New York Liberty re-sign Tina Charles
By Ben Dull
It was only a matter of time. High Post Hoops was able to confirm Friday evening that the New York Liberty have re-signed 2012 WNBA MVP and eight-time All-WNBA selection Tina Charles.
The Liberty designated Charles as their core player this offseason. The New York native was named to the All-WNBA first team for the third consecutive season after averaging 19.7 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists in the 2017 regular season.
New York finished the regular season on a 10 game winning streak to earn the third overall seed and a first round bye in the 2017 WNBA Playoffs. The Liberty came up short in the single elimination contest at the hands of the Washington Mystics.
From a roster standpoint, the Liberty return just about everybody. The team re-signed restricted free agent guard Bria Hartley and unrestricted free agent forward/center Kia Vaughn. New York also re-signed reserved free agents Lindsay Allen and Rebecca Allen.
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The lone remaining free agent for the Liberty is Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, also a reserved free agent. The Liberty have invited four players to training camp already — Jillian Alleyne, Ify Ibekwe, Kelly Faris and Reshanda Gray. New York holds the 10th overall pick in the first round of next week’s draft.
The Liberty currently have one open roster spot, though even those training camp invitees may have a hard time making the roster if the Liberty manage to land a player high up on their draft board with the 10th pick. Our latest mock draft has New York selecting young Russian forward/center Maria Vadeeva in the first round.
Will the Liberty keep the band together and hope to integrate a first round pick with some upside? No major pieces signed elsewhere in free agency, meaning the Liberty would have to send somebody out in a trade or waive a player to make room to shake their rotation up in a big way. As the season approaches, keep an eye out for updates on point guard Brittany Boyd, who went down early in the 2017 season after suffering a torn Achilles.
The offseason has been a whirlwind in every other aspect, though. Owner James Dolan placed the team on the block but a sale did not go through. Dolan announced a decision to have the Liberty play all but two 2018 regular season home games at the Westchester County Center rather than at Madison Square Garden.
Bill Laimbeer accepted a dual head coach/president of basketball operations gig with the Las Vegas Aces, meaning the top team in the Eastern Conference in each of the past two seasons would need a new head coach. Confirmation came shortly after Laimbeer’s decision was announced formally — assistant coach Katie Smith was named the next head coach of the franchise in October.
Charles remains one of the best players in all of basketball, and will be key for a franchise navigating a trying period in their history. Knowing the core of this roster remains in tact for 2018, though, fans can be sure of this much: Charles will be in a good position once again to lead her team into the playoffs.
Charles has been very open in expressing her desire to win a WNBA championship with the Liberty. They’ll need to get over the hump in the early rounds of the playoffs first, which is easier said than done in a single elimination format.
If the Liberty come out of the gate and sustain their level of play from the second half of last season, they can certainly set their sights on a top-two seed to secure a double bye to the semifinals.
To be clear, the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks remain the class of the league. But in a condensed season, one rolled ankle for any top player on a contending team could have massive implications on playoff seeding.
Charles and the Liberty haven’t yet captured one of those vaunted double byes, but they’ve been on the other side of it twice. If any team understands the value of securing one of those two spots better than the Lynx or Sparks, it’s the Liberty.
Related Story: PODCAST: Liberty head coach Katie Smith
Teams need top-flight talent to win at the highest level. With Friday’s news, the Liberty now know for certain that their superstar isn’t going anywhere.