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00:03what's up everybody welcome back to liberty lately there's a lot going on in the offseason
00:07liberty they have some big offseason decisions to make the w they've got a championship to settle
00:12and we've got the perfect guest to talk all about it joining me to talk about hoops permission to
00:18open doors for girls in africa through the queens of the continent it's a former wmba all-star and
00:25espn analyst the one and only shanae agumike shanae how you doing i'm doing great thanks for having
00:31me no glad glad to have you uh busy times um for everybody i know you've been enjoying your
00:36coverage with the w finals right now and uh that's been that's been really great for you and everybody
00:43else i just want to start to how are you enjoying the finals thus far what have you thought of
00:46it
00:46thus far so first of all i you know when the finals were starting i was like these are two
00:52beautiful
00:53stories that are being written the golden state valkyries in year two um a team with the most
00:57revenue in wmba history a team that has built its own home in balhalla in such a beautiful way
01:05that identity just rapid is so cool and then on the other side you have the a and i'm just
01:10like every
01:11time i scroll tiktok i see i saw this tiktok about how they have mastered the timeout performances
01:16meaning like i saw a little scrappy come out um two chains performing quavo did his viral thing
01:23but most importantly you have angel reese who made a beautiful transition and and now is on a team that
01:28appreciates her and celebrates her in a city that has that same energy and so it's just cool like to
01:36see these two unique storylines that are kind of at the beginning of the year people are like oh you
01:40know golden state's gonna be good but will they you know how good will they be angels coming but it's
01:45gonna take some time to adjust i just love how we've seen a superstar franchise and a superstar
01:50and gabby williams and literally a superstar and a celebrity and angel and then loving jordan and
01:55you know alicia and it just has been a really if you're a basketball fan you're gonna love this even
02:01though it may not be the as many buckets that we might be used to but if you love basketball
02:07you also
02:07love the fundamentals of defense and these are two of the best defensive teams so i've been having a
02:11i've been having a blast yeah i've really been enjoying it i want to get back to the finals with
02:15you um in a little bit i want to talk to you since this is a show i do on
02:18the liberty i do want to talk
02:19to you a little about the liberty because they got swept you know excuse me they swept the links and
02:23then they got swept by the dream when you watch those two series with the liberty what changed for
02:30them and which version of the liberty that we saw tells you more about who new york really is
02:34not to be harsh but when i was doing my new york liberty post-mortem okay on their season i
02:40was like oh they
02:40went down and the way the way that they went down was a microcosm of what the season had did
02:45they had high highs and low lows and the only thing consistent about them was the inconsistency
02:50unfortunately now there are bright spots meaning brianna stewart had another amazing career year
02:55um paulina stia came out and emerged like there there are uh things that you can be happy for
03:01barclays is always rocking i was just at the women's sports foundation and the two people getting
03:06honored one was claire wussi which was awesome because of what they built in barclays i think
03:11that was a standard you know like back in 2023 ahead of their championship in 2024 like everyone
03:18would go and experience barclays and be like all right like there's something special happening here
03:23and the product off the floor match the product on the floor i mean big ellie to the towels i
03:29think you
03:29guys do it like the last time out before the fourth quarter or something like that yeah you know so
03:34when i look at new york there are so much good happening for the game that was ahead of its
03:39time
03:39to what we're experiencing right now but as it pertains to the basketball i just think the lack
03:43of consistency that we saw in the overall collective performance because as i was going game by game
03:49i was like okay the guards showed up but not the bigs all right the big showed up and then
03:53not the
03:53guards and then it just was like you're fighting for your lives and it just never it was never the
03:58full
03:59contingent at that semi-final level whereas in the first round right um it was great you know like
04:06it was cool to see this team live up to potential you guys know jj is my sister like that's
04:11my dog
04:11yeah and i'm so proud of her because i think this was probably her best career statistical year maybe
04:16other than the championship so there are a lot of bright spots only one team can win i just wish
04:20that
04:21you know anytime you have a first-time head coach there's a lot of like learning curve and i just
04:25wish
04:25that there was more um of more of a i guess you can say like as an analyst on the
04:30outside like
04:30i can go and tell you what the atlanta dreams identity is right now i can go and tell you
04:34what
04:34the gold state valkyries identity is right now you know with the liberty it was kind of like i'm not
04:40sure what it is and stewie's gonna try to put the team on her back until they figure it out
04:43and you
04:44know at this level you have to have something you fully believe in yeah they didn't have an identity
04:50all season shanae i was saying this on the show i don't feel like they had an identity all season
04:53whatsoever and i guess you kind of hit on where i wanted to go next because obviously you've been
04:58inside w locker rooms how can you fairly evaluate chris demarco's first season because you talked
05:04about the first year head coach do all the injuries right yeah and i guess here's the thing because the
05:09fan base has been it's been very interesting how they talked about chris demarco if you were making
05:14the call would you bring him back because some fans want change would you bring chris demarco back
05:19look i am a god-fearing woman i never come for anybody's job i always celebrate people so i'm not
05:24going to put myself out there that way but i can't evaluate as an analyst and what i saw you
05:30know i
05:30think the biggest issue that i first of all let me say the bright spots yeah being being uh immersed
05:35into
05:35the wmb out you know because i'm not sure how i know he followed the league but i'm not sure
05:40how
05:40immersed when you're coming from the nba that's a that's a whole different level of how you have the prep
05:46and game plan for 82 games and then also the off season and summer league like you essentially have
05:51no life when you're in the nba because you're moving so much and so it's hard to follow the wma
05:56the way that we follow it who live eat and breathe it and so already like you know that there's
06:00going
06:00to be a little bit of a learning curve it's different for someone like becky hammond who played
06:05in the w then you know coach the nba and then can step right in because she knows this league
06:10because
06:11she's a part of it you know what i'm saying so i think for anyone that jumps in typically we
06:15see
06:15um that if you have no attachment it's already going to be like a lot of um i guess yeah
06:22learning
06:22curve yeah and yeah and i think for me i think some of the decisions so i'll just say i
06:27give grace
06:28there to christa marco um because some my the one phrase i say on air all the time you got
06:34to go
06:34through it to get to it right and so he had to go through everything that didn't work to find
06:38what
06:38could and i still don't think he found the right like or the answer that helped them when they needed
06:43the most but it was still year one i think my biggest issue um was like the moment the time
06:49out contract time out moment you had to talk about that and and it's not even the fact that like
06:55everyone makes mistakes everyone forgets like i fouled out a game thinking i only like i got
06:59ejected from a game because i didn't remember i had a technical early in the game like what happened
07:04oh yeah i they called a flail on me i was playing against dallas back in the day and i
07:09didn't realize
07:09that a flared flail gets a technical or whatever a flagrant one or whatever the case is like and so
07:15i was going up against liz and liz was doing something crazy and so i yelled at her and i
07:19yelled at the ref and then i got my second and then i was ejected and so i didn't i
07:22wasn't aware so
07:23every athlete every hooper every coach has a moment where you're like dang i wish i knew right i think
07:28for him that was like that moment times a million i don't even care about that so much because we
07:33all
07:33make mistakes in the game it was more the demeanor right like like you know if you think you have
07:39something or you're not sure man i'm gonna be doing bat flicks in circles and i and i do also
07:44think that
07:45they're different coaches and he comes from the um he comes from the why i'm uh steve kerr coaching
07:50tree where steve kerr is very chill he's very players first you know he'll get fired up occasionally
07:56but he really is a nice guy right so i can see how that might apply in how he uh
08:03coaches right
08:03but like look at who's in the finals right now hey look at what angel reese is doing look at
08:09what
08:09she's bringing out of her team you know what i mean look at how these players are like have
08:14that's what the liberty needed like and you know who had that she left in benijah laney hamilton
08:22she was that type of person that like was you you always need one person on the floor at least
08:27a
08:28coach to be like all right it's in the mud it's a matchup that's in the mud i'm gonna go
08:32out there
08:32and rumple some feathers or i'm gonna go out there and compete as hard as i can you know what
08:36i'm
08:36saying and i think that they were missing that one person that could play that like dog factor and
08:42when you don't have it on the floor you have to have it from your coach that's why we see
08:45coaches
08:45get ejected all the time i mean you see big cheryl big cheryl will do that all the time
08:50like your team's going down i'm gonna do something crazy get you ejected get you riled up right
08:55exactly and so again i think when you're on this learning curve you you try to like not you don't
09:00try to do as much you try to observe before you you do stuff but at that moment i think
09:05that was
09:05my issue but like i don't want it to seem like it's any shade this is just me being analytical
09:09no right and i think you've talked about it with nuance like i think you've proposed this with
09:14some nuance in in that fans are not giving him the grace you've given you gave him here i think
09:20you were rightfully giving him some grace and acknowledging that there is a learning curve
09:26fans sometimes don't want to hear that they're like i want the results now now you're also saying
09:30and i agree with you if you're going to be in that seat i need a little bit more out
09:34of you for
09:34this team where you may not have that kind of personality yeah on the court and so i completely
09:39get that i guess that brings me to my next question shanae if you are jonathan colbe this
09:46offseason what's the first offseason priority for this team are you shopping for another big name
09:52or is it a specific skill or kind of player as you alluded to that you believe this team needs
09:57again i'm an analyst i'm not a coach and i'm not trying to give you a job please i got
10:0311 jobs already
10:04um i think that there were you know my mom has this saying tiny drops of water make a mighty
10:11ocean
10:12and when you have that ocean those tiny drops turn into an ocean that has waves and can turn tides
10:17i think what we saw this offseason were big swings and those big swings um and it may not seem
10:25big to
10:26most people but like you know acquiring a saw to saw believe right um that's a big move right and
10:33things some things are in your control some things are out of your control like health is not in your
10:37control right um but i do think that locker room chemistry matters and when you make you know when
10:45you make moves and their pieces in and out like there's something missing from this liberty squad that
10:51we've known like in 2024 they knew what their mission was you know what i'm saying and this year
10:58it just felt like um watching from the outside that if you look at a team go out there and
11:04perform
11:04and if i'm jonathan cold i'm like okay there's something here that's missing there's something
11:08here that's not connecting sabrina yanescu i've always loved sabrina because i'm a pack 12 girly
11:12and she's one of the best shooters and she's one of the most exciting players and i'll never forget
11:16during the broadcast uh i think it was candace parker that said it but i i can't remember
11:21exactly she said nothing lights up and turns up barclays more than sabrina knocking down threes
11:28like the energy she hits threes you know and like just and i'm glad you agree because you're there all
11:34the time but my thought is you know even when she came back and she fought back you know coming
11:40back
11:40from injury and all that stuff it it just i don't know there's a positional question where it's like
11:47okay let's play at the point or let's play right off ball or you know and if i'm a gm
11:51and i'm watching
11:52that happen your job is to like help create that clarity and not let the players have to navigate
11:56that themselves and i go back to the sound of sabrina after one of the losses i think verse you
12:04know in the
12:04semis and she said oh man i i scored i think she had like 20 something you know 27 or
12:10something i
12:10scored but man i gotta pass the big the bigs the ball and so the next game she focuses on
12:15passing
12:15the bigs the ball and and jj and stewie i think come on for like near 50 points and like
12:2025 rebounds
12:21and something like that and it was great but it just felt like okay you have a coach that can
12:25help you
12:25figure out how to do that while also being a lethal threat and you have a gm that should be
12:30putting
12:31you in position like okay that's our point guard or that's our shooting guard our off guard or you
12:34know pauline was doing a great job defending i saw so many advanced analytics about pauline sda's defense
12:40defense but then um was it fatux that literally yeah yeah but then she starts going off and so like
12:50yeah you know it's it's interesting because these are pieces but i'm not sure it's it was it felt kind
12:57of random whereas you know if izzy borlase in the finals goes off you know that that's coming
13:03because she comes to do that you know what i'm saying and like they have have a system that
13:08they're playing that makes it make sense like ryan's gonna get her shots or her minutes and
13:13you know alice gray's gonna do her thing is he gonna come in and hit you with a crossover to
13:16knock
13:16down a big three that's wide open nazi you know like it does feels intentional whereas with the new
13:21york liberty i'm looking at pieces and however they're out there it doesn't seem as such it feels
13:28like oh this person's doing it and now we we don't know how to react and so i think those
13:31are the things
13:32that i see from the outside and like you know teams that are great have this chemistry that you don't
13:38even have to think like you already know where people are going you know what people are doing
13:41if the bids are open i'm always passing the ball if i'm shooting like the bigs are passing me the
13:46ball so i can shoot but you could see so many of the players put on the weight of having
13:50to figure
13:51it out themselves individually and then try to do that together as a team you heard stewie
13:54stewie would step into the bike and say like it's all me as friends like you know so i just
13:59feel like
13:59the players were carrying a lot a lot of the weight in front office and the coaches you know can
14:04help
14:05alleviate some of that so all they had it was go out there and just play that's what they did
14:09in 2024
14:10you know what i mean everyone had a very divine role i know i'm going off but and i again
14:15like
14:16these are my thoughts like you know i don't ever really share my intrinsic intrinsic thoughts
14:20because my job is to always like break down specific plays so i want this to be a safe space
14:24and i'm not like i think everyone is trying their best i these are just if i was looking from
14:30the
14:30outside in okay we're back if you see shanae's background looking different is because she had
14:34to move we had some technical issues but we keep it up we keep rolling shanae you're looking at the
14:39w finals right now it is two to one in time we're recording this atlanta with the lead if you're
14:43golden state what's the adjustment you're making to get back to the series man i think my adjustment
14:48is it's more mental than it is physical atlanta did one thing they took away probably the biggest
14:54thing golden state's bread and butter and that is driving kick if you look at the paint defensively
14:59for atlanta it's like there's an electric fence around the paint they said you're not going to be
15:03able to get inside and so by taking away that you took away their offensive flow and so i think
15:08they
15:09just have to find different ways to be creative and create you know opportunities by by drawing to
15:14whether that's in transition whether that is moving the ball from side to side to get people out of
15:17position and so i think the biggest adjustment is really dictating but also it's like the mental
15:22factor you're in atlanta everything's going atlanta's way you should feel like oh my gosh no one thinks we
15:27can do this now based upon our last performances like if there's one team that should be able to
15:32fight back despite the odds it's a goal and save valkyrie so if they take that mental edge and just
15:37play harder and um i think the crazy thing is angel's not going to be like take the foot off
15:43the gas
15:43they're going to have to snatch that but the good sign is that they made a couple of shots janelle
15:47salon got going in the last game so did tachy's and elicini and so maybe building off of that knowing
15:53that everyone has to be aggressive and knock down their shots they can't just wait for gabby to save
15:58them yeah they she's still gonna they're still gonna need that can't just wait on gabby williams
16:02the whole time angels looked really good she's looked tremendous in this series who was your pick
16:07to win the series before the series started so when the series started i thought it was going to be
16:13very close between the two i was looking at how golden state looked going up against las vegas
16:18but let me tell y'all if real hoopers know if you have eight days off you could be a
16:21whole different
16:22team when you come back and i think that lack of playing games and rhythm um hurt golden state
16:28whereas it helped atlanta because it allowed alicia to get you know right and they had another
16:33weapon out there um so i think before going in i thought it was going to be golden state because
16:38they played the first two at home and balhalla is like where people take their superpowers
16:41away right but the fact that atlanta split and if you look at actually how atlanta played atlanta
16:46should have probably if they hit more than one or two more shots should have won game one
16:50they won game two they're at home they won game three like atlanta has played the majority of the
16:55minutes as the better team um and so now i reevaluate and now i i think i've got atlanta in
17:00six
17:01i like that okay here's before before we get out of here uh i know you've been doing a lot
17:05you had some things going on for yourself uh you founded the queens of the continent to create
17:10opportunities for girls and young women can you tell us a little bit more about that yeah so
17:14obviously basketball is a global game and the time you know the time i went back home to the
17:19continent that changed my life was when i was studying abroad during my time at stanford under
17:25my international relations major and i saw so many young girls by working um you know a camp
17:30that wanted to play but just didn't think the path was possible and then now as a part of the
17:35nba africa group and basketball africa league as the first female ambassador i see so many programs
17:40that are here to help the global game but they go to boys or young men first instead of women
17:45and to
17:45me that's problematic because there are some you walk down the streets of lagos nigeria kigali rwanda
17:50johannesburg south africa nairobi kenya you're gonna see 6-6 you're gonna see medina okat you know
17:55what i mean you're gonna see you're gonna see you're gonna see you know these beautiful model-esque
18:00athletic women that have interest in doing something creative particularly sports but
18:06everything is going to the boys or young men first and so my foundation queens of the continent
18:11is here to fill in the gaps to create a programming where they get camps they get access to high
18:15level
18:16coaches they get you know confidence building activities and they get the visibility that they
18:20deserve so that maybe they can get to college whereas before there are no programs looking out for
18:24them maybe they can get you know some resources so that they can make it pro and so that's what
18:29we do
18:29we create winning opportunities we just had a partnership with the president madam president
18:34her excellency mitumbo and daitwa um who is amazing in namibia and it just is like so great to see
18:43the a group of women and young women uh come together and celebrate sports and i'm just pushing it
18:50pushing it for those it's not just in the u.s and africa it's globally uh where we're trying to
18:54touch
18:55and so yeah i'm trying to just fill in the gaps like people filled in the gaps for me there
18:59you go
18:59it's giving back i i love that look i know you got to run i appreciate the time you're doing
19:03a great
19:03job being in coverage with the finals and we'll have you back again on liberty lady to talk about
19:07the liberty hopefully when it makes some moves and they they get some of the people they need to get
19:12in there y'all know i don't like to fire any shots y'all i was trying to peace and
19:15love to
19:16everybody to everybody out there gm coach i want to see everybody win okay so you guys ask me questions
19:21i'm gonna always give y'all the 100 answer so it's with love it's with love all love appreciate
19:26you shanae thank you so much for joining us a little bit lately appreciate you no problem y'all
19:29take care thank you i'll see you around yep see you around
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