WNBA Preview: More of the same for the New York Liberty?

A successful recent run has still left the Liberty short of their championship goal. Will 2018 be different?

The WNBA enters its twenty second season this month and the New York Liberty are one of three remaining original franchises. This season, two-time WNBA champion Katie Smith is at the helm for the Liberty. She takes over as head coach after serving four season under the tutelage of Bill Laimbeer. She is the seventh head coach in Liberty history.

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New York completed their third consecutive winning season in 2017, but Smith is looking to return the Liberty to the WNBA Finals, a feat that has eluded them for the last 16 years. The Liberty franchise reached the final series four times in 21 seasons, but not since 2002.

Additionally, the team has finished third in two consecutive regular seasons, only to be ousted in the new single-elimination semifinal round both times. Can Smith and her Liberty roster take the next step, and even vie for the first title in franchise history? Let’s catch up on the roster:

Returning Players

The backbone of the New York Liberty has been, and remains, Tina Charles. The eight-year veteran averaged 19 points and 9 rebounds per game in 2017. She continues to be the centerpiece of the Liberty on and off the court. “Tina has been very solid for us as expected,” Smith said. “She continues to set the tone for the young players we have in camp. She also enjoys showing the young players the lay of the land and taking that extra time to help develop them … we are all looking forward to her having a great year.”

Veterans Amanda Zahui B, Epiphany Prince, Brittany Boyd, Shavonte Zellous, Kiah Stokes, and  Sugar Rodgers are all part of the team’s preseason roster.  Shoni Schimmel also returns after missing last season for rest and recovery from injury.

Liberty Newcomers

The Liberty selected Kia Nurse, Mercedes Russell and Leslie Robinson in the 2018 WNBA Draft. With those picks, you have to think Katie Smith will embrace the “defense first” culture of the team. Nurse hails from the top defensive team in the country, per Her Hoop stats. Additionally, she can shoot from the perimeter and spread the floor—the Ontario-native finished 14th in the country true shooting percentage.

Russell joins nine other players listed as six feet or taller. She averaged 15 points and 32 minutes per game for Tennessee this season. Despite their size last year, the Liberty fell in the middle of the pack on the offensive boards. Russell has shown she can be effective in creating second-chance opportunities for her team.

Robinson is a third round draft pick for the Liberty unlikely to rise to the top in what is a competitive Liberty training camps, especially with the likes of WNBA veteran Marissa Coleman and Reshanda Gray also in camp at the forward position. Coleman spent the last four seasons in Indiana. Gray was drafted by Minnesota in 2015.

First Impressions

After the first week of training camp, Smith was pleased by the effort and competitiveness the players brought to the court. As always, it’s hard to get a full grasp of the potential of a team in a few short practices. Yet, if both Boyd and Schimmel are healthy this year, that is already a huge advantage at point guard over last season.

The team lacked a true distributor for most of the season. Lindsay Allen was an efficient stopgap while Prince was overseas and Hartley regained her touch after maternity leave and a trade (from Washington).

Schimmel doesn’t necessarily resolve the point guard challenge for New York, but she is a dynamic shooter at the top of her game. In some respects, it doesn’t matter who brings the ball up when the Liberty have potential to feed Hartley, Rodgers, Schimmel or Nurse on the perimeter. The Liberty defense is usually its best offensive set, but the flip side of that is Smith’s team needs more transition buckets (the Liberty finished at the bottom of the WNBA in points per possession in transition, per Synergy), and more successful trips down the floor in the halfcourt set.

Predictions for 2018

Overall, the Liberty will have enough talent to sustain a top-four finish again this season. Beyond that is hard to say. The team, for good reason, relies on Tina Charles. However, the team needs to establish an identity and a sense of discipline beyond the five-time All-Star.

The Liberty open on the road against the Chicago Sky May 20, before returning to their new home in White Plains to host the Minnesota Lynx on May 25.