CHICAGO — Last year whenI spoke with Kamilla Cardoso, the Chicago Sky centerpiece opened up about the influences shaping her identity on the hardwood. When I asked her about what drew her to the sport and who she enjoyed watching, Cardoso smiled and gave direct credit to WNBA legend A’ja Wilson:
“A’ja Wilson. I always watched her play and when I went to college [South Carolina] they talked a lot about her career and I’ve always admired her game, so yeah.”
Fast forward to a year later, and Cardoso isn’t just modeling her game after upper-echelon stars—she is steadily becoming one.
Following a recent Chicago Sky media availability, I caught up with Sky head coach Tyler Marsh to discuss Cardoso’s development and how his background as a teacher is guiding both Cardoso and the franchise through the natural ebbs and flows of WNBA competition.
When asked about Cardoso’s progression, Marsh pointed directly to her relentless work ethic and mental approach to the game.
“You look on the surface, or you just look at her numbers and she’s up in points per game, she’s up in rebounds per game, she’s up in assists, she’s up in steals, she’s up in blocks, she’s up in field goal percentage, she’s up in free throw percentage—every metric across the board she’s been up in,” Marsh told me.
“I think her defensive numbers have been up as well.”
However, for Marsh, the real transformation goes far beyond the stat sheet.
“For me, the thing that I’m most proud of is that for the majority of this season, she’s learned how to not let one area of her game that’s maybe not going well that day affect her on the other end,” Marsh explained. “I think she’s been mentally and emotionally more engaged from a possession-by-possession and night-to-night basis that has really shown the growth and maturity of her as a player. And the confidence that she has in her teammates and in this team? You’ve got to respect that for someone who’s still in their third year.”
That level of player development is a trademark of Tyler Marsh’s coaching resume.
Before taking the reins as Chicago’s head coach, Marsh spent years mastering his craft across both the NBA and WNBA. He won an NBA Championship as a player development coach with Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors in 2019, spent time on the sidelines with the Indiana Pacers under Rick Carlisle and Nate Bjorkgren and earned two WNBA Championship rings (2022, 2023) as an assistant coach and head of player development for Becky Hammon’s Las Vegas Aces. During his tenure in Las Vegas, Marsh was famously credited by All-Star guard Jackie Young for transforming her perimeter jumper and elevating her into an elite two-way star.
Now in his head coaching role in Chicago, Marsh is drawing upon those championship experiences and his upbringing as a coach’s son—to navigate the challenges of building a program.
“There’s two parts to this,” Marsh reflected when I asked about the lessons he’s carried from his mentors. “There’s the basketball side where you get the mentorship from your ideas and your advice and then there’s the off-the-court stuff as well. There’s times where, especially when you’re struggling, where you tend to feel like you’re the only one that’s dealing with it and the only one that’s going through it and you forget about some of the mentors that you have, or the other coaches around you. Nobody’s absolved from going through these types of seasons.”
Rather than shying away from growing pains, Marsh embraces them as an essential step toward long-term success.
“You know, I’m hitting my adversity early,” Marsh admitted. “We’re hitting our adversity early in my career and here in this tenure with the Sky. It is what it is. You take that in stride, it’s all part of the growth for myself. The thing that I try to be as locked into as possible is being there for my team, being there for my staff, being there for my organization, representing each facet in the best light possible.”
For Marsh, coaching isn’t just a profession; it’s a family legacy and a personal calling. “I’m a coach’s kid,” he said.
I’ve grown up around it my whole life and so it wasn’t easy for my pops, it wasn’t easy for some of my mentors that I’ve been around and you understand that coming into this profession and this business. You also understand and accept that it’s a responsibility—it’s not just, you can’t just approach this as a job. So, for me, that’s how I try to look at it.”
With a championship pedigree, a proven track record in player development and a rising anchor in Kamilla Cardoso, Tyler Marsh is building a culture in Chicago rooted in resilience, teaching and steady growth.
