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00:00liberty lately is back dexter henry madeline kenny we've got some liberty news to talk about

00:10and feels like old times maddie because you're on the road i'm here before we get to the big news

00:17around the liberty how you doing i'm doing well i'm in san jose for the nwso championship but

00:22you know obviously this is the biggest story of the weekend probably this is the biggest story

00:28of the weekend and if you've been under a rock uh not all up on your liberty news this is why we are

00:33here the liberty have finally finally after a long search announced the hiring of the next coach well

00:38they haven't announced it but it has come out it's been reported that it will be chris demarco golden

00:43state warriors assistant so an nba coach now coming over to the liberty i guess i'll start with this

00:50first really quickly uh what was your reaction to the hiring you know after this being long drawn

00:58out right if he feels long i know people always want quick results it was long okay so long as

01:03you can say it was long you have to cover it um you can say that i guess we'll start with this was

01:07like what was your reaction to hiring and when you look at his chris demarco's reputation around the

01:12warriors organization a team that you have some ties to from covering before early in your career

01:17what about him do you think appealed the most to the liberty front office to make this hire

01:22so first off i want to talk about the search because it was extremely long and they had a bunch of

01:27different you know candidates that they brought in uh there was multiple days of interviews

01:32meeting with different people within the organization certain exercises and like what if scenarios were

01:38thrown at these candidates um and i know from talking to several people that were part of the

01:45interview process the length of this this search um did grow weary on some people and i think like

01:54demarco emerged late in the process like literally within the last few weeks as a as a candidate and

01:59went through the process and he just really impressed he impressed jonathan kolb and the rest of liberty

02:04with obviously his championship pedigree he's been with the warriors since 2012 i think loyalty is also

02:10something that's worth noting there um he's the longest tenured person at golden state and um impressed

02:17with the fact that he has been working with the dynasty and been a part of a dynasty winning four

02:22championships he currently runs the warriors defense which is top 10 in the league that has only gotten

02:30more athletic and faster and the warriors roster is obviously one of the oldest if not the oldest roster

02:34in the league so that's something to say about this the schematics of everything and then also i think

02:40just the fact that he has shown proven success at in a head coaching position he took a low resource

02:47program with the bohemian men's national team and had them on the brink of the country's first ever

02:55olympic appearance in men's basketball they obviously didn't make it in paris in 2024 but i think the way

03:01that that team came together and competed and looked i think like that was something really telling

03:09and then at the end of the day too because i talked to a few people about the process and and about

03:14chris specifically i think it came down to you know who he is as a person and i think that obviously

03:21is extremely important as a head coach you have to be able to you know be relatable to people you have

03:26to be under like managing egos managing emotions managing the the waves of a highs and lows of a season

03:33and i think that given his experience you know being around steve kerr who's obviously one of the best

03:38player coaches perhaps ever um that seeing how he's managed that team that has like grown old

03:46together um i think that kind of also maybe gave him a certain leg up in the in the interview process

03:53yeah sounds like there were a lot of good things that the liberty liked about him in in this situation

03:58i think it kind of goes to the next thing that fans are going to want to wonder about him which is

04:03what do you think will be the biggest differences between him and his approach to this liberty team

04:09as opposed to what the liberty had under sandy brondello what do you think will be maybe the

04:14biggest differences that we could see with chris demarco here that we didn't see with sandy brondello

04:18yeah you know it's hard to say right now because we don't know exactly what the roster is going to

04:23look like but we're just going to assume that sabrina unescu is going to be back with brianna

04:27stewart and jj i mean i think that there's there's a lot of similar when you look at like the

04:33personnel there's a good opportunity for them to run very similar things to what the warriors are able

04:37to do um offensively when you have players like sabrina unescu leone fibbic brianna stewart i mean

04:44you could do pick and roll with between sabrina and jj um the warriors do a lot of split actions

04:49um which obviously puts like an emphasis on like playmaking cutting relocation things like that and

04:57so i think that this is going to be a really fun offense to watch they have the personnel to do

05:01that demarco has the experience even though he's more on the defensive side of the ball with the

05:06warriors seeing um you know all of that i think the other thing that i wanted to know is you know

05:11he's been around steph curry for for over a decade now he has seen how teams have guarded him in

05:17various different ways and i think that that will really bode well for sabrina and just helping her

05:21unlock that next level of her game yeah it's something that i i thought about too with him

05:27she was the player that first came to mind with me too and i agree we know his defensive acumen too

05:32and he's obviously been in a great offensive system or helped coach a great offensive system

05:37with the warriors and this liberty team they've got the elite shooting they have great playmakers

05:44we've seen this before do you believe in what he's learned from his time in golden state that he can

05:50maximize that elite playmaking and shooting particularly like you just mentioned with someone like sabrina

05:54nescue i think so um and i think that you know he'll be able to implement you know we talked a lot

06:02about the five out offense last year with sandy brondello and at the end of the day i think the

06:07liberties playbook it sounds like was maybe a little bit too large and was a lot to like just handle

06:14and i think simplifying it almost might be the best thing and just letting players play more like

06:18fluidly fluidly within their game and so um by starting over and being completely having a clean

06:26slate and coming in fresh it'll i it'll be interesting to see how he's able to um what he's

06:32going to what he's going to want to do with this roster but i think that there's great opportunity there

06:36yeah i think so too and i think you know the next thing that brings me to is communication because

06:42golden state warriors players i was doing some reading up on him they've praised him for his

06:47communication i know he owes this too that he's been good in the locker room good with players

06:50what do you think that could mean for this liberty team that's got big stars there's big stars on this

06:56liberty team and there's also we don't exactly know how the roster is going to look but there's

07:00going to be high expectations for this liberty team we know that so how do you think his communication

07:05style can bode well or work with these liberty players that have stars and high expectations

07:10yeah i mean i kind of already like hinted at it just being around steve kerr who's one of the

07:14best communicators in the game as from a coaching standpoint i think that like he's seen that he

07:20he knows how to connect with players and i think that that's extremely important um he has a player

07:25development background but that's something that he's going to lean into i know that that's something

07:30that the wnba overall seems to be prioritizing with hiring these coaches that have player development

07:35backgrounds i think that that's good for the league overall um because you know how it is like

07:40the liberty's last two draft picks in 2024 jaylen sherrod and marquise davis like they just never

07:50really had an opportunity and then they eventually got waived from the team and so i think that by

07:55adding these these coaches with those types of backgrounds that can really help unlock next levels

08:00to players games is going to be good for the overall like league yeah it it should be now you said this

08:07was a lengthy search and and it was for sure but i guess what i would ask is what does this hire of

08:15chris demarco signal about how the liberty front office views their competitive window right now

08:22this do you think that by getting him the type of coach that he is his pedigree what does that signal

08:27maybe to you know to us and and to the fans about how this team views their competitive window right now

08:32yeah they're serious about winning is what it tells me i mean he's a front of the bench

08:36nba assistant he's been in the nba had a front row seat to a dynasty for more than a decade i think that

08:43he is going to come in and he has his own expectations at his own you know him and i talked when he was

08:49like a few years ago when he was coaching the um bahamas men's team you know before like a big

08:55tournament i was asking about like the pressure of the moment how he handles that he just would say how

08:59much he like loves it and like he he thrives in those like high stake moments and so i think that

09:04you know with this job the liberty job arguably the biggest hire in wba history in the sense of

09:11the pressure that you're coming into being in new york the largest city in the u.s and the number one

09:16media market there are going to be a lot of eyes on this team and so he's going to have to step up to

09:22that plate he's going to step up to that podium and handle that and i think that you know he's

09:26he i haven't talked to him yet specifically about the liberty job but i knowing him based off of like

09:32previous years i'm sure he's confident ready for the challenge okay maddie so you know how things can

09:37go when it comes to hiring people will question experience and chris demarco does not have head

09:43coaching experience in the wmba although you noted he's got the head coaching experience coaching

09:47the bahamian men's national team one i guess does that matter the lack of head coaching experience in

09:53the w or coaching experience in the w and then secondly how do you think his lack of head coaching

09:59experience in w will or will not maybe affect the liberty and free agency so for the first question

10:05i would say i don't think that the liberty would hire chris demarco if they didn't have the blessing

10:10or feel like the players would support this hiring and i know that sabrina unescu reached out to step

10:15curry and asked about chris demarco got like step curry's like opinion on him and so i think that

10:22you know players just want a coach that's going to challenge them and help them get better and help

10:28them achieve their goals and as a team that's winning championships and so i think that that's

10:32something that they believe liberty as a whole is something that chris can help deliver to this

10:38franchise or help put them in the best position to be constantly contending for championships

10:42and as for the second about free agents and whether you know him not having that wmba experience is

10:49going to impact free agency i would just go back to look at what the phoenix mercury i've been able

10:53to do with nate tibbitts he came from an nba bench as well and look they got satu saboli they have

11:00elissa thomas they've had several other like big moves that they made the previous offseason

11:04and it is after his first wmba season and they were in the finals this past year so i think that

11:12you know it's it's going to be about him really wowing free agents in those in those meetings and

11:19in those conversations leading up to whether they want to come to liberty or or whatever they're

11:23looking for but i think that you know that's as we've talked about his communication skills like

11:28his relatability that's something that you know um i think could play into his favor yeah it's going to

11:34be very interesting to see how this all unfolds a lot of questions we don't know how it's going to

11:38look until we see it um and i think look experience is is nice but he is an experienced

11:45head coach he's got a ton of experience right coaching as you've mentioned with golden state

11:49with the bahamia men's national team seems like the guy who knows what he's doing and look this was

11:55a lengthy search the liberty wanted to make sure they got it right time will tell we'll find out if

12:00they got it right but chris demarco will be the next head coach of the new york liberty that is

12:05madeline kenny she's got to get back to work on the road covering the nwsl championship so check

12:09out her work there maddie i'm glad we got to do this very quick episode but i'm sure we will catch

12:15up with a lot more liberty offseason news coming soon as we see what happens with the cba and all

12:21that good stuff but uh good to see you on another edition of liberty lately

12:24you

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