Well I know most of you reading this right now doesn’t know a lot about Women’s College Basketball nor do you care but I want you to continue reading this because I think Sabrina Ionescu could be the turning point of the Liberty and the turning point for the league. Every Sport has superstars that put that sport on the map and the WNBA hasn’t really had one that stood out to me. Sabrina is a triple double machine, she ended her college career being the NCAA all time leader in triple doubles, she was the first male or female college player to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 1,000 assists. 3x Pac-12 Player of the year, 3x Nancy Lieberman Award winner (Top PG in the country), 2x John R. Wooden Award (Top Woman and Men in the country), and a 1x Naismith Player of the Year. You see all the accomplishments I just listed for this one lady but now you are wondering why she deserved all that, well here it is.
Sabrina is unlike any other women’s basketball player right now during her time at Oregon she averaged 18.0 PPG, 7.7 APG, and 7.3 RPG at 5’11. She shot nearly 50% from the field through her college career and shot 42% from 3. She’s a very elite passer, she can pass you the ball even though you thought you weren’t open. She’s the best PG in the pick and roll game, she can tear defenses down with her play in the pick and roll. Here competitive drive is unlike any other, she was taught well by the late great Kobe Bryant. She 100% has that Mamba Mentality to be one of the greatest WNBA basketball players of all time. Her competitive drive started at a young age with her twin brother Eddy, they would duke it out and make each other cry by how hard they played against each other. That competitive drive made her stay at Oregon because of her loss in March Madness, even though it takes time off her WNBA career she couldn’t have closure at Oregon losing. She carried an Oregon team to 2nd in the country this year with a 31-2 record before the season got shut down. Did I mention yet she has Curry range? Yeah she kinda can hit a 3 from anywhere on the court and she isn’t one bit afraid about shooting it. My NBA comparison is a more efficient and better rebounding Damian Lillard here’s why. They both can shoot 40+ feet, they can both handle an offense very well, they are the average height for their position. It’s just that Sabrina is more efficient then Dame, Sabrina is also better at rounding for her position.
Now the system she’s coming into is expected for a team that had the number overall pick, but this is pretty bad. In the last two years the Liberty were a combined 17-51. Yeah it’s that bad, but they have 5 new rookies around Sabrina and the 2nd overall pick in the 2019 draft Asia Durr. Tina Charles, the leading scorer, got traded to the Mystics for the 9th, 12th, and 15th overall picks in the 2020 WNBA Draft. So let’s say Sabrina and crew are gonna be growing up together. Plus they had the 26th pick and the 13th pick from trades as well. Now thinking about it, this team might be very good in a couple of years if they can make all their players develop like they should. Well only being a half hour or so away from the Westchester County Center (Where Liberty Play most of their games now) I might just have to catch this once in a generation talent in full fold when fans are allowed back. Once the Liberty play in Madison Square Garden for the couple of games they play there, MSG will finally be home to a basketball star they have always wanted. The NY sports scene needs a boost to help and maybe Sabrina could be the one to change the basketball culture in NYC.
TheDyspatch 