Cappie Pondexter was meant to lead the Chicago Sky when Elena Della Donne left. Unfortunately, her shooting is not holding up to this expectation.
The Chicago Sky are 2-8 on the season, sitting above only the San Antonio Stars in the standings. Since the Elena Della Donne trade, the Sky have been trying to find an identity. Unfortunately so far they have failed.
Allie Quigley is leading the Sky in scoring with 15.4 points per game. Tamera Young has shown a surprising upturn in her offense, scoring 13.5 points per game. Cappie Pondexter is third on the team with 12.7 points per game. This is down on her career average of 17.54 points per game.
Pondexter is currently fifth on the all-time points scored list in the NBA, just 13 points behind Katie Smith at the time of writing. Pondexter is also shooting just 29 percent on the season from the field. This is, again, way down on her career number of 42 percent.
From three, Pondexter is shooting an appalling 19 percent from beyond the arc. This is also way down on her 35 percent career number. All in all, Pondexter is shooting poorly. The problem is, she is trying to carry the team on her back. Pondexter has taken the sixth most shots in the WNBA this season.
Pondexter is currently second in the WNBA in assists with 7.0 per game. Perhaps until the stroke that we know and love so well comes back, she needs to up this number. Pondexter needs to feed the ball to Stefanie Dolson, Allie Quigley and Courtney Vandersloot, all of who are scoring the basketball at over 50 percent from the field.
I am not saying that Pondexter cannot shoot the ball. It is almost an honor to be beaten by a Cappie crossover. Every time she gets into that sort of rhythm, she looks like the old Pondexter.
The leadership of Pondexter is vital for the Sky, she is still quite simply the heart and soul of the franchise with Della Donne gone. Until her stroke returns, Pondexter