TORONTO — Nobody’s happy with how the Sky (4-7) are playing right now.
Especially not point guard Skylar Diggins.
Diggins hadn’t said much about the team’s recent stretch — they’ve lost five of their last six — but she offered a glimpse into how she’s feeling after the Sky fizzed out against the Tempo, losing 85-68.
Asked what needs to change about the team’s slow starts, she didn’t hold back.
“More maturity and more leadership, on and off the floor, the players on the floor, from the staff as well,” Diggins said. “More connectivity. If it was just versus one team I’d understand that. Now it’s … a trend of ours. It’s disappointing, it really is. It’s frustrating.
“Games aren’t going to slow down. The teams (are) going to keep getting better and better around us. So we got to figure out how we’re going to turn this corner. This has been an extremely frustrating experience.”
Diggins is right that it isn’t going to get easier: the Sky’s next four games are against the Dream, Fever, Liberty and Wings.
So it was concerning that two more deflating trends continued Sunday: a stagnant half-court offense and an inability to keep teams off the boards. The Sky shot poorly — 35.4% from the floor, 24.0% from 3 — and once again lost the rebounding battle.
Diggins had pointed responses on both.
Asked about the half-court offense, she pointed to head coach Tyler Marsh.
“That’s a Tyler question,” she said.
Asked about the rebounding, she was even harsher.
“Effort all around needs to go up, and we have to get out of that loser mentality that we have,” Diggins said. “‘Oh here it goes again, here it comes again.’ We pros. We have to all step up when you pros. Starting with myself.”
Something clearly isn’t clicking for Diggins and company.
After the previous game, against the Sun, Diggins had voiced disappointment in her own play this season, saying she expected herself to “play f— better.” She did, scoring 24 points and leading the team to its first win in weeks.
Against the Tempo, she struggled, scoring 7 points on 2-for-8 shooting.
Asked about Diggins’ frustration and the first-quarter offensive struggles, Marsh didn’t have an immediate answer. But he said it was on him.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “I think it’s something we got to continue to look at as a staff. I think the accountability starts there. Starts (with) me and ends with me, honestly. I understand the frustration. There’s frustration across the board. Nobody’s happy with where we’re at, record-wise or how we’re playing, so I take the hit on that.
“How we are playing is on me. This is my second year here, and we haven’t gotten the results that we are looking for. That’s what comes with being in this position. I take that. I accept that. I definitely have to get better. Our staff has to get better.”
So what’s the way forward — and are Marsh and his point guard aligned on it?
“I think we’re on the same page in terms of where we’re at as a team and where we’re capable of getting as a team,” Marsh said, when asked if he and Diggins are on the same page. “I don’t think she would be in a Sky jersey if we weren’t on that same page. Obviously after a game like this and after how the last couple of weeks have gone, frustrations are at a high. We got to get together, we got to figure it out.”