WNBA Power Rankings After Mercury Surge, Liberty Hold Serve

Week In Review: 92-78 win against the Aces, 99-74 win against the Sky, 90-88 win against the Fever, 95-67 win against the Valkyries

Upcoming Schedule: Valkyries, @Mystics, Sun

What I Liked: Natasha Cloud, destroyer of worlds

The New York Liberty were the best team in the league last year off the strength of their collective size, length, skill, and IQ. At their best, they were darn-near impenetrable defensively and equally difficult to guard in the half-court. Almost any screening action, on or off the ball, could generate a what-do-we-do conundrum.

And then they went out and added Natasha freakin’ Cloud to this mix.

Cloud can be the best version of herself in New York; her drives are additive, not dire. Her defensive versatility is a bonus, not a necessity to a flawed group (sorry, Phoenix). Her shotmaking is a bonus, not a bellwether. 

More pressing, Cloud has been the best version of herself to start the year. 

It’s four games so things will normalize, but 15.3 points (56% on 2s, 40% on 3s), 5.0 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.0 blocks would represent career-highs in literally everything.

Cloud’s been just as impactful running actions with Breanna Stewart as she has been screening for Jonquel Jones. Her downhill juice and playmaking chops set the table for Sabrina Ionescu to operate more off the ball. Her ability to disrupt things on or off the ball defensively accentuates Leonie Fiebich’s ability to do the same.

It’s unfair, but it’s beautiful to watch.

Keeping An Eye On: Rebounding

Ahead of the Liberty’s Ring Day matchup with the Aces, I asked head coach Sandy Brondello how she looked to balance the Liberty’s prowess on the offensive glass with their 5-out spacing concepts. The gist of the response I got was that the Liberty were going to work to establish both, because they didn’t want to lose that edge on the glass.

Through four games, the Liberty have rebounded a league-worst 20.5% of their own misses. That’s a drastic shift from last year, but it ultimately isn’t a big deal in a vacuum. Plenty of teams, like Hammon’s Aces, punt on offensive rebounding to prioritize transition defense. In general, ending possessions is more important than generating extra ones.

It’s why it’s worth noting that the Liberty are also 11th (out of 13) in the league in defensive rebound rate (grabbing 67.9% of enemy misses).

This is more of a schedule thing than an actual problem in my opinion. The Sky have the Angel Reese-Kamilla Cardoso pairing; the Fever stretch you thin with Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, and that leaves you exposed on the offense glass. The Aces grabbing 12 offensive rebounds in the opener wasn’t on my bingo card, but there were a ton of threes taken (and missed) so you can ascribe some variance there.

We’ll see how quickly the Liberty turn things around.