ANGEL REESE has been accused of being a “lazy” player during her high school basketball career.
Reese – along with rival Caitlin Clark – has helped take the WNBA to new heights in her few months as a professional.
Angel Reese shone during her debut WNBA season with the Chicago Sky[/caption]
Reese, 22, was snapped up by LSU after impressing at St Frances Academy[/caption]
The Chicago Sky forward enjoyed a strong debut season, averaging 13.6 points, 13.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
Reese’s talent was apparent when she was a fresh-faced teenager at St Frances Academy in Maryland.
But according to her former coach Sam Cassell, she wasn’t always the hardest worker.
The Celtics assistant coach said of Reese during an appearance on the ‘Come and Talk 2 Me’ podcast: “That’s my little, that’s my baby girl right there
“Angel, like just watching her grow up through the ranks in Baltimore High School and see her now and play the game of basketball.
“I thought she was so lazy in high school. Because she was so much better than anyone.
“Sometimes she’d miss a layup, get a rebound [and] miss another layup.
“The other team got the ball and she wouldn’t run back down [the] court.”
Angel Reese averaged 13.6 points in her debut WNBA season[/caption]
Cassell, however, admits the former LSU star and No.7 pick in the WNBA draft has come on leaps and bounds since he coached her.
And Reese’s fellow Maryland native is over the moon to see her flying high.
He added: “Seeing her play, it’s like wow we got another one from our town that’s doing something positive and making it.
Although Reese shone in her maiden WNBA season, the same could not be said for the Chicago Sky.
They finished ROCK BOTTOM of the Eastern Conference, with just 13 wins and a whopping 27 losses to their name.
And their woeful season prompted General Manager Geoff Pagliocca to wield the axe on head coach Teresa Weatherspoon late last month.
The firing of Weatherspoon devastated Reese, who wrote on social media: “I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life.
Angel Reese was left devasted by Teresa Weatherspoon’s firing[/caption]
“She was the only person that believed in me. The one that trusted me.
“Many don’t even know what it’s like to be a black woman in sports when nobody believes in you. You had a tough job.
“All the crazy circumstances that we went through this year & when your back was against the wall, you always believed.
“I came to Chicago because of YOU. You were an unsung hero in my life.
” We built a relationship in a short amount of time that will last forever.”
