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Sue Bird Reveals How Angel Reese Must Improve Next Season

WNBA legend Sue Bird spoke about one aspect of Angel Reese's game that could use further development in 2025.

Grant Young

Jul 27, 2021; Saitama, Japan; USA player Sue Bird (6) is seen on the bench as USA plays Nigeria during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Saitama Super Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
Jul 27, 2021; Saitama, Japan; USA player Sue Bird (6) is seen on the bench as USA plays Nigeria during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Saitama Super Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Now that her playing career is behind her, WNBA legend Sue Bird spends much of her time watching women's basketball's next generation of superstars.

One of whom is Chicago Sky rookie sensation Angel Reese. While Reese is now sidelined for the rest of the 2024 season due to her needing wrist surgery, she produced one of the best rookie campaigns in WNBA history and would have been an easy choice for WNBA Rookie of the Year if not for the even more spectacular season submitted by Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark.

Despite Reese's extraordinary season, her game could still use some development in one clear area. And Bird alluded to this during a September 11 episode of the "A Touch More" podcast.

"What I find most fascinating about [Reese's] game is her shooting percentage," Bird said. "And this is why: She shoots something like... 38, 39 percent."

Reese shot 39.1% from the floor this season, including 44.5% from within five feet of the basket. For context, most of the WNBA's best forwards (such as A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart) shoot around 65-66% from within five feet.

"You know how we were just talking about things that she can control? This is in her control," Bird continued. "For Angel... she kind of knows what shots she's gonna get... These shots are coming, at the clip they're coming, in the places that they're coming, no matter what. Every single game, pretty consistent.

"So all she really needs to do is bump up her shooting percentage by like 3, 4, 5 points — which is totally doable — and all of a sudden we’re looking at a kid instead averaging like 13 and 13, it’s like 18 and 13," Bird added.

Bird concluded with, "The reason why people have talked about her game negatively is that shooting percentage. But she's not far off, because those shots are coming. It's different from other players, where they have to maybe create a little bit more."

Bird is right in asserting that, given how elite Reese's rebounding already is, improving her shooting percentage near the basket would immediately turn her into one of women's basketball's best players.

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Grant Young

GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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