NY Liberty Assemble in Tarrytown for 2017 WNBA Championship Quest
New York Liberty All-Star center Tina Charles has not dismissed how disappointing the season ended last year. The Liberty finished on top of the Eastern Conference with a regular season record, 21-13, while winning 20 games for the second consecutive season.
With the changes to the WNBA Playoff format last year, the Liberty were the third seed of the eight teams that made the Playoffs, which were arranged chronologically without consideration of Eastern or Western Conference.
Many thought last season would have been the Liberty’s year to win a WNBA Championship. As one of the original teams in the WNBA, the Liberty has yet to produce a Championship in their 20 years of existence.
The Liberty got a bye in the Playoffs last season and faced the eighth seeded Phoenix Mercury in a one game winner-take-all Second Round Game. The Liberty had just beaten the Mercury 21 days earlier by 22 points. Therefore, fans at MSG had high expectations of advancing to the next round.
Nonetheless, Mercury’s Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor combined for 50 points and the Mercury shot 24-for-24 from the foul line to eliminate the Liberty and fans would have to wait again until next year.
“Oh yeah for sure (we use that for motivation). A bunch of us returners were in that position and have that bad taste in our mouths, so we are just looking forward and focusing on games in front of us,” said Charles, who last year became only the third player in WNBA history to lead the league in scoring and rebounding in the same year with 21.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
The Liberty made a major trade in the offseason when they brought back center Kia Vaughn, who was originally drafted by the Liberty in 2009. Liberty fan favorite Carolyn Swords was traded for Vaughn in a three-team trade, which also brought guard Bria Hartley to the Liberty. Swords will play for the Seattle Storm this season.
Vaughn played her first four seasons in the WNBA (2009-12) with the Liberty, while winning the Most Improved Player Award in 2011. Vaughn, a Bronx native, after playing four seasons with the Mystics, comes home and brings another New Yorker with her, North Babylon High School’s Hartley, who won a NCAA Championship with UConn, alongside her now teammate Kia Stokes.
“It feels great to be back knowing the court and where things are. It is home, it just had a peaceful feeling entering the building,” said Vaughn, regarding the MSG Training Center in Tarrytown. “I want a championship also. I do not have one either. I think God sent me away for a purpose. I think it was purposely meant for me to go away, mature and come back,” revealed Vaughn.
“I am from New York, I grew up watching the Liberty, so to come back and wear a Liberty jersey is very exciting for me,” commented Hartley, a three-year veteran of the WNBA, who shot over 36% from the three-point line last season.
“Bria Hartley has enjoyed great success as a champion on the big stage at UConn and will enhance our guard strength. Kia Vaughn will bring toughness and experience to our front court and she is a consummate professional basketball player,” said Head Coach Bill Laimbeer, who is beginning his fifth season with the Liberty.
The Liberty also stacked their guard position by drafting Lindsey Allen from the University of Notre Dame in the Second Round of the 2017 WNBA Draft. It is obvious the Liberty want to run this year and with a healthy Epiphanny Prince and Brittany Boyd and the Australian Rebecca Allen with the speedy Sugar Rogers and Shavonte Zellous and 12-year veteran Tanisha Wright, they will be able to run teams off the court without worrying about the fatigue factor.
“We are going to push the pace. We are not going to be a stupid run and gun team but we are going to push the pace and utilize all of our depth,” stated Laimbeer.
Boyd was injured and did not participate in the postseason due to injury and Stokes was injured during the latter part of last season. However, right now the Liberty are whole and stacked in the front court with Vaughn, Charles, Stokes and Amanda Zahui B. They also have an array of guards who can run the floor, pass and put the ball in the basket.
“Our focus is always the same, we want to win the WNBA Championship,” said Isiah Thomas, President of the NY Liberty. “Everything that we do everyday in practice and everything we do off the court is about trying to focus on winning the Championship and giving our players every opportunity to succeed.”
