Sandy Brondello entered Barclays Center Thursday looking to keep her team’s undefeated record going against the Chicago Sky, even if it meant handing Liberty legend Teresa Weatherspoon a loss.
Weatherspoon, a Hall of Famer who spent seven seasons with the Liberty from 1997-2003, worked the sidelines against her former team for the first time Thursday. She started her WNBA head coaching career with a 1-1 record, getting a “tough one in Dallas”, Brondello acknowledged, in Sunday’s win.
“I think everyone knows Spoon, she’s got a lot of energy. She’s gonna motivate them,” Brondello said before Thursday’s matchup against the Sky.
The Sky hired Weatherspoon in October after the Hall of Famer spent four years as an assistant with the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. She played eight total seasons with the Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks and was a five-time All-Star.
“[Weatherspoon] is obviously very relatable being a former player as well,” Brondello said. “I’m happy that she’s back in the league. The players play really hard for her.”
The former Liberty star made appearances during her former team’s deep postseason run in 2023 and expressed the gratitude she has for the organization.
“They’ve treated me with such kindness and generosity from day one of me entering in this place in ’97. And it has been the same from that day until this day,” said Weatherspoon.
RING OF HONOR
The Liberty inducted Weatherspoon into the team’s Ring of Honor in 2011. Some of her former teammates’ names are alongside hers inside Barclays Center: Current Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo, one-time All-Star Sue Wicks, two-time All-Star Vickie Johnson and current Sky assistant Crystal Robinson.
Who else should be included into the Liberty’s Ring of Honor? Weatherspoon said: “Every one of them.”
“Every one of them I played with, I’m telling you can go,” said Weatherspoon, who won two Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Libs. “And that’s just a great deal of respect for who they are and what they mean to me because I couldn’t be here without them. This isn’t tennis, this is basketball. So we do this thing together. And the only reason I’m in there is because of them.
“I couldn’t catch it, shoot it and give myself an assist,” she said. “They did all of that. They did all that to help me get in there. So for me, I will say every one of them.”
Forward Tari Phillips, who spent four seasons with the Liberty alongside Weatherspoon, is a good candidate for induction into the Ring of Honor. All four of the 6-2 big’s All-Star appearances came as a member of the Liberty and she finished top-10 in WNBA MVP voting three times with the team.
BENCH UNIT PLAN
In the Liberty’s first four regular season games, Brondello has been experimenting with the team’s bench unit. When asked if there’s a plan to lockdown consistent units at a certain point of the season, she said “I go by feel of the game.”
“This is how I’ve always done it.”
The head coach added “it’s hard” for the players that have star roles overseas to take on a bench role. Guard Kennedy Burke entered Thursday’s game averaging 2.8 points in 9.8 minutes played after winning back-to-back MVPs in France’s top basketball league. And forward Leonie Fiebich entered Thursday’s game averaging 2.3 points in 9.3 minutes after averaging 11.5 points with Spanish club Casademont Zaragoza.
Brondello said the transition and acclimation to a new WNBA team is “an adaption too.”
PRESEASON WOES
The Liberty suffered an ugly 101-53 preseason loss to the Sky earlier in the month. Brondello spoke about what happened in that matchup that caused the game to be so lopsided.
“It started with our starters. We weren’t ready to play, [not] locked in,” she said. “A little complacency and in this league you can’t have any complacency because any given night someone can have an exceptional game. And Chicago to their credit, they made a lot of shots in that game.”
