While Angel Reese may have “manifested” getting into the WNBA Finals all along this season, for the Atlanta Dream to reach there required Reese to work on an aspect of her game that has always been her achilles heel. Dream HC Karl Smesko was also cognizant of this, but the way he made Reese work on this critical aspect left the Atlanta forward a little sheepish.

While Reese has established herself as a rebounding machine in her short tenure in the WNBA, it’s no secret that shooting has not always been the best part of her game. Perhaps that is why Karl Smesko took a very radical and different approach with her.

“I remember every moment in training camp where we were going through drills, and he stopped everybody and told me I had to make two [three-pointers] in a row in front of everybody,” said Reese, recounting an incident earlier in the season, in the post-game press conference after Game 3 against the New York Liberty.

Both Karl Smesko and Reese’s teammate Jordin Canada can be seen slightly smirking as Reese makes this honest admission.

“And you never want to shy down your teammates; you never want to let your teammates down. We couldn’t resume the drill until I made the two in a row, and I was upset with him that day for sure because I didn’t want to let the team down. I didn’t want to feel embarrassed about how long it could have taken me to make them, but now it’s like so easy,” Reese added.

Desperate times do call for desperate measures. In the 2025 season, Angel Reese recorded an FG% of 45.8, converting just 153 of her 334 shots. She attempted only 22 shots from beyond the arc, while converting just four of them.

Her shot breakup revealed how dire the situation was, with Reese not making a single shot from the 10-14 ft range, and only making two of the 18 shots she took form the 20-24 ft range.

It was obvious that Reese was struggling to convert her shots, especially her mid-range jumpers. This has often led to the term”mebounds” being floated around her game, as Reese often grabbed a second or third rebound for her own shots that wouldn’t go in on the first attempt.

So it was only natural for Reese to work on this glaring gap in her otherwise near-perfect gameplay.

At the start of the season, Reese spent some time with renowned basketball trainer Iren Rainey to help with her shooting. Rainey has previously helped the likes of Aaron Gordon to improve their shooting form and posture. And it seems this was the goal with Reese as well.

Rainey uploaded a clip of Reese making back-to-back threes from the perimeter, and it seemed that the duo worked on changing Reese’s shooting form and the way she released the ball.

Whatever Coach Karl Smesko or Rainey did seems to have worked this season.

Reese has shown an improvement in both efficiency and effectiveness when it comes to her shooting. This season, she boasts an FG% of 45.1, making considerably more shots than last year (554), while converting 250 of them.

Her mid-range jumper and shooting from beyond the arc have also improved. Reese made 10 of 52 from the 20-24 ft range, not elite by WNBA standards, but a vast improvement from last year. She also made 26% of her shots from the 5- 9 ft range, converting 13 of her 50 shots. Her 3P% has also improved to 19.3%, from last year’s 18.2%, despite the fact that she attempted more than double the shots she attempted last year (22 vs 57).

Facing a team like the Golden State Valkyries, who are built quite tight defensively, Reese’s shooting might come in handy. While the Dream have Rhyne Howard and Jordin Canada for offensive prowess, they will likely attract the best of the Valkyries ‘ defenders, including Gabby Williams.

With Allisha Gray still recovering from their injury, this could give Reese a chance to impact the game even more if Gray is ruled out of the upcoming game.

For the fans, it’s a welcome sign that Reese is working to improve her game in every way. Perhaps she would have taken some inspiration from teammate Naz Hillmon, who also had her fair share of shooting troubles.

“I was just seeing how the player development was and how he [ Karl Smesko] developed Naz [Hillmon] in one year and how I wanted that,” Reese said.

Hillmon made just two threes in 2022, three in 2023, and just one in 2024. But it seemed that Smesko got through in the next year, as Hillmon attempted a staggering 165 three-pointers, converting 53, displaying a 32% success rate from beyond the arc.

Atlanta fans will hope for something similar in Reese’s case as well.