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00:03what's up everybody welcome back to another edition of liberty lately it's your boy dexter henry
00:07with the fantastic women's sports reporter for the new york post the one and only madeline kenny
00:13maddie you don't got to travel anymore the liberty season is over i feel like you should be
00:18a little for now a little more well rested how you doing i'm doing well yeah i'm well rested
00:23i'm going to cancun this weekend so i am i am good to go but i am really excited for
00:29the wnba
00:29finals to follow along you know as a fan and just to be able to watch it yo i didn't
00:34know you were
00:34doing like you know one two three cancun that's what you usually say when the team gets bounced
00:38three two one cancun yeah it was this was pre-plan this was not it was this was like months
00:44ago i
00:45have a i have a wedding ah okay well congrats to the bride and groom uh in that wedding and
00:51that
00:51should be fun you get to go to cancun and relax for a little bit not to think about the
00:54liberty
00:54or anything else that that's that's going to be really good but before maddie goes to cancun
00:59we're going to talk a little bit about the liberty and their season that ended
01:02at the hands of the atlanta dream uh maddie i would kind of want to try to sum up the
01:07liberty
01:08season and try to do it kind of succinctly if we can if you had to sum up the liberty
01:12season in one
01:13word what would that word be and what what's the what's the example that would make your case
01:19for why you chose that word i mean it's a word that we've used a lot on this show all
01:24season and
01:25even last year i feel like it was kind of a common theme and that's that's inconsistent
01:29um or inconsistency just and probably the best example was you know what happened in the playoffs
01:36the fact that you were able to take care of business so mightily against the minnesota links
01:42which in hindsight may be a team in peril a little bit um but then to just be totally outmatched
01:49and
01:51outplayed by the atlanta dream in three games i think that kind of just showed the inconsistency
01:56and and even like when you want to go on even a smaller level just like looking from quarter to
02:01quarter or half to half like the different versions of the team that we would see yeah i i think
02:06for me
02:07when i was thinking of this the word for me inconsistency is definitely more than fair the word that
02:12comes to me is frustrating or frustration is the word i have for this team because you know we went
02:18from
02:18the beginning of the season where we're talking about the championship expectations and then seeing
02:22those inconsistencies i think was frustrating for many of us in the media to watch fans to watch
02:27and just saying hey why can't this team just put it together nothing seems to really go right and i
02:32think the example of being frustrating where i agree with you is really this playoffs and seeing how they
02:38played against minnesota probably catching them at the right time and then just how much different they
02:42looked against atlanta and in some ways they were outclassed um against atlanta in that wma semi-series
02:50so frustrating frustrating year for the liberty fans um but we'll see how the team bounce back but
02:56speaking of atlanta maddie they get bounced in the semis after sweeping the links in the first round they
03:02get swept themselves um i think a lot of us we were encouraged after they swept the links and but
03:11to let everybody know when we made our predictions here at the round table we kind of all walked out
03:15like uh maybe maybe we're a little bit too positive here but when you look at this the series with
03:20the
03:20dream do you think the dream exposed the liberty or was there what did you see that atlanta was able
03:28to
03:29consistently make new york do that was negative that minnesota wasn't able to do yeah it was just the fact
03:36that atlanta dictated how the game was going to go and controlled the series the entire time um they
03:42forced the liberty into a lot of turnovers the liberty knew that that was you know the dreams mo and
03:48yet
03:48fell victim to exactly what they wanted to do and so you know i think that that had that that's
03:56the
03:56biggest takeaway from the semis is just how much in control atlanta was and the liberty you know they
04:02really struggled to muster up like great stretches and there'd be times when you know they might be
04:07even up or or the score is neck and neck and then all of a sudden you go through like
04:12a lengthy
04:12scoring drought or you know atlanta goes on a run whether it's you know turnovers in the term of like
04:20jumping and like stealing the ball or maybe a bad shot or a missed shot turns into a run the
04:27other
04:27way so i think that was probably you know the biggest thing for atlanta is that they just
04:32they hit more shots they had they won the possession game by a pretty large margin it's
04:37actually really impressive to look at like how close some of those games were and knowing that the
04:43dream had you know 10 20 more uh possessions and liberty did yeah won the possession game got those
04:51points off for turnovers and did most of this without alicia gray which is impressive too she you know
04:56they played what 10 and a half ish quarters without her so that was very impressive what they did too
05:01now after the liberty get bounced a lot of the talk from the fan base and even us in the
05:07media and we
05:07were there in the exit interviews was about the head coach chris demarco and whether or not he will
05:12return he was asked about that in the press conference um when you think about this with demarco
05:21do do you think that he's in any hot seat is there a seat hot for him right now maddie
05:27is there a better
05:28chance that he will come back what do you think about what the liberty may or may not want to
05:33do
05:33in terms of the head coaching position right now yeah you know it's really hard to say because i'm kind
05:40of hearing mixed uh thoughts on what's going to happen um i i think with the the thing with chris
05:48is
05:48that heading into this season and i actually went back on jonathan kolb's like training camp press
05:53conference and you know he talked about being patient with this process and they knew that
05:57there was going to be growing pains you knew that you know what chris was trying to do is overhaul
06:02an
06:02offense that was uh ineffective and stagnant a year ago totally mix up the defense establish new
06:10principles um there was also a lot of new faces that were being integrated into this this team in this
06:15roster and you know there were injuries at the beginning of the season you you lose saw two in
06:21late june to a concussion you hold out hope through july and august that she's going to come back because
06:27she was such a big part of what the team's uh plans were for this season and then ultimately you
06:34know she's
06:35ruled out for the remainder of the year and it kind of like you're forced to you know reconcile with
06:41that but also like what's next right and so you know this team there's a lot of i think they
06:46had
06:46like 15 different starting lineups um and so it just was like this hard to have like lineup continuity
06:53and develop that chemistry and you know i think there's a learning process through all of this with
07:01chris demarco i think he learned a lot this year um that reset timeout was an egregious mistake by his
07:07uh or egregious error i should say by his coaching staff and him included in that obviously um and i
07:15think that kind of was what made you question really you know how what how patient is the liberty going
07:22to be with this this hire and then also you know the exit interviews weren't very promising um you think
07:30back to a year ago when players were asked about sandy brondello and what they would say to people who
07:36didn't think sandy was going to be back this year in 2026 and they all kind of stood 10 toes
07:42down and
07:43were so taken aback that that was even a question right this year was more of a we don't make
07:49those
07:50decisions it is what it is and so i think that's where some of that doubt you know trickles in
07:55yeah the
07:56tone was so different when i was sitting there with you in those exit interviews the press conference
08:00they had just the tone was so different from jj and sab and stewie probably most notably for me
08:07just because of how when she was asked the question last year she was almost incredulous like
08:10why would sandy not be back here um she you know and this year she's like yeah well we got
08:17to see
08:18and i'm going to talk to the front office and she should not saying there's anything wrong with what
08:21she's saying because there's nothing wrong with that at all but the tone was just so different it was
08:26striking to me um and and we'll see let me just one follow up on that maddie because you talked
08:32about
08:32going back to jonathan kolb's press conference um it's at training camp when he talked to the media
08:38and i think back to after sandy brondello being let go kolb said that he had to get this hiring
08:45right
08:45this this hiring of the head coach right um he had to nail it that's his word sorry i don't
08:50want to i
08:51just quote him here had to nail it right same thing but we want we want to make sure we're
08:55accurate
08:55um he said that and i guess there could be a question of is it fair enough to judge within
09:02a year
09:03whether he got it right or not you tell me what you think but part of it for me is
09:08that
09:09the expectations have to match it too he said that and then the expectations we talked about this from
09:13the jump the start of the year that they were championship expectations and obviously
09:17they fell short of that so i guess you can have fans talk about chris marco on the hot seat
09:24but
09:25shouldn't some accountability also go towards jonathan kolb too because he said he had to get
09:30this right after he chose to make the change totally and i i think that like we kind of
09:36overlooked the fact that they won the commissioner's cup i mean say what you want about the midseason
09:41tournament your favorite tournament or not yeah my favorite tournament um but you know that that was
09:47kind of something worth acknowledging and and i think like you said it's chris knew the expectations
09:56he was stepping into he knew any team with brianna stewart needs to be contending for a championship
10:02and um you know injuries aside and stuff like that that was the expectation and they didn't they
10:10ended up getting swept in the semi-finals and the fact that it was you know the first sweep in
10:15brianna
10:16stewart's career like in a best of five series and i believe it was the first time in franchise history
10:21uh in a best of five series that they experienced a sweep like that um it does bring into questions
10:27but also like i just think overall like you look at this off season and change has to happen i'm
10:32not
10:32saying it has to happen with you know kolb or or chris or or what but something has to happen
10:39so one of
10:40those it's it's either like the big three chris or colt those are your three options and you know
10:45i'm fairly cert certain that jonathan kolb is not going anywhere um and i think with you when you look
10:54at chris you got to think about like continuity as well right like we talk about roster continuity but
10:59if you're changing head coaches you know left and right and they have to come in start from the
11:03you know ground zero at training camp again you know where where what are your realistic expectations
11:12next year right um because it's and so i think that you know their change can happen in a multitude
11:17of
11:17ways maybe it's like looking at the staff maybe there's some personnel changes on the roster so um but
11:25i do think something has to change you can't run it back with the same group and and everything and
11:30expect for different results yeah i i agree with you that change has happened so let's talk about
11:35that change a little bit you talked about one of the possible change changes if they were to go this
11:40way not that we're saying this or reporting anything but you're going to look at the core of this team
11:44and you're going to look at brianna stewart who i don't think is absolutely going anywhere just to be
11:48clear uh sabrina nescue and john cole jones they're all signed through 2028 that is your core that is your
11:55big
11:55three if you're not going to move on from breaking up that core potentially what should you
12:05i think you got to think about it yeah well we'll let you we'll let you finish your question yeah
12:12no and and i will i will answer your question too i'm not i'm not going to duck it either
12:16um
12:18i think before i get to my question i think you have to think about it i think if you're
12:23going to
12:25evaluate the way you just said looking at everything i think you have to seriously
12:30say okay where do we need to improve this will kind of tie to the question i'm going to go
12:35to you
12:35is the improvement going to be internal which is what i was going to ask you with those with the
12:39three there do you need something on the outside which we'll get to or do you just need an influx
12:46of
12:46new talent in here that can cover for some of the deficiencies that you might have in certain
12:52areas and i'm not going to dance around this we talked about it all year the deficiencies for the
12:56liberty particularly for me this season was on the defensive side was just defending on the perimeter
13:03i don't trust anybody really um outside of stewie and febic in terms of perimeter defenders and
13:11jonquil's pretty good when she switches and she's fine um but out there they just it wasn't strong and you
13:17saw where they missed benajalini hamilton when she was healthy and her defense you could see it it
13:22just spoke volume so if it's if it was up to me personally
13:29i'm looking very long and hard and seriously at breaking up this big three um you just got a question
13:36like if this had reached its ceiling you know like they won a championship together they've been to two
13:41finals um the last two playoffs they had they had early exits from their standards um because again
13:48like we're not the one saying that this they're the one setting that this the standard is championships
13:53right right and so by their standards they fell short and so yeah you have to like i wrote this
14:01after
14:01the season ended that nobody should be comfortable other than brianna stewart because she is like the one
14:08person that i just think it has to be untouchable you know what i mean but you have to like
14:15take a
14:16long look at this roster and look at it and be like is this an actual championship roster or is
14:23it
14:24a group that wants to be a championship roster but but has too many holes to actually like go on
14:32a deep run
14:33i think to just i know you're just kind of tossing that out there and saying what they should look
14:38at i don't think it's a championship roster i still think they have a championship level
14:45best player who's coming to the end of her prime but to me you have i agree with you she's
14:51not going anywhere you have to try to maximize the next two years if you can yeah and try to
14:55reset
14:56around her now this resetting around her probably make you take a step back next year possibly but not
15:01necessarily if you can get the right pieces in there and so i'm hearing us talk about all this
15:08and i i don't want to try to dance around it because i've heard i've had conversations other
15:14people talked about this i think everybody's thinking about it it's like well would you move
15:17on from sad and it's tough because um she's the first number one pick in franchise history
15:26uh but let's she's not the best player on the team because stewie is that she's the best two-way
15:31player look look at the look at what stew you've been you've lauded this all year and you said she
15:35would be the team mvp in our early season predictions stewie was carrying this team some nights i mean look
15:43at the performance that she had put up uh in game in game one that was of the series right
15:48look at the
15:49performance she put up in game one of against minnesota like we've seen her put up tremendous
15:55two-way performances and still at her age she's still playing really well at a high level and so
16:00you've got to maximize that and to me um i have another question coming for you about that later
16:05but i think there's a way you got to maximize the roster around her but what i was going to
16:08ask you
16:09the big three just come back to it is do you think if you're going to keep the big three
16:13here
16:13yeah do you think there's anything in terms of internal development that can happen that would
16:19make with those three players particularly that would make the liberty better next year do you
16:24think there's internal development that can happen with those three that would put them back into us
16:28looking at this as a championship roster yeah i mean you know it's really hard to know how much of
16:34this season for sabrina unesco in particular was like it was derailed by injuries right like she
16:42missing the first month of the season at a time when you're implementing a totally new system she
16:48comes in in june it's a rocky few weeks she has a great she is also playing through a back
16:54injury
16:55that the team has called back soreness but we don't really have any clarity on what exactly was
17:01bothering her she had mentioned a few times that it continued to bother her as she returned to the
17:07floor um she had a strong july and outside of that just really struggled to find any type of flow
17:14and
17:14rhythm and and i think you saw it in the atlanta series just how kind of for somebody that's so
17:21level-headed and so like locked in and um her confidence is like on the outward like outwardly
17:30doesn't appear to be like rocked very easily she appeared a little rattled in moments i mean she even
17:37said like i'm talking about like some of the turnovers that she made um you know she said for
17:43one of the turnovers in that game two uh where she the ball sailed i think it sailed into like
17:49the sideline like into the stands oh the late one where she's trying to hit jonquil yeah yeah yeah yeah
17:54she said like she should have shot that but she just didn't feel comfortable enough because she hadn't
17:59made enough shots earlier in the game to shoot that and like you don't hear that from like
18:02sabrina usually you know i think that was very vulnerable and honest of her and so i think this
18:08is like nobody needs this off season more than um sabrina just to like kind of reset and so i'm
18:17not
18:17totally out on sabrina um i think there's some people that think i am but not by any means i
18:23think
18:23that you know she can make some improvements and stuff um and i think jj i mean when she's locked
18:32in she's she's so good the team wins when she's like like almost always when she is so locked in
18:38and so um i think like even just her off season like she's gonna play for project b i believe
18:47um i think that could be like good for her right you know take some time off rest recover
18:54play for project b i like you kind of know what you're getting from jj at this point in her
19:00career
19:00like i don't know how much more like development she can necessarily do it's just more about like
19:05constant buy-in constant like her motor needs to be on an angel reese level at all times you know
19:13what
19:13i mean angel angel reese brought out what i like to see in jj i like i thought jj had
19:19her she had a
19:20good series against atlanta for the most part except for the six turnovers in game two i thought she
19:25played she meant the moment i thought she was pretty intense there and just to be clear not saying that
19:31you were saying this but i know you said some people think you don't like sab or want her gone
19:35or
19:35are out on her i'm not that either sab has her deficiencies on the defensive end we've all known
19:42that we've always known that i thought um not the quickest person no like you know and you also
19:50yeah and it's not sorry i mean to cut you off but but you gotta look at all of it
19:55like you gotta look at
19:56everyone yeah no that's that's more than fair i think you have to look at everybody no i'm with you
20:01nobody's exempt except for stewie um i do think the off season will do well for sab i thought two
20:07seasons ago sab was so good she had really improved her game became a really good three-level scorer
20:11the shot selection was better and i even thought her defense became better um in the year that they
20:16won the championship so we've seen her be able to defend at a competent league average level and we
20:22you know hopefully she can get healthy and be back to that so we'll see all right so that's talk
20:27about
20:28internal development but if you had one thing maybe like an external addition that you would say that
20:35could help the liberty ceiling the most raise it the most in 2027 what would that external addition be for
20:41you i just think you need more uh like athletic wings or or just like defensive minded players um you
20:52need
20:52some toughness on this team like the loss of kayla thornton and even like benajelani hamilton uh has
20:59really like those are voids that have not been filled and so i think you know you need to go
21:05out
21:05there and get and some of those types of players you know that that and like i think saw too
21:11was is that
21:12type of player right she's tough she she can talk trash like she's gonna like stand up for her teammates
21:16on the court and stuff like that but i just feel like they need more players that play with that
21:20like edge
21:22and i think like again the amount of times that liberty were getting blown by at times like you
21:28know they need a short like especially when leo was out like defensively their struggles like it was
21:35it was tough yeah and so i think those are the type of players that they need to target i
21:39i agree with
21:40you 100 and i remember in the uh exit interview for chris and marco he even noted that this would
21:46have been a good series talking about the atlanta series would have been a good one for satu
21:49obviously healthy i 100 agree with him they missed satu in that series and i think she would have
21:54helped and they need players that have a little bit more length um athleticism like you said and
22:00you know hopefully some good you mentioned kayla thornton a great two-way player for them that could
22:04three and d player if you want to like put her in that role that was really good for them
22:08um is it just
22:09defense for you when it comes to what new york needs around stewie so that she can be great without
22:16having to solve every difficult possession because when these possessions get tight
22:20you feel like this liberty team is looking to stewie because sabrina and her injury maddie it didn't
22:26feel like they had this other person that could break down the d when they needed to late in the
22:30shot
22:30clock what else do you think they need around stewie to make her life easier offensively i mean like you
22:37have like pauline's ability to attack the rim like get downhill and like finish like she's one of the
22:43best finishers in the league at that and so like i think pauline has a bright future marine fatooks
22:49fatooks like i think is another player that you know add her to the rotation get her some more minutes
22:57next to sabrina and like kind of play around with that combination like we didn't necessarily get to see
23:02a whole lot of that just because i mean they were both kind of injured at the start of the
23:07season right because marine was coming back from a knee injury um and then she was a developmental
23:13player so you're playing limited games and then they sign her to a standard contract in august and so
23:18um but but i think that they have i'm not necessarily worried about their offense i know sometimes it would
23:24get stagnant and stuff but a lot of that was more i feel like self-inflicted than anything um like
23:31they're
23:31at their best when they're moving the ball and like leone fifish said that uh she pointed to like
23:36how good they were against minnesota um and i think sometimes when you're playing a defense like atlanta
23:44who like to jump passing lanes and like to force you into a lot of mistakes and stuff like that
23:50you get
23:50a little hesitant to move the ball um and so there's like a balance with that but you know if
23:55sabrina looks
23:56like 2024 or you know sabrina i think you're feeling a lot better about this team oh yeah 24 sabrina
24:07was
24:07great i thought she made a tremendous leap in her game that year and i was glad that you brought
24:11up
24:12the young guards um the rookie guards on this team uh and pauline nastier and marine for toots
24:19i think chris demarco does deserve credit for playing marine for toots in the second round
24:24series against the dream and giving her the opportunity and minutes that he did and she
24:28rewarded him really well do you think because there's two young guards there do you think liberty
24:34can still develop both of those ladies while pursuing the championship um or should they
24:41prioritize maybe adding another guard that maybe fits some of the stuff we were talking about maybe
24:45a little bit more defensive minded or something of that nature do you think they can do both or
24:50is that not possible no i think they can do both because i think you saw like there pauline at
24:58one
24:58point did hit like a rookie wall um but this is the most basketball that she's played within a year
25:03um and it was kind of inevitable and um but i think you know pauline's going to be a really
25:09good
25:09player there's a reason why so many teams were trying to sign her last off season and we saw it
25:14this year why um she obviously just got announced on the all rookie team um marine for toots that is
25:22a player that i think you know she played at the olympics in in paris um she handled the moment
25:30really well and i think the fact that she can play through contact she she's very tough and like
25:37kind of um the way that she can command an offense like she has like a really good foundation um
25:45and i i
25:46think that she could be in a lot of ways like an integral part to the team next year um
25:52this year
25:53was just kind of you know a little like she first year in the league coming off an injury she
25:59ness
25:59when she got opportunities she's always made the most of it yep um but i agree with you like the
26:04playing her against the dream putting her in in that kind of late in that third quarter and then
26:10running with her in the fourth quarter in game one and then giving her a way larger opportunity in
26:15the final two games putting her i think in the first quarter in both games um yeah that was a
26:21great
26:21adjustment it was it was it was a little shocking to me but i like when coaches do that they're
26:25not
26:25going to say hey we're going to be rigid to our rotation we're going to give other people
26:30opportunities and she she made the most of it so i'm i'm excited about her development too um next
26:35season all right maddie here's what i'm gonna do i'm gonna make us both the gm of the liberty uh
26:41for
26:41this i don't want that job you don't want the job there's a i always say there's a price i'm
26:46sure
26:46there's a price but no i'm kidding it's it's stressful it's a stressful job we we get it
26:51all right so we get three off-season priorities one coaching or system decision one roster move
27:00and one change to an existing player's role what would those be for you
27:09um oh let me think about that um i think
27:21this really stumped me um i didn't i don't think this was on the question sheet oh it was on
27:27the
27:27question sheet i did that just make it up i i will okay i'll say this if i had to
27:40if i had to make the right this depends on who's out there this is why this is tough
27:47i i think that the roster move i would make is you got to go i would trade for
27:54a better defensive wing now who's that going to be i don't know exactly or try to sign one
28:00yeah
28:04i this is this is this is going to kind of tie into changing a player's role and making a
28:10roster move that i'm going to combine into one i think a lot of this is going for me would
28:14be how
28:14do i feel about sabrina having an off season in which she can get healthy and the fact of what
28:21we just talked about marine for toots and pauline astier how do you feel about their development
28:26i personally am very high on pauline astier i like her ability to drive i think it i think she
28:32fits
28:32where this team wants to go in terms of a lead guard and i think her playmaking can get better
28:39i wouldn't i said before i wouldn't be opposed to moving sabs already said in this episode
28:44i think that's the roster move i would might make and try to get myself a two that could play
28:51next to pauline this may be a little bit more defensive minded and if needed can attack the
28:57basket somebody's going to say oh what kind of player look what are you thinking of that
29:02and with a little toughness because i love that you brought up that word maddie a little bit of
29:05toughness someone i think that could fit this liberty team and play here in new york and will be
29:09fine and bring a little bit of that fieriness dejanay carrington is a player i wouldn't mind in the
29:14backcourt next to pauline astier i think she could work um she could defend she's gritty tough can hit
29:22the open shot if needed that would be my move i'm forgetting her contract situation which you might
29:27know better than me off the top of my head i don't believe she's a free agent next this offseason
29:31um so
29:32you might have to be via trade but that's the kind of player i would go to as far as
29:38coaching and system
29:39decision um i'm going to say on this i would talk to the players that's what i would do i
29:49would talk
29:49to the players yeah i would really see what they want i would really evaluate that if the players
29:54tell me i am not happy with the way the coaching was this year that they believe that this group
30:00or
30:01the majority's group needs something different and i'm somebody who's not about this because you
30:05mentioned this earlier in the episode i think it's a bad sign for organizations when you continuously
30:10change coaches i am not for coaching carousels i don't like it but if you really feel that it's
30:15disconnected and i'm going to be very specific on this specifically from your leader in stewie
30:21if she's not with it it ain't gonna work so if you have to move on and make a change
30:26you got to find
30:27the coach that'll fit stewie and this personnel and make that change so i guess what i'm saying in all
30:32this is i'm i'm open to making change but i think you really have to look at all the factors
30:36so for
30:36me would i change move on from the coach or change the coaching system yes if it wasn't working for
30:41the players particularly for my leader and then i would definitely i'm not opposed to breaking up the
30:46big three to get a better defensive wing in here that i'm not opposed to that at all so now
30:52that my
30:53vacation brain is logged back in really quick there we go uh yeah i think there were i agree i
31:04so if i'm the gm the first thing i'm doing is i'm i'm taking brianna out to dinner and we
31:10are having a
31:11long talk about what do you would you like about this season what did you not like about this season
31:16what did you think about the roster what did you think about the coaching staff what do you think about
31:20the way that we handled business on game days like even the stuff that happens you know pre-game
31:26in the locker room and the dynamics and everything like i'm picking her brain and figuring out what
31:31she wants that that's priority number one when it comes to and that kind of goes into what you said
31:37about the coaching staff like i i think firing coach after one year you have to have a good reason
31:44to do
31:44that uh you don't want to react off of you know one very obviously like obvious miss error in uh
31:54the
31:54reset timeout yeah uh but but i think there are changes that you can make if there's stuff not
32:02working with with the staff right like you can kind of reevaluate the roles within the staff and maybe
32:08re-delegate responsibility um i think when it comes i don't first i don't see the liberty moving on
32:16from sabrina at all um very much the vibe is is that this is her um team in a lot
32:24of ways or her and
32:25stewie's team and so you know she is like you kind of i think you gotta like balance the roles
32:36of her
32:36playing one and two as they've kind of been doing um she's great on the catch and shoot um and
32:43i think
32:44that she really improved her mid-range game last year yep i think that sometimes when she was attacking
32:50the basket it was like it almost looked like she didn't want to make contact which is like part of
32:57it and so i think again if you get a healthy sabrina things look a lot different um i'm still
33:02going out
33:03there and getting some two-way players some defensive-minded players that i can put in when
33:10the team needs to get a stop um i think that's like the biggest thing is that that's what they
33:15need this offseason is they need to get to get more athletic and to get defensive-minded players that
33:22can go out and get a stop when needed yeah i i agree one other point you made there i
33:26thought
33:26was really good um when you talk about sabrina i think you're right about i would as much as much
33:34that i love pauline and i like the way her game is growing um and i still think her outside
33:39shooting
33:40can get better i think sabrina off the ball will be better for this team but ideally you like her
33:47next
33:47to a maybe more defensive-minded guard whether it's at the one or the two it's kind of what the
33:53team had
33:54before natasha cloud pauline credit like you know pauline was taking turns picking up olivia miles and
34:01held her own and held her own yeah yeah she was pauline was fine i loved her strides defensively
34:07too this season just be clear so i mean let me let's just go to that do you think that
34:12because i agree
34:13with you this sab is better off the ball i'm with you on that do you think that pauline can
34:19be the one
34:19sab could play the two and the liberty can win that way do you think that can work for them
34:27yeah if it's a healthy sabrina right um totally i think that that that's an option for sure yeah
34:36it'll be interesting to see all right a couple more things before we get out of here because we got
34:39to
34:39get maddie quickly to cancun we got it we got to get her to cancun um looking forward with the
34:47liberty to
34:47to next year to 2027. what are you most excited to see about with this team in 2027 if anything
34:53are
34:54you excited to see anything in 27 or is this kind of a i gotta wait and see what this
34:58roster looks like
34:59before i get excited um excited for another season of getting a front row seat to brianna stewart's like
35:09greatness like the honor to like chronicle chronicle eyes this chapter of her career is something that i
35:16don't take lightly um but but i i think i am kind of like a wait and see type person
35:21like let's kind of
35:22see what where the dust settles on uh the staff on you know let's see what kind of happens in
35:30free agency
35:31um see if any trades end up happening i do think that change needs to happen um at some level
35:38and i
35:39think i've said that already a few times but um you just can't stay complacent when you know and be
35:48like oh we're just very loyal to the these these people you know what i mean like there's a there's
35:54a balance um because you're also in the winning business at the end of the day um and again they've
35:59set the standard of championships plural so that's kind of what the pursuit is of yeah i think i think
36:07what
36:07excites i guess it's if there's one thing it's i guess looking forward to is how drastic will the change
36:13be like i agree with you that there has to be change but how big is that change how much
36:18of change
36:18you're going to go to is it just going to be a small move is it going to be something
36:22bigger uh i think
36:23that's one for me i guess two if i had another is assuming satsu sabo is still going to be
36:28on this team
36:29what will she look like coming back um and what can her impact be if she's healthy as well you
36:35know
36:35it would be nice to see what this team could have looked like this year with her obviously
36:39her health is is the most concerning thing and then also sabrina if she's back to what's her health like
36:44so for the ladies that are going to return how healthy they're going to be and how drastic is
36:49the change going to be that this team is going to make because i i'm with you 155 like
36:57can't run it back the same way something's got to change what is that going to be we'll see um
37:03fans fans
37:04out there seem like they want the coaching change but you know as i always ask this question who are
37:09you getting who's better and do you really want that carousel going on with your team that's it
37:13all right i guess we kind of we we both believe there needs to be changed maddie but what do
37:20you
37:20think still if you say this hey going to this off season this team has to absolutely do this what's
37:25the one thing they've got to do there's no excuses they can't come back in 2027 without this that
37:31they've got to change in order for you to feel confident that they can get back to the w nba
37:37finals what's the one thing they've got to do in order to get back to your feeling confident in them
37:42and not uh looking at them like they're inconsistent and they can get back to the w finals yeah they
37:48just
37:48have to be aggressive in free agency um and go out and kind of plug some of the holes that
37:52are on this
37:53roster that were exposed when uh injuries happened yeah gotta do that i think they gotta do it
38:00whether it's free agency whether it's trades they gotta be aggressive krista marker talked about
38:05it uh stewie talked about the need to get better defensively we'll see if they do it uh one thing
38:10i
38:10will say about that too and i think you probably picked up on tone in this stewie did not stewie
38:16did
38:16not seem happy but i liked it it was in that i'm not satisfied with this this is not where
38:21we're supposed
38:21to be we got to get better i thought her tone in her exit interviews was very telling and we'll
38:28see
38:28the organization listens it's going to be interesting i mean she did just a quick follow
38:31up she did like a walk and talk with reporters after her press conference and in that press
38:36conference you know she was asked about like are you going to communicate stuff with like jonathan
38:41colb and she said absolutely like they're gonna me and you know she kind of just reiterated everything
38:47she said at podium that she and i think we've seen this evolution to her over the course of like
38:55several seasons but this year in particular she was just like and she talked about like this feeling
39:00of like not holding back anymore uh when she sees something she says it like you know she's obviously
39:07not the most like loud outspoken she's not going to be the loudest person in a room necessarily but
39:15when she talks people listen and they respect her opinion and they respect what she has to say
39:20and so i think like she she has a lot of power in in this franchise and i just hope
39:27and she should
39:29right yeah um i just hope that you know she's empowered to let herself be heard and share her
39:38thoughts and opinions yeah i'm hoping i'm hoping for that too we will see what happens the liberty is
39:43going to be a very interesting offseason might be a little bit before you see maddie and i together
39:47doing some liberty conversation but as things happen during the off season any news happens
39:52we will be there to talk about it for sure maddie you have yourself a wonderful time in cancun which
39:58only reminds me uh i need a vacation with a beach sometime soon hopefully that's coming in the next
40:05couple of months i need i need one soon so have a great time in cancun for me um that's
40:10going to do it
40:10for us here on liberty lately everybody enjoy let us know in the comments what you think the liberty
40:14should do this off season do you agree myself and maddie do you need to upgrade the defense is
40:18it something else what do you think of the coaching situation uh let us know your thoughts in the
40:22comments as always hit that like and subscribe button that is the great madeline kenny i'm dextra
40:26henry we'll catch you next time on another edition of liberty lately peace