The Sky face a steep climb from being one of the WNBA’s worst teams last season to living up to new coach Tyler Marsh’s vision of them becoming an opponent no one wants to face.

They have no hesitation, though, about attempting it. With forward Angel Reese a rising star and now surrounded by veterans who are heady on the court and steady in the locker room, the strides should be evident when they open the season Saturday against the Fever and Caitlin Clark.

“We’re always going to be in win-now mode,” general manager Jeff Pagliocca said Monday at media day. “We had to make some changes. We’re really confident about the group we have, and as long as we’re improving each day, we’ll gauge that internally, but the goal is to make the playoffs.

“It’s going to come down to how hard we play every night, how hard we defend, because we have enough offensive weapons now. As long as we execute Tyler’s stuff, we feel pretty confident about where we can be in this league.”

For all the improvements the Sky believe they’ve made, that’s the biggest. There’s full integration with Pagliocca and Marsh, who have partnered to give the team direction.

Pagliocca said Marsh, a first-time head coach at 37, has “already exceeded the expectations for a first-year coach” by commanding buy-in from players in training camp. He was delighted to get a question on Marsh’s progress because he’d never bypass the chance to “profess love” for him.

“Love is a strong word,” Marsh quipped. “But I think we’ll get there eventually. He’s been nothing short of amazing so far.”

Pagliocca knows what it’s like to be finding one’s way after he was a first-time general manager last season. He learned a lot from the misfortunes and miscalculations that led to the Sky going 13-27 and missing the playoffs.

When he fired Teresa Witherspoon and hired Marsh in November, they set to work on a shared blueprint. While it’ll ultimately be judged on the results, their process seemed sound.

Pagliocca said Marsh’s input was vital and they were “very aligned” as they sought solutions to several roster deficiencies.

The Sky desperately needed players with pedigree to dictate their culture and make them a smarter team on the floor and they brought in established guards in Courtney Vandersloot, Ariel Atkins and Kia Nurse.

Reese, who was thrust into a prominent role as a rookie, said the best part of being around veterans this past offseason — between the Unrivaled league and new Sky teammates — was “being directed and having direction.”

The Sky also needed perimeter shooting to deter defenders from crashing on Reese and center Kamilla Cardoso in the paint. And they wanted tenacious defenders that leave opponents flustered and bruised.

“Our identity is going to be gritty and tough,” Nurse said. “When you have to get ready for Chicago, you’re going to be like, ‘Damn, we’ve got to play them, we’ve got to play their physicality, they’re going to run.’ It’s going to be a long game.”

Marsh loved hearing that.

One of the often-overlooked challenges for WNBA teams is the short leadup to the season. so while Marsh has had the job for six months, he’s had his team in the gym for only about two weeks. That’s not much time to implement a vision.

But he sounds like he has everything he needs.

“We have the pieces in place to be successful,” Marsh said. “You’ve just got to give us the time to get there. I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but we feel good with where we’re at and who we have.”

He’ll get time, though it won’t be unlimited. Asking for patience is a tired Chicago sports tradition, and the Sky have had two consecutive losing seasons. They’ve needed a new direction, and it looks like they finally have one.