made the big move yet, or found somewhere to live, but by the time we catch up with her over the phone, it\u2019s clear that she\u2019s already begun preparing, at least mentally, for the season ahead. She\u2019s talked to the coaches who were instrumental in her own growth, and has been thinking a lot about \u201cthe most important thing,\u201d which is how she can put her players in a position to be successful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weatherspoon\u2019s return to the W, this time as a coach, is historic: she was one of the original members of the New York Liberty when the W began play in \u201997 and watched the League, and the game, grow and evolve throughout her storied career, which included five All-Star appearances and winning the first-ever Defensive Player of the Year award. To call her simply a basketball great wouldn\u2019t do her career justice\u2014Weatherspoon is a pioneer, an inspiration, a legend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst of all, it\u2019s full circle,\u201d she says of now coaching in the W. \u201cI had the opportunity to play in New York and, as a player, to start something in a professional [women\u2019s basketball] league in America. But then to come back and coach in this League really means a lot to me because it\u2019s still helping the League to grow. I\u2019ve had an opportunity to do some incredible things in between to just have myself very well prepared for any situation or circumstances that might come up. You equip yourself along the way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Those \u201cthings in between\u201d that Weatherspoon is referring to are all the coaching jobs she\u2019s had over the past decade\u2014at nearly every level of the game\u2014including as a head coach at her alma mater, Louisiana Tech, and then in the NBA, where she served as a player development coach before moving up to assistant coach with the New Orleans Pelicans. For her, the decision to join the Sky was simple: they knew she was the perfect person for the job. Period. \u201cThey believed in me. They fought for me. They trusted me to lead this organization. For me, that was enough.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weatherspoon has been tasked with bringing the Sky back to glory. After winning its first-ever WNBA championship in 2021, the franchise has not made it past the semifinals in the past two seasons. While 2021 Finals MVP Kahleah Copper is now in Phoenix, they have exciting new additions including Diamond DeShields and Chennedy Carter. But one thing their new head coach has made pretty clear is to not call this upcoming season a rebuilding year. That\u2019s not the framework in which Weatherspoon operates. She has other plans. Big plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SLAM: As you get ready for the upcoming season, what do you think the transition will be like, going from coaching in the NBA to taking over as a head coach in the W? What\u2019s your approach?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teresa Weatherspoon:<\/strong> It\u2019s [about] being aware of who you\u2019re coaching [and] being aware of your personnel. I think when you\u2019re playing the game period, they always tell you to know your personnel. That\u2019s what it is for me. Yes, it is basketball. Yes, I recognize you\u2019re male and you\u2019re female. But at the end of the day, it\u2019s all about knowing your personnel and what fits your personnel\u2014what is best for your personnel for them to be the best versions of themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLAM: It\u2019s been a few years since the Sky won a chip. What do you think it will take to bring the team back to that level?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TW: <\/strong>Well, first of all, they did a heck of a job pushing to get into the playoffs, right? That says a lot about who they are, the fight that\u2019s in them, the determination that\u2019s in them. They have goals and they want it\u2026It\u2019s just a matter of me now coming in and putting my stamp on things of how I see things with them and then sustaining the success. We don\u2019t want to be successful for [just] a year, we want to sustain the success, and that\u2019s going to be our attitude. That\u2019s going to be our approach\u2026They have the ability, they have the talent, they have all of that. And it\u2019s a matter of putting together pieces to the puzzle and making it work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SLAM: When you first got the head coaching gig, did you connect with the players right away? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TW:<\/strong> As a matter of fact, I sent them a message this morning just to say,\u00a0Hey, wishing you a great day<\/em>, because I want them to know that [they\u2019re being] thought of. I\u2019m not just a coach that\u2019s just going to coach you and then forget about you, no. I want to know how you\u2019re doing. I want to know how your family\u2019s doing. I\u2019m\u00a0different<\/em>. I approach things differently because I was once a player and I knew what was important to\u00a0me<\/em>\u00a0as a player. So, I want to bring that same thing to them because I want to be a coach that\u2019s open, honest and transparent.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLAM: Would you describe yourself as a people person?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TW:<\/strong> I\u2019ve always wanted to be. Not to be known, but to show that I care. And in that care, especially being a head coach, I\u2019m going to push buttons that you never thought could be pushed. I\u2019m going to push them because as a coach, if I ruffle your feathers, I\u2019m doing my job.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLAM: Having coached at every level and now at the highest level\u2014the NBA and, soon, the WNBA\u2014what advice would you give to aspiring coaches who want to get to where you are?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TW:<\/strong> This is crazy [because] I just gave this message in a speaking engagement that I had and I talked about the table. When you talk about the table, it\u2019s your table\u2026It\u2019s a self-constructed table, and every experience that you have is at your table\u2026I want people to break bread with me at my table because I\u2019ve had to experience a lot of things to equip me to get to where I am right now. And it\u2019s my duty\u2014whether it\u2019s hard, whether it\u2019s tough, whether it\u2019s painful\u2014it\u2019s my duty to go through it to make sure that every seat at my table is available for everyone to find solutions. Because at the end of the day, that\u2019s going to be the most important thing: What is your life doing to impact another life?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLAM: When did you come to that realization\u2014that you are the player, and it\u2019s your duty to be of service to others?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TW: <\/strong>As you\u2019re growing, you know you have to bring something to the table\u2014you know that you gotta bring something so someone can trust you and know that you\u2019re of value. Especially when you\u2019re playing the game, people have to know,\u00a0What\u2019s your best skill? What do you bring to this team? And why would you help this team be successful?<\/em>…That question [has] happened to me\u00a0all my life<\/em>, so it has built my table\u2026Now, this table has to help someone else\u2026There\u2019s no way that I should go through something, and at the table there\u2019s no solution for what I went through. It\u2019s just sitting there. It doesn\u2019t sit, you gotta keep moving to find the solution\u2026And that\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever wanted. If there\u2019s something that you don\u2019t like or you don\u2019t see that\u2019s coming from me and it\u2019s what you want, tell me. I\u2019m gonna find the solution. I\u2019m gonna fight my butt off to find the solution, because I always want to be able to help the next person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SLAM: You had such a storied playing career. As you enter this new chapter, how would you define your legacy up to this point?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TW: <\/strong>I believe that is still being written. I believe as long as you continue to strive, to thrive, that it\u2019s going to continue to be written, because there\u2019s a lot more, I believe, to come from me. There\u2019s a lot more that God has for me. So, I have to continue to move in that way, knowing that things aren\u2019t over. There are many more things to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos via Getty Images. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a few weeks since the Chicago Sky announced in October that Teresa Weatherspoon will take over as head coach of the franchise, and the Hall of Famer is still processing. She hasn\u2019t officially made the big move yet, or found somewhere to live, but by the time we catch up with her over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":424,"featured_media":803594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49435],"tags":[1819,7356,1863,63726],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-803581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-magazine","tag-chicago-sky","tag-teresa-weatherspoon","tag-wnba","tag-wslam"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803581"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803607,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803581\/revisions\/803607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803581"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=803581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}