April 22--The Chicago Sky have parted ways with assistant coach and former NBA big man Tree Rollins, who has had health problems in recent seasons, and promoted interim assistant Jonah Herscu.
"It was unfortunate for the past couple of years with Tree's health, particularly this last one. But he's doing fine," said Sky coach Pokey Chatman. The team asked on Rollins' behalf to not make the nature of his medical condition public, but the illness has required surgeries and has forced him to miss games.
When Chatman and her staff traveled to Uncasville, Conn., to coach the East team in the WNBA All-Star game in July, Rollins stayed home and Herscu served in his place.
"I've had the opportunity to have Jonah in our organization for the past three years," Chatman said, "and it's a unique situation because he played collegiate ball but he's also been on the professional side at a high level in terms of developing the game, learning the game, scouting the game, preparing the game.
"And due to some unfortunate circumstances with Tree, we were able to get a peak into what he's truly about during a difficult time. With that being said, it made it a lot easier for me to move forward with securing him for our staff."
Herscu will work primarily with the Sky's post players but will also help assistant Christie Sides with coaching the guards.
"He'll become Christie's right hand with scouting and preparation," Chatman said. "In terms of a bench coach, that's not going to change from when he stepped on the bench with us when Tree went out. He's very involved in game day stuff, game decisions. He's a nice voice; he's a different set of eyes. He's been beneficial to us the past two years when he's had to sit on the bench, and I think he'll be comfortable getting into that role."
Herscu said he's been the type of coach to "sweat" with his players, playing in practices with them and working with them on drills. He plans to use his experience in video scouting and preparation to ground his players in fundamentals, particularly on defense.
"I think it's really how you teach and what you teach and how often you teach that," Herscu said. "From our perspective as a staff, we've been meeting for over a week, and all we've talked about is defense. We haven't even talked about offense. And I think our practices, especially early in training camp (which starts Sunday), will reflect on that."
Herscu previously was the team's head video coordinator, helping with scouting and player development. He has interned with the Bulls' video scouting department, coached with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and played for Carleton College. He graduated from Lake Forest College.
plthompson@tribpub.com
