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WNBA Power Rankings: Are the New York Liberty ready to assert their dominance?

Posted on by angelo
WNBA Power Rankings: Are the New York Liberty ready to assert their dominance?

Amid the most highly touted WNBA rookie class in recent memory, or perhaps league history, I was a bit remiss in highlighting the veterans in 2024. Rather than focusing on the WNBA’s newcomers, let’s look at the opposite side of the coin as we head into the midseason break: the 40 players in the league who are at least 30 years old.

First, a disclaimer: This group excludes players who are already All-Stars or Olympians. A shout-out to DeWanna Bonner, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Dearica Hamby, Jonquel Jones, Jewell Loyd, Kayla McBride, Nneka Ogwumike, Diana Taurasi and Alyssa Thomas. They’ve already been recognized. With that in mind, here’s my All-30 and Beyond team.

At point guard, Natasha Cloud. In her first season in Phoenix, Cloud is posting a career-high two-point percentage, as well as her highest assist, block and steal percentages per game. The 32-year-old point guard is the linchpin of the Mercury’s unique defensive approach, defending the point of attack and the post, and she allows Phoenix to play without a traditional power forward because she can guard the four. When the Mercury was down three starters against the Sparks last week, Cloud stepped in as the No. 1 offensive option, scoring a career-high 31 points, including the game-winning layup with 35 seconds left. She’s doing it all for Phoenix, which needed to reinvent itself.

Speaking of reinvention, next up is Courtney Williams, who proved her one-year stint as a point guard in Chicago was no fluke. After working as a primary point guard for the first seven years of her career, Williams is now an elite point guard in Minnesota, ranking third in the WNBA in assist percentage behind Thomas and Caitlin Clark. Despite her move to primary point guard, the 30-year-old still owns the league’s best mid-range shot.

Two of my favorite forwards to watch this season are Kayla Thornton and 31-year-old Temi Fagbenle. Thornton will be more prominent later, but as a preview, she’s shooting 38.5 percent from three-point range and can defend just about every position on the court for New York, which has the best net percentage in the W. Fagbenle, returning to the league after a four-year absence, provided the first proof of concept that Clark’s style of play could work for Indiana. Her tremendous motor and off-the-ball instincts helped establish the Fever’s identity before they even started winning.

Finally, Stefanie Dolson is in fifth place. Dolson, 32, leads the league in three-point percentage, taking 4.3 per game as Washington’s center and making half that. She took all three three-pointers as a rookie and now uses that shot as her primary offense in Year 11. That kind of growth is how someone keeps a roster spot in this league.

The team at the top of this week’s rankings has four rotation players – plus Breanna Stewart after the Olympics – on the other side of their 30s, and that veteran experience has been key in helping Liberty improve after its 2023 Finals loss.

Three notable performances

1. The endless parade of the wings of Liberty

Last year, New York had an incredibly talented team, but the Liberty only had two forwards (Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Thornton) that coach Sandy Brondello trusted to score and defend on both the perimeter and the forward lines. Now, they’re brimming with depth at wing. Their additions, along with Leonie Fiebich, Ivana Dojkić and even Kennedy Burke, have given New York five players who are at least 6’1” (with a generous rounding on Dojkić’s listed height) with enough versatility to defend multiple positions without compromising the Liberty’s spacing in the process.

Aside from Burke, every player is shooting at least 37 percent from three-point range and has the length to stay in front of opponents and protect the paint on defense. The depth means Brondello can afford to be cautious with injuries. When Laney-Hamilton was unavailable, Fiebich started six games and New York won them all, outscoring opponents by 15.5 points per night during Fiebich’s minutes. With Stewart out against Chicago, Dojkić was very effective from distance, scoring 12 points as a backup while Thornton chased Angel Reese inside.

Brondello has often finished games with Sabrina Ionescu, Jones and three wings in the middle, even with Courtney Vandersloot available. The fourth-quarter lineup with the most minutes is the starters with Fiebich in place of Vandersloot, and the third-most common lineup has Thornton in that spot. As Ionescu becomes a more effective playmaker and commits fewer turnovers, the Liberty can afford to sacrifice some shot creation and lean on their length, especially with Dojkić, Fiebich and Laney-Hamilton capable playmakers at their size.

New York’s biggest weakness in 2023 was perimeter defense, and that has largely been filled.

2. Reese’s double-double streak ends

Speaking of Liberty’s length, it was on full display in the team’s win over Chicago on Saturday, when they held Reese to eight points on 3-of-13 shooting, snapping her 15-game double-double streak. New York sent four defenders on the rookie on the final possession to force her to give up the ball and prevent her from scoring.

It may have seemed like an over-the-top defensive display at the end of a game that was already decided — New York won by 14 points — but things started to get crazy in the final few games as Reese’s streak persisted. Two games earlier, she had called for the ball in the post with a seven-point lead with less than 10 seconds left, needing one more point to get a double-double. Marina Mabrey made the pass and Reese was fouled, giving her 10th and 11th points at the line, but it felt like statistic inflation when the outcome was no longer in question.

As impressive as it was to see Reese set the WNBA record for consecutive double-doubles in her rookie season, instances like these give me some relief that the pressure of the streak is gone. These kinds of shenanigans don’t need to happen at the end of non-competitive games.

3. Kelsey Mitchell has found her speed again

In the mud of Indiana’s rough start to the season, it was forgotten that the Fever’s longest-tenured player missed most of training camp with an ankle injury. For Mitchell, a player who relies heavily on her speed, the injury dramatically changed how she was able to impact the game.

The lingering effects of that injury appear to have worn off as Mitchell is once again a blur on the court. The two-time All-Star uses her speed to dash through screens in the half-court, cut off the ball and zip down the court in transition. She sometimes puts her defender to sleep on a possession, then looks like she’s being propelled out of a cannon when she takes her first step, as she did against Rebecca Allen in Indiana’s win over the Mercury on Friday.

Mitchell even showed his speed on defense on the help side, picking up an unexpected block on Alanna Smith to clinch Sunday’s win over Minnesota.

The Fever are now 7-3 when Mitchell scores at least 18 points, including in each of their last two wins. That extra momentum off the ball has helped Indiana play with more pace in its latest winning streak as the Fever climb the WNBA standings.

Recruit of the week

Celeste Taylor, Phoenix Mercury

Taylor played just 17 minutes in her 18 games with the Fever to start the season, and she was released to create a roster spot for Damiris Dantas when his health improved. It was fitting that Taylor’s second WNBA opportunity came in the form of a seven-day contract on the day her new team, Phoenix, was scheduled to play Indiana. And with injuries to four other Mercury guards, Taylor ended up playing 24 minutes in her return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, almost creating an upset in the process.

Taylor was thrust into a near-impossible situation as a point guard. As coach Nate Tibbetts mentioned after the game, the rookie didn’t know most of the sets but was still expected to bring the ball on multiple possessions and try to run the offense. Phoenix mostly abandoned Taylor to run the show in the second half, instead positioning her in the corners and shutting down her offense so she only had to read an already compromised defense. Despite that, Taylor still had five assists, showing her ability to run a basic pick-and-roll with Natasha Mack and crash the offensive glass from the corners to keep possessions alive. It was clear when Cloud returned to the lineup Sunday that Taylor had some off-ball utility as a cutter, utility that couldn’t be realized when all of the Mercury’s ball-handlers were injured.

The real value of Taylor, a two-time conference Defensive Player of the Year, came on the other side of the court. Phoenix ran a lot of zone with five healthy players in the second half, and Taylor was active up top, keeping her hands high and forcing several turnovers. She helped Clark keep the ball scoreless in the fourth quarter as the Mercury cut a 23-point lead to four.

Taylor’s window of opportunity closed almost as quickly as it opened with Cloud and Taurasi healthy in the next game, but at least the Ohio State product finally has an idea of ​​what she can do in the WNBA.


Celeste Taylor had a chance to show off her skills recently. (Jeff Bottari/NBAE via Getty Images)

Circle game

Connecticut Sun at New York Liberty, 7:00 p.m. (ET) Tuesday

The matchup between the Eastern Conference’s top two teams has been a one-sided affair of late, with New York winning the last five, including three in a row in the 2023 semifinals. The Liberty ended the Sun’s undefeated start to the season and added another win at Connecticut last week despite the absence of Laney-Hamilton. Regular-season results aren’t always predictive of the postseason, but it would be helpful for the Sun to pick up a win in this series to gain confidence for a potential playoff meeting. This is as good a stretch as any with Laney-Hamilton and Stewart handicapped. If Connecticut can’t beat New York in this state, it doesn’t bode well for a postseason rematch.

(Top photo of Jonquel Jones: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)