With her draft classmates labeled long-term projects, Lorela Cubaj is the lone rookie set to suit up for the 2022 New York Liberty.
BROOKLYN-Speaking with reporters on Friday in the aftermath of the 2022 WNBA Draft, New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb spoke of a sizable investment from team ownership into a performance staff that makes the bearers of seafoam, in his words “the best in the league from player care standpoint”.
As it turns out, the newcomers might need to give Kolb a hand too, as he and others were “doing backflips” in the Liberty war room when Georgia Tech forward Lorela Cubaj fell out of the first round and within their striking distance on Monday night.
With their regularly scheduled second-round pick (No. 17 overall) sacrificed in the trade that brought in three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard in February 2021, the Liberty got back into the draft’s middle frame through a deal with Seattle. The Storm was originally announced to have selected Cubaj at 18th overall before sending her rights to the Liberty in exchange for next year’s second-round pick.
Likewise partaking in Friday’s availability, Cubaj had no issue in swapping Seattle for seafoam.
“I had really good conversations with some of the staff of the Liberty and I had a really good impression of them,” Cubaj said. “I also had a great impression of the coach. It was really nice to talk to them and the fact that they took the time to just talk to me, I was really thankful for that. I didn’t really know where I was going to go and I was just nervous. But I’m so glad that I ended up in New York because I really loved all the conversations that I had with everybody.”
Liberty can see instant impact from Cubaj
Though the WNBA’s 12-team, 12-player roster set-up has generated loud calls for expansion and provides little assurance for second-round selections’ lineup chances, the Liberty have worked their middle-round choices into their rotation, notably enjoying the contributions of DiDi Richards (a WNBA All-Rookie team nominee in 2021) and Kylee Shook.
Trading for Cubaj, on pace to become the WNBA’s first Italian-born regular season participant since Minnesota’s Cecilia Zandalasini (2017-18), was partly done out of necessity: the immediate fates of her metropolitan draft classmates (Nyara Sabally and Sika Kone) have already been spoken for, as each will miss the 2022 season.
But Kolb and new head coach Sandy Brondello believe that there’s a good chance that Cubaj can make an instant impact similar to Richards and Michaela Onyenwere’s freshman endeavors last season.
“I know that there’s the cliches and people will always say this, but truly we were looking at her in the first round. She’s somebody that we were quite honestly shocked, fell to where she was at,” Kolb said. “We’re really excited to add Lorela defensively. I feel that she can step in right now and play. I think…her passing ability, that serves her well. With her, it’s the offensive side of the ball that we’re going to need to develop but I think she’s got a really strong skill set to make, you know, leaps as she starts her career and looks towards the future.”
Cubaj herself noted that she had to work on her offensive game, even after taking a respectably strong step forward last year: she put up a career-best (and Atlanta-best) 4.3 assists after failing to eclipse three over her first four seasons.
A new day starts now for the Liberty
With training camp set to start on Sunday, Brondello is looking to create a new defensive identity after the Liberty allowed a league-worst 85.5 points per game last season (Brondello’s Phoenix Mercury came in at fourth en route to the WNBA Finals). The first-year metropolitan head coach believes that Cubaj can help establish her fortifying vision.
“Defense will be preached in training camp, and we want to be a great defensive team…Lorela loves that side of the ball,” Brondello said. “Not many players say that’s me, that’s what I want to do. You need those kinds of players to get to play the style of defense that you want. I think she can really make an impact from day one.”
Fresh off its first playoff berth since 2017, the Liberty’s next steps forward could be revealed and earned through interior and defensive endeavors. While becoming renowned for their three-point prowess (sinking a league-record 321 from deep), Brondello expressed a desire to “not just (shoot) from outside”.
Though the longest playoff drought was ended, the Liberty (12-20) had to sweat out its clinching to the final day of the season thanks to some games that slipped through grip through interior issues. New York was also tied for second-to-last among the WNBA’s dozen teams in rebounding (33.3 per game) and outright last in points allowed in the paint (38.4), as well as second-chance points (8.1).
Ready for the task ahead
Cubaj certainly has the hardware to show that she’s capable of solving such issues. She shared the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year Award with Kamilla Cardoso in 2021 and won it outright last season. Her final two seasons, which helped create the Yellow Jackets first set of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances since 2007-12, saw her average a double-double (11.2 points, 11.3 rebounds).
Set to take on the task of fully representing the Liberty’s latest rookie class and placed toward the top of draft whiteboards across the league, few could blame Cubaj for harboring a sense of vengeance in her freshman campaign.
But on top of being grateful for the mere prospect of WNBA adventures, Cubaj appeared to know why New York came calling and her metropolitan purpose. If it happens to prove a few people wrong along the way, so be it, but she’s more than willing to battle the toughest critic of all: herself.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity a lot because people don’t understand how much that means to me. It was my dream since I was probably like 14,” she said. “So to me, it’s not really about proving anybody wrong, but I just want to prove to myself that I could be better than probably what I showed in the past. So I just want to improve and just keep getting better and better and just help the team get better.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
Main Image: Lorela Cubaj | C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images
