2025 WNBA Off-Season | Page 3 | The Boneyard

2025 WNBA Off-Season

azfan said:
Odd?

Do the widely considered have some insight a la the magical realists such as Gabriel García Márquez. Perhaps an alternative to reality?

Assuming there have been 135 head coaches in WNBA history:

2nd in playoff victories
6th total victories
2 Championships

One might easily assert that of the 135 coaches in the NBA history she would be in the top 10%? Top 6%?

Perhaps the widely considered have read 100 Years of Solitude too many times.
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Those are valid points--I think she did a good job and shouldn't have been fired from NY. But I think it's fair to say her teams have often underachieved despite having a ton of talent. In NY I don't think this was the case looking at the past 3 seasons, but excluding 2014, her Phoenix teams always underwhelmed despite having DT/BG for a decade.

At any rate, the intent of my original post was to state that I thought it was short sighted of NY to fire her and they may come to regret it.
 
sivad40 said:




NY Liberty GM isn't pulling too many punches. He basically said that Sandy would've been fired last season had they not won the championship.
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Does the GM have personal beef with Sandy or something? Back to back 32-8 seasons and 2 runner up finishes and she would've been fired? Make it make sense.

I know NY has been loaded with talent and was gunning for a title in both 2023/2024 but I don't see any valid reason to fire Sandy unless she created a hostile environment (which isn't the case) or if the owner/GM had beef with her (which appears to be the case).
 
TheFarmFan said:
I think two things can be true at once: Sandy is one of the most accomplished coaches in the W AND she may not have been the right fit to guide the Liberty in their next phase. Somehow I'm not sold she's not one of the league's best coaches but I also was fairly underwhelmed by the Liberty all season, and her excuses about injuries and "failing to gel" didn't make sense when teams like the Valkyries regularly had 3 of their 5 starters out with injuries, lost 1/3 of the team to Eurobasket, and ended with 6 players who either missed training camp entirely or joined midway through the season on a series of 7 day contracts. Nat never made excuses, the players never made excuses, and the product on the Court actually got better even as the injuries and the rotating cast piled up. Much of the same was true for Phoenix, and they too weathered that storm without any excuses.
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In fact, there are many of us that think Phoenix might've been better off with the mix they were playing when they "only" had two or three of their stars on the court at once. What I want to emphasize is the front office found an unexpected mix of players and the coach (a million-dollar one, no less!) used them correctly.

Listen, I've heard tons of "journey is more important than the destination"-type talks before, but the Liberty had won zero -- 0, zilch -- championships before the 2024 season and the head coach had a bunch to do with it.

Now, Kolb has to (re)assemble his roster and find a coach to plan the appropriate journey. Sandy will do fine in whatever her next stop will be.

BTW, here's the entire ESPN article for those who want to read it.

www.espn.com

Liberty GM: Call on champ Brondello 'proactive'

Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb says the decision not to bring back coach Sandy Brondello was not solely based on this season's results and that a coaching change was "very much under consideration last season," when New York won the WNBA title.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
Geew1992 said:
There's talks of Ezi being traded and Sykes not resigning.
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so the whole Sykes not liking the players or getting along with the storm mid season as well as the staff were true. Lord ATL , LA , DC, Seattle ...too much talent there to be an enigma.
 
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sivad40 said:




NY Liberty GM isn't pulling too many punches. He basically said that Sandy would've been fired last season had they not won the championship.
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I don't think this GM has the best interest of the fans in mind. Heck, I don't think this GM cares about free agent players or the Liberty for that matter. I will be curious to see how this all plays out but right now, all I see is a hot mess brewing.
 
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Dillon77 said:
Seattle GM Talisa Rhea reviews the decision to move on from Coach Noelle Quinn and team personnel going forward.

www.espn.com

Seattle Storm focus on 'turning that corner' with new coach

A day after announcing Noelle Quinn won't return for 2026, Seattle Storm general manager Talisa Rhea told reporters "we had a talented roster," and "our hope was that we'd finish better in the regular season and try to make a deep run in the postseason."
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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Fair statement by the GM. This is the nature of the coaching profession. You do the best that you can and hopefully it works out. Coach Quinn gave it a decent run and it just did not workout. Seattle was a huge mystery. Like the GM said, Seattle has a talented roster but there is some miles on that roster but still, they should have played a lot better. Watching some of their games this season, they just did not seem that focused or cared about playing. They lacked that energy.
 
WFFL said:
so the whole Sykes not liking the players or getting along with the storm mid season as well as the staff were true. Lord ATL , LA , DC, Seattle ...too much talent there to be an enigma.
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DC? I thought she asked for a trade to be on a more competitive team? She seemed well liked by her team mates in DC from what I observed.
 
cancontent said:
DC? I thought she asked for a trade to be on a more competitive team? She seemed well liked by her team mates in DC from what I observed.
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Sykes was having something of a career year at Washington before management made a calculated move to deal her to a team in the event of getting a building block for the young core of the team (Citron, Iriafen, Oslen, Amoore, Austin, etc.)
Mission accomplished.

In doing so, they hurt the team's chances to grab one of the playoff spots. Even though Sykes was not a horribly efficient scorer, she did score and had a flair for taking the tough shot or drive when it mattered. And that, in turn, opened things up for Citron and the twin, agile forwards (Iriafen, Austin). Wasn't the same without her, but once again, management knew what they were getting into and were willing to slump this year to get another draft choice for next season.

As for her pleasure/displeasure with the Mystics, she looked pretty happy playing for Coach Johnson and "the kids" as she sometimes referred to all the rookies.
 
bballnut90 said:
Those are valid points--I think she did a good job and shouldn't have been fired from NY. But I think it's fair to say her teams have often underachieved despite having a ton of talent. In NY I don't think this was the case looking at the past 3 seasons, but excluding 2014, her Phoenix teams always underwhelmed despite having DT/BG for a decade.

At any rate, the intent of my original post was to state that I thought it was short sighted of NY to fire her and they may come to regret it.
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Very "interesting perspective" reported in ESPN

"New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb says the decision not to exercise the option on former coach Sandy Brondello's contract was not a reactive one but instead "rooted in being proactive" based on the determination that "evolution and innovation is what is needed."

Sounds a bit like McKinsey speak?!?

Love the combo of Darwin and Schumpeter . . . . is this an example of creative destruction?

Liberty GM: Call on champ Brondello 'proactive'
 
azfan said:
Very "interesting perspective" reported in ESPN

"New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb says the decision not to exercise the option on former coach Sandy Brondello's contract was not a reactive one but instead "rooted in being proactive" based on the determination that "evolution and innovation is what is needed."

Sounds a bit like McKinsey speak?!?

Love the combo of Darwin and Schumpeter . . . . is this an example of creative destruction?

Liberty GM: Call on champ Brondello 'proactive'
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The gobbledygook, yes.
But McKinsey were some of the people that brought adherence to quarterly earnings -- results -- to the fore back in day.
And if you look at results in the WNBA, one of 'em is winning a championship. McKinsey, Booz Allen, Bain and BCG would all give that a check in the plus column.
 
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Dillon77 said:
The gobbledygook, yes.
But McKinsey were some of the people that brought adherence to quarterly earnings -- results -- to the fore back in day.
And if you look at results in the WNBA, one of 'em is winning a championship. McKinsey, Booz Allen, Bain and BCG would all give that a check in the plus column.
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A broken clock is correct twice a day.

We all remember McKinsey as a primary advisor to Purdue Pharma.

In addition to disastrous advice the ethical shortcomings of those involved in this consulting company are breathtaking. Thus my reference and original post.

www.supplychainmovement.com

McKinsey exposed - Supply Chain Movement

When McKinsey Comes to Town exposes the disastrous consequences that can result from consultants failing to do this and choosing to serve sen
www.supplychainmovement.com

You are correct however McKinsey would take credit for any positive result regardless of their level of involvement.

And they would definitely approve of the way the WNBA hierarchy is "handling" the Connecticut Sun situation
 
I wonder what incentives are given to refs and the WNBA front office. It seems to me that there is a misalignment.

I would campaign as part of CBA agreements that season end bonuses for refs and the president are tied to in-game player injury rates (which result in players missing games) being below a specific threshold determined by a third party. I think that would help in many ways, such as providing enough rest between games, reducing physicality during games, modifying rules to minimize injuries, interpreting rules with preventing player injury in mind, etc.
 
Per Skim Milkey (didn't want to kludge up the thread with > 1 twitter link):

"Weaponizing the Caitlin Clark fanbase is a rather smart and good move by Napheesa."

"Napheesa uniting Paige Beuckers fans, Angel Reese fans, and Caitlin Clark fans against the WNBA will likely forever change the WNBA forever.This day will be looked back on as hopefully the date where positive change started to occur."

On edit - the masterclass of uniting the Angel vs Caitlin and Paige vs Caitlin fanbases, is, chef's kiss.
 
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BRS24 said:
Methinks Englebert is forgetting who makes the $$ in the league, and claiming that CC only got her sponsorships because of the W? Wooo weee.

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It seems like a private conversation. Cathy would never have had the guts to say that publicly.
 
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GamecockFam said:
I wonder what incentives are given to refs and the WNBA front office. It seems to me that there is a misalignment.

I would campaign as part of CBA agreements that season end bonuses for refs and the president are tied to in-game player injury rates (which result in players missing games) being below a specific threshold determined by a third party. I think that would help in many ways, such as providing enough rest between games, reducing physicality during games, modifying rules to minimize injuries, interpreting rules with preventing player injury in mind, etc.
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Re Phee's injury, I agreed that the tip was before the contact. Now, the contact afterwards? I'm not here to litigate it at all. However, when there is a significant injury and/or controversy, it seemed a bit odd to have the same team of refs doing the next game.
 
Stagnant said:
It seems like a private conversation. Cathy would never have had the guts to say that publicly.
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Perhaps it was, however if this is what Cathy is saying in private, there's no good faith in any negotiations, as those things shouldn't have been said to a player. Another executive, perhaps. This crystalizes what some are saying about Cathy's and the general leadership right now. There's no way I could work for a boss like that.
 
it's been pretty obvious over the past 12-15 months by her actions and interviews that Cathy resented CC's popularity, she was the biggest threat to upsetting the current pay structure. Phee's comments has all of the stanbases uniting in 1 to form voltron now to get Cathy out of here. Enjoy these last few games because it might be awhile before we see WNBA games again soon unless a last ditch effort is made with all of these new TV deals ready to kick in.
 
And a random thought here about the relationship between Phee and Cathy. Phee managed to pull off a successful offseason league, allowing players to stay stateside and play, and this year there are two more teams, more sponsors, a pool of backup players (I think?), and I'd bet $1 that Cathy is not happy at how successful Unrivaled was last winter, and how it's grown. IMHO.
 
BRS24 said:
Methinks Englebert is forgetting who makes the $$ in the league, and claiming that CC only got her sponsorships because of the W? Wooo weee.

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Caitlin should thank the WNBA for her ability to collect endorsements? Caitlin was a big deal before she was part of the WNBA; she'd be making plenty even without Cathy Engelbert.

"Physical play doesn't cause injuries." I'm surprised Pheesa could keep a straight face relating that gem.
 
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I didn’t watch unrivaled. But it seems like season one was a success. They added more players and more teams.
 
BRS24 said:
Methinks Englebert is forgetting who makes the $$ in the league, and claiming that CC only got her sponsorships because of the W? Wooo weee.

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yet it was crazy to think Napheesa was trying to drive a lockout/strike seeing as though her husband was the owner of unrivaled ....doesn't seem to crazy now as she brought up convos from almost a year ago.
 
WFFL said:
yet it was crazy to think Napheesa was trying to drive a lockout/strike seeing as though her husband was the owner of unrivaled ....doesn't seem to crazy now as she brought up convos from almost a year ago.
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Don’t believe so. Phee wants both the W and Unrivaled to succeed. The former is bigger and has a market opposed to all the other Hoop leagues, pro and college. Unrivaled is there in winter for those that don’t or can’t go overseas.
 
Stagnant said:


I am shocked that Phee was this hostile in her exit interview.
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I would substitute "forthright and honest" for "hostile." If Engelbert said the things that Phee referenced, I think that it's reflective of the league's of a league attitude that doesn't value their most valuable human assets. I'm afraid that it's going to be a difficult road ahead in negotiating a new CBA, and the league isn't doing itself any favors in trying to win fans over to their side.
 
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