The Liberty are trying their best to temper expectations — at least early on.
It makes sense.
New York has a new head coach in Chris DeMarco, with an almost entirely new support staff. He’s overhauling the offense that struggled a year ago and establishing new defensive principles while several key players remain absent as they finish their overseas commitments.
All this has general manager Jonathan Kolb hedging his bets for now.
“It’s going to take time and I think it’s just about being patient with the process,” Kolb said Sunday. “But again, we know what we’re here to do. We know what our goals are, which is a championship.”
But patience is hard to buy with a roster as star-studded as the Liberty’s.
Five key members of New York’s title-winning team in 2024 are back, including Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Leonie Fiebich. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton said she’s healthier than she was during that championship run.
In free agency, the Liberty jumped on the opportunity to add another All-Star, Satou Sabally, to the mix.
The roster — arguably the league’s best on paper — features everything a coach could want. There’s depth at each position, which should help whenever injuries hit. The Liberty have length, size and versatility.
There’s no reason New York shouldn’t be contending for the title this fall.
But right now? The Liberty are in the early stages of putting the machine together.
“We’re very talented,” Kolb said. “Talent can win games but what we want is connection. We want our players to be connected on the floor and that’s gonna take time to build, when you have a new system, and I think you may have heard commentary about the system and players maybe not second-guessing as much as in the past, we want to get to a point where that is second nature for them. They are playing together, connected.”
A year ago, at his preseason news conference, Kolb talked about his long-term vision for the Liberty. He discussed wanting to make the Liberty into an “iconic” franchise, one that’s a perennial title contender.
But this year, Kolb is focused on the present and putting total trust in DeMarco even if it means waiting for delayed gratification.
“The biggest thing for Chris is he really doesn’t want to skip steps with instruction and so it’s making sure that our players are mastering certain things before we move on [or] we stack things on top of that,” Kolb said. “Because I think what happens is the deck can get really cluttered and you could become a master of none and so for us, it was just being really intentional and I think you’ve seen the word simplicity, you’ve seen the words clarity, this is what we talked about.
“And then honestly, that this is his and his staff’s show. I want them to be empowered and thrive and they’re really good at what they do.”
Last year, the Liberty opened the season with a franchise-best 9-0 start. Injuries struck and the team floundered and struggled to find its footing. New York was bounced from the playoffs in the first round.
Is that the floor for this year’s team?
“Maybe,” Kolb said. “I think it’s a talented group, but I do think that it has a very high ceiling and we’re really excited about reaching that ceiling.”
