Liberty’s vision goes far beyond WNBA title repeat

The Liberty don’t want to be a one-hit wonder.

They want to establish themselves as the premier franchise, a perennial title contender, the crème de la crème — think the WNBA’s version of the Boston Celtics or the New England Patriots.

Last season’s championship, the franchise’s first, no doubt was “phenomenal” and “means everything” to general manager Jonathan Kolb. But winning one title was never New York’s end goal.

“We want this franchise to be a legacy franchise,” Kolb said Saturday. “We want this franchise to be iconic. It only happens through winning.”

So here comes the Liberty’s next, arguably more difficult test: doing it all over again.

Defending the championship crown can be more challenging than capturing it in the first place.

Every opposing team sees the Liberty as the one to beat.

New York will be used as a measuring stick for some opposing franchises throughout the season.

“Winning is really hard,” Kolb said. “It’s really difficult in this league — for good reason. Look around, there’s so many good teams. And so for us, when you have a chance, you have a real chance to do something really special. You need to be all-in with that. We are all-in with that.”

The Liberty years ago identified Natasha Cloud as a player who would fit well in their system.

She’s a two-way, dynamic guard who can complement Sabrina Ionescu as a backcourt tandem.

New York didn’t anticipate Cloud to be available this past offseason, but when the Phoenix Mercury traded her to the Connecticut Sun as part of a four-team deal that brought Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally to Phoenix, Kolb got to work.

It took two first-round draft picks, including this year’s No. 7 selection, to bring Cloud to Brooklyn, but Kolb believes she’s an ideal piece for this year’s puzzle.

Kolb was also high on re-signing Marine Johannes and Kennedy Burke along with adding Rebekah Gardner to the equation.

On paper, the Liberty have put together a deep roster that seems poised for a formidable title defense.

But Kolb and the rest of the team know there’s plenty of work to be done over the next few weeks of training camp and throughout the course of this season in order for the Liberty to be playing like a well-oiled machine come playoff time.

After all, there are no shortcuts on the way to winning championships.

Last season, the Liberty won their title by an eyelash in a hard-fought, five-game series against the Minnesota Lynx.

“In terms of what we want to improve upon, it’s just built upon what we established last year, right? Leaning into our strengths,” Kolb said. “We value versatility; we value two-way play; we value shooting. I’m excited to see the lineup combination that Tash Cloud can unlock. So with that, it’s more figuring it out right now and what that really looks like, but I think by the end of the season, we’ll be really happy with the acquisitions.”

The Liberty are set to host the Sun on Friday for their preseason opener before heading northwest to Ionescu’s alma mater Oregon in Eugene to face the Toyota Antelopes of the Women’s Japan Basketball League on May 12.

New York will open its season May 17 with a semifinals rematch against the Las Vegas Aces.

Before the game, the 2024 Liberty team will be honored one last time and presented championship rings.

After that, though, the Liberty will be focused on the path back to the top of the WNBA mountain.

“[Winning] only happens through your daily habits, and so, right now we are on a mission, and we’re all aligned to focus on those daily habits so that we’re in a position to potentially do that again,” Kolb said. “And so, last year is great, it’s awesome, but we’re focused on this year.”