Courtney Paris’ quiet presence producing powerful post group results

“Our front court is a huge part of what we want to do and how we want to play.”

Head coach Tyler Marsh came into Chicago already having the size many coaches desire with the 6-foot-3 center Elizabeth Williams, 6-foot-4 forward Angel Reese and 6-foot-7 center Kamilla Cardoso. Since his introduction as the new head coach of the Sky, Marsh has preached player development with no one - including veteran players - being a finished product.

To help him aid in that development, he brought on Courtney Paris, a former WNBA player and assistant coach within the WNBA and NCAA at her alma mater in Oklahoma.

“I'm a person that whoever I work for would want to be someone that I’d want to play for,” Paris said. “I only heard great things about [Marsh]. So when he reached out to me about this opportunity, I was so excited about it.”

Paris was a prolific rebounder throughout her playing career. At Oklahoma, she became the first player ever, regardless of gender, to rack up 2,500 career points and 2,000 career rebounds. In the WNBA, she was a WNBA Peak Performer award winner in rebounds in back-to-back seasons (2014 & 2015) and won a title with the Seattle Storm in 2018.

Her pedigree speaks louder than she does on the court. Paris is not someone that is the rah-rah, in your face, type of coach. Instead, she’s seated on the bench with that same player intensity beaming through her eyes as she watches the game in real time. During stoppages of play, she'll have a quick, calm chat with her players about what she saw out of their play.

Even in practices, she’s quietly observing and soaking everything in to help translate what she sees to her post group in Williams, Cardoso and Reese.

“I think that her demeanor and her way of communicating really is where players kind of attach to her and latch on to her,” Marsh said. “She's soft spoken, but she has a way of gravitating and pulling you into her. I think that the ability to establish that relationship is just as important as the knowledge that you're able to share with them.”

Because of Paris’ experience playing in the WNBA so recently with her final season being in 2019, she’s found ways to translate what the staff wants out of her post players while also being her players’ voices in staff meetings.

“It's more the mental aspect of it and feeling comfortable in the game, and just when they say things or things come up in our meetings where they're not even in them, it's like, ‘Oh, I know what that feels like.' So, I can advocate and be that voice for them in the rooms they’re not in,” Paris said.

That comfortability between Paris and the post group has started to show early on in the season, especially with Kamilla Cardoso. 

“Even though she's 6-foot-7, she's like a guard out there,” Paris said. “Just her being in control, controlling the pace, not going so fast, where now your footwork gets out of hand or you're off balance because of the pace. I think that's the biggest thing for her to understand.”

Cardoso’s offensive efficiency has shown in spurts but really came to life in the Sky’s 97-92 win over the Dallas Wings on May 29 where she put up a career high 23 points while shooting nearly 70% from the floor. That footwork was sound as she dominated throughout the paint in getting great positioning for her to have easy finishes around the rim. 

She’s shooting 51.7% from the floor on the season, putting her in the top 10 among centers. She’s also taking more shots beyond the restricted area, and they’re hitting. Last season, she shot just 36.5% beyond 5 feet; this season, that number is up to 42%.

However, it’s the defensive discipline that is still needing improvement. Cardoso has found herself in foul trouble early in games, and that’s something that Paris and the coaching staff touched on as a key focal point for Cardoso.

“If someone comes up on you, being able to catch on to you and take that extra dribble away,” Paris said.

“It’s understanding the defensive spacing and guarding space, how high you can be up, things like that,” Marsh said. “That’ll come. Kamilla’s learning to play different positions defensively as well as be in different areas. It’s an ongoing process, but it’s something we feel confident that she’ll adapt pretty well.”

As for Angel Reese, she was who Paris thought she was when she scouted Reese last season for the Dallas Wings.

“She has another level. When it's time to play, she competes at a level, and you can teach anything you want to teach in sports, but that competitive edge that you bring every day is either you have it or you don’t,” Paris said. “She just has it to the top level, even with all the pressure she has on her. That’s what most impressed me about her and what continues to impress me about her.”

That motor of Reese is helping her adapt to a brand new offensive system where she’s being asked to showcase her versatility. While offensive efficiency around the rim is still a top priority, other parts of her game are still shining through. 

She’s leading the league in rebounds per game with 12.5 boards per game, but it’s her assisting ability that’s putting her in the top 10 forwards in the league with 2.7 per game. Reese averaged only 1.9 a game during her rookie season, and she’s already matched her career high with 5 assists just six games into the season.

Defensively, she proved what she can do winning the Defensive Player of the Year in Unrivaled, and it was a key focus of hers heading into the inaugural season of the new league.

“Let's focus on one thing going into here, and that's defense. I think some of the best players play both sides of the ball,” Reese said at Media Day. “I watch A’ja and Napheesa…their motor is through the roof, and that's what I want to be like. I don't think anybody can take that from them, being able to go and go and go offensively and defensively. 

“I know my offensive game has time to catch up and can catch up, but defense is something I can do right away. I can always impact. That's something I can always bring to the team. As you can see this year, they really emphasize defense. So I want to be on the all-defensive team this year. The best players in this league are the fours, and I take that personal.”

It’s showing early in the season. Her hands are in passing lanes, creating deflections and playing disciplined to not get into foul trouble, leading to an uptick in her steals average from 1.3 per game last season to 1.8 in 2025.

It’s Paris’ calm temperament, playing experience and high IQ that’s led to the growth in both Cardoso and Reese this season. Only six games into 2025, the improvement from the two Skyscrapers is showing slowly but surely. 

While her delivery and communication is quiet and reserved, her presence and knowledge is echoing throughout the post group, inspiring her players to live up to her legacy and even surpass it.

“She did a lot for the game, and she's a legend,” Cardoso said at Media Day. “Just having her and having her coaching us is amazing. The things that she did, hopefully, one day, we can do the same.”