CHAMBLEE, GA ― Shot by shot, Angel Reese is finding her comfort with the Atlanta Dream.
Reese has spent the first 10 days after her introductory press conference on April 17 focusing on basketball. She’s praised her teammates and the “electric” environment they’ve provided, making her acclimation to the team “seamless.” Reese also shouted out second-year head coach Karl Smesko for his coaching and guidance, helping to improve her shot.
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“We’ve been working a lot. Forty-five (degrees), straight — he’s very big on analytics — so he’s helped me a lot. I can see the improvement already from yesterday to today,” Reese said on April 20. “But it’s been great. It’s been seamless. Amazing. Picking up things on the fly … but it’s been a great adjustment.”
Reese said earlier this month that she wanted to be coached hard. Smesko appears to be delivering.
On Monday, the former Florida Gulf Coast women’s basketball coach spoke to his team in a calm but firm voice that noticeably cut through the silence in the gym with booming authority. Smesko, with a whistle in hand and arms extended outward, demanded extra attention to detail and focus from every player on the court.
He pointed out mistakes ― the incorrect set, a pending shot clock violation or defensive effort he wasn’t pleased with ― by making his team run things again or asking them to take the reins on pointing out where they went wrong.
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Smesko also heaped praise on his group when they did something well, and the team responded, including Reese, who kept up her intensity and communication throughout the portion of the practice open to the media. After practice, Reese smiled gleefully when asked about her first training camp under Smesko.
“My experience with Karl has been amazing. We work at it every day before practice ― about me shooting and keeping my shot on target and everything ― and I can tell the difference. Even my misses look like makes, and they’re close enough,” Reese said, laughing.
“He’s been doing a lot of great things with me. He’s sitting down individually (with me), but I appreciate him for holding me accountable every single possession, and always getting on me.”
Still, Smesko, who commended Reese on her growth during her first Dream press conference, said Atlanta is the benefitting from having Reese on the team − not the other way around.
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“Angel’s gonna help us a lot more than us, a lot more than I’m going to help Angel. “She’s such a talented player, and she’s so great,” Smesko said during Reese’s first week of practice.
“From defense to rebounding to handling the ball ― just being able to drive by people ― she just can do so many things. It’s just being able to utilize her to what she does best and then just keep expanding her game where she feels more comfortable shooting it, catching it, shot-faking and taking it to the rim. Things of that nature. It’ll be a process … I do think that you’ll see a lot of growth over the season just by her attitude and willingness to work to get better.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Angel Reese said she wants hard coaching — her shot is responding with Dream
