PHOENIX — All Rickea Jackson needs now are her dogs.
The Sky forward didn’t bring her pups on the initial move from Los Angeles to Chicago, but she can’t wait for them to arrive when the team returns from its road trip.
That’s the only missing piece of what has otherwise been a fruitful transition.
Since being traded to the Sky, Jackson has been gushing about her comfort and confidence on her new team — and it shows. In Chicago’s first two wins, she’s averaging 18.5 points per game, good for 12th in the league.
Sky assistant coach Latricia Trammell, who coached Jackson with the Sparks and now the Sky, told the Sun-Times the new system has freed her up.
“Sometimes it’s not the right fit for the organization or the player or whatever the case might be,” Trammell said of Jackson’s time in Los Angeles. “I think that [coach] Tyler [Marsh] has done an amazing job of playing to Rickea’s strengths. I think she just feels more confident and comfortable.”
Part of that confidence stems from her teammates.
“I didn’t have the best first game shooting but they’re like, ‘I don’t give a damn. Keep shooting,'” Jackson said. “Like, ‘We’re gonna still come to you.’ And to hear that means so much to me.”
As she’s scoring and shooting more, her field goal percentage has dipped to 34%. But Jackson isn’t losing sleep over it. She’s embracing the green light to let it fly from the outside.
“I feel like I haven’t shot many jump shots in forever,” she said. “My percentages don’t look as good as I would like them to, but it’s the second game. I am taking jump shots, threes. I’m not just doing layups. That’s what comes with the territory.”
Jackson is what the Sky offense so badly lacked last season — a real shot-maker who can create her own advantage off the dribble, pull up from mid-range, or get to the line. But neither Marsh nor Jackson want her to just be a scorer.
Ask her what part of her game she wants to improve and she’ll say: every part.
She’s heard what people say about her defense — that she doesn’t partake in that side of things — and she’s tired of it. The coaching staff believes she has the athleticism and length to be an elite defender, and she’s ready to take the next step. She’s been watching film with Trammell, breaking down footwork and positioning.
Trammell saw positive signs against the Valkyries, when Jackson helped hold All-Star Kayla Thornton scoreless.
Jackson also had five assists against Golden State, including a key find late in the game. That, for Marsh, is the next level of her game. Jackson will increasingly draw attention and defenders specifically positioned to stop her going downhill. She’ll need to make the right passing reads to become even more dangerous.
“That’s something Tyler demands of me,” Jackson said. “Be a playmaker, a rebounder, a little bit of everything. Him having that confidence in me makes me want to do it. And my teammates make it so easy. They’re cutting off me, they’re talking to me. I think we’re growing that chemistry really well, early on.”
That chemistry must be a special relief for Jackson, given what she went through this past winter. She filed a protective order against dating violence after her ex-boyfriend James Pearce Jr. allegedly chased her down in Miami, ramming his car into hers — conduct that led to his arrest on battery and stalking charges.
Back then, she wrote that she feared for her life. But in team settings now, she’s exuding a sense of fear’s antidote — gratitude.
“I think you can see a lot of adversity has lifted to where she now is enjoying [life],” Trammell said. “She’s got so many great support people around her, breathing life into her.”
Just wait until she gets her dogs back, too.
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