The New York Liberty appear to be playing the long game—however long that may be—with the reported hire of Chris DeMarco.
Seafoam smoke has essentially risen from Barclays Center, heralding the arrival of a new New York Liberty head coach.
Per Shams Charania of ESPN, the Liberty has hired current Golden State Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco as the 10th head coach in franchise history. The W’s coaching circle is thus complete, with all 15 teams’ future secure after an autumn of wheeling and dealing.
Of the new bosses, however, few appear to be under more pressure than DeMarco: New York is fresh off the departure of the accomplished Sandy Brondello, a transaction announced less than a year after she guided the team to a long-sought first championship.
There’s plenty of fresh air coming in through New York’s active championship window, but its experienced core is facing an undeniable countdown before the top-heavy young squads start making a move for the WNBA timeshare penthouse the Liberty shares with Minnesota, Las Vegas, and more. Of course, how long that loft sits dormant remains to be seen, considering the tenuous discussions that the residents are engaged in with their de facto landlords.
All that and more seems to be a heavy burden to place on the back of DeMarco, whose head coaching experience summitted at driving the Bahaman men’s national team to the cusp of 2024 Olympic contention.
DeMarco was said to have beat out several experienced candidates for the job: other reported finalists Jama Mahlalela and Will Weaver had some form of head coaching on their respective ledgers while Phoenix Mercury assistant Kristi Toliver (who played a role in the Liberty’s recent first-round demise) is very well-versed in pro coaching and earned a de facto trial by fire during the WNBA Finals finale in October, when she took over for an ejected Nate Tibbetts in second half action.
A deeper look into the hire shows that New York essentially made moves for both now and later.
DeMarco Helps the Liberty Make Moves in a League-Wide Quiet Period
One can never count out any Liberty move considering the active imagination of general manager Jonathan Kolb, who can twist hardwood reality thanks in part to the backing of ownership led by the Tsai family. But New York’s immediate prospects likely hinge on retaining its big three, commonly accepted and declared to consist of Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, and Breanna Stewart.
Like a massive amount of their WNBA sistren, the prime torchbearers are due to hit free agency when (or if…) it opens. Stewart, for her part, did offer a verbal commitment shortly after the Liberty’s elimination, and it’d certainly be awkward if “Stew York” products were rendered outdated after less than a year on the market.
While Stewart’s return would no doubt leave a strong impression on them both, Ionescu and Jones still face foggy futures, at least from an official standpoint. Neither has expressed interest in moving (Ionescu has routinely talked about her New York tenure in a future tense, and Jones has been equally complimentary about the city). However, the lack of a completed collective bargaining agreement and official negotiations makes it hard to label anything guaranteed at this point.
That’s where DeMarco comes in: allowing the Liberty to essentially start thawing the WNBA’s transactional freeze.
With New York standing as a city of closers from Ricky Roma to Mariano Rivera, DeMarco serves as a sterling insurance for Ionescu, Jones, and more in the lens of their metropolitan future. Like Ionescu, DeMarco is a Bay Area athletic hero of sorts, albeit one of the far more niche variety. Working with the Warriors since 2012, DeMarco’s Golden lifespan (currently) outlasts those of staples like Steve Kerr, Klay Thompson, and more.
A report from Anthony Slater of ESPN stated that DeMarco picked up one of the most valuable items of a Bay Area scavenger hunt: a letter of recommendation from Warriors icon Stephen Curry, who was said to have consulted with Ionescu, his compatriot in 3-point royalty. With DeMarco serving as a scribe of Curry’s clearing and cutting for the past decade-plus, that should no doubt enthuse not only Ionescu, but also her potential spell options like Kennedy Burke and Marine Johannes.
Burke could benefit from DeMarco’s two-way ideals, while the trigger-happy Johannes could also take interest in that Curry mastery. DeMarco’s expertise has worked wonders for the careers of his proteges, allowing them to work in expanded roles, whether it’s in San Francisco (Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski) or elsewhere (Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins).
Furthermore, one of the few guarantees that DeMarco has—the presence of a Leonie Fiebich still under her rookie contract—could be his most potent batch of seafoam clay. While Fiebich rose from unexpected postseason heroine to Atlantic Avenue staple, New York wanted to see more of the shooting outputs that propelled their playoff run. With several of DeMarco’s disciples posting career-best numbers under his watch, he might be the perfect ingredient for the international sensation to rediscover that healthy sense of reckless abandon.
Amidst its rise to glory, the Liberty has prided itself as an organization that values contributions both on and off the floor. One of Jones’ causes in that regard has been the expansion of hardwood programs and recognition in her native Bahamas.
Mere minutes after getting her hands on the Finals MVP trophy she earned last fall, Jones was theorizing about ways she could get it back to her hometown of Freeport. The nation would wind up regaling Jones (as well as accompanying teammate Betnijah Laney-Hamilton) with a de facto second championship parade. Jones placed a greater spotlight on the country’s hardwood program when she and several Liberty staffers (including director of player development Andrew Wade) went south for the All-Star break, allowing the ailing forward to get in several private practice portions in familiar surroundings.
While Jones’ more recent international team experience has been spent with the Bosnians, it definitely feels like there were few, if any, names on the market better equipped and experienced to understand and unite with her goals than DeMarco. Under his watch, several NBA names took the floor for the Bahaman national club’s camps and games, the talent coming from both Golden State (Thompson, Buddy Hield) and beyond (DeAndre Ayton, VJ Edgecomb).
In his follow-up explaining the Brondello departure, Kolb acknowledged that New York had to get this hire right in order to make the most of their time at the top. Brondello was a blessing, especially in the sense that granting a first-year coach the oversight of the Ionescu-Jones-Stewart (and more) era would be like giving an Ewok the keys to the Millennium Falcon. DeMarco’s more of a Padawan that’s facing a Sith lord for the first time … though it’s clear that he’s got plenty of Obi-Wan Kenobi in him.
New York has been a team that has long viewed things in both a now-and-later lens: the plan to pair incumbent All-Stars Ionescu and Laney-Hamilton with downright historic talents like Jones, Stewart, and the since-departed Courtney Vandersloot was long-gestating in Kolb’s office and whiteboards. Of course, New York doesn’t have the luxury of time like it did during its famed “hybrid rebuild” era, but DeMarco has insured himself well against the speed.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
