Here’s everything you needed to know about the Liberty’s 2012 season:
Coach John Whisenant lost the team and the team lost the faith of its rabid fan base. Any other take on the 15-19 season would be spin doctoring.
“The word they commonly used is boring,’’ new coach Bill Laimbeer said about the conversations he had with season ticket holders in the offseason. “They walked the ball up the floor. They ran the same plays. I’ve never been called boring. Not as a player, not as a coach.’’
Laimbeer, the former Detroit Pistons Bad Boy, wasted no time winning back the players, which he believes will help them win back the fans, which, in a perfect world, will lead to an Eastern Conference title.
He flew to Turkey to meet with star guard Cappie Pondexter, who was playing professionally there.
“She had to understand what I’m coming with,’’ Laimbeer said. “She just wants to win a championship. That’s why she came here, to win a championship in New York. And my job is to get her there. Her job is to trust me and follow.’’
Mission accomplished. Pondexter said she appreciated Laimbeer’s trip to Turkey. She said she feels completely comfortable in Laimbeer’s presence, confident she can provide input and shares her coach’s goal of going where the Liberty hasn’t gone in years.
“I think he’s the perfect guy,’’ Pondexter said yesterday at the team’s media day. “He’s a player’s coach. He’s a proven winner. We haven’t made it out of the first round of the playoffs since I’ve been here. I want more. We want more. We want to win the East and play for a championship.’’
Ah yes, that elusive WNBA championship. The Liberty is one of the eight founding members of the league. It has never won a title and hasn’t played in the finals since 2002. New York has been to the Finals more times than any other franchise (four) without ever winning it all.
Laimbeer won three titles as the coach of the Detroit Shock. He was confrontational as a player and abrasive as a coach. Shy and Laimbeer have never been used in the same sentence until now.
“Our goal, my goal is to get these players to win the Eastern Conference,’’ said Laimbeer. “You can’t win the finals unless you win the East. You get in the finals, then it’s the players. Who wants it more? It’s a test of wills.