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The Basketball Podcast: EP365 with Sandy Brondello on Insights from a Championship Season
In this week’s basketball coaching conversation, New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello joins the Basketball Podcast to share insights on a championship season.
In 2014, Brondello was named the WNBA Coach of the Year after she led Phoenix to a WNBA regular season-record 29 wins and capped the season with a WNBA Championship. In 2023, Brondello led the Liberty to the Commissioner’s Cup Championship and first WNBA Finals appearance since 2002. Brondello made history in 2024 after leading the New York Liberty to its first WNBA Championship in franchise history and the city’s first professional basketball championship since 1973.
A 20-year veteran of the WNBA coaching ranks, Brondello has been affiliated with the league for 25 of its 28 seasons, including her time as a player. A proven winner internationally and in the WNBA, her 20 total years as an assistant coach and head coach have featured 17 playoff appearances, highlighted by a perfect 12-for-12 in postseason berths as a head coach.
Brondello also became the coach of the Australian Women’s national team, the Opals in 2017. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Australian team won the bronze medal, the team’s first Olympic medal since a bronze in 2012.
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Sandy Brondello Quotes:
“The coaches are coming to Phoenix. I thought it would be a really good opportunity for us to get together and really hash out and review last year . . But it’s all about preparation now for 2025. How do we repeat, how do we win another championship? We look at the analytics and slowly build our team up.”
“There’s a style that I like to play, but I’m open to ideas. The game changes every single year. So, I’m really curious about how do we get better? Maybe that’s some cutting situations that we want to improve on or just our transition defense . . You can’t just say we’re going to play like this. For me, it’s the other way. What players do we have who allow us to play this way? There are still principles of play and non-negotiables, which we have at both ends of the floor.”
“How do we keep improving decision making? I think that’s one big thing right now because these players are very, very skilled. So, it’s just how do we create more space? How do we create more advantages?”
“We’re not a team that wants to isolate and hold the ball . . so, we’re tracking first, second, and third side ball movement and then the little things, anything that makes you good – being great screeners, being great cutters. For us, it’s a guideline for how we want to play and then we continue to add or subtract from it. Defensively there are more non- negotiables. Our first one is commitment. You’ve got to be committed to be great on that end of the floor.”
“When you catch the ball, you have 0.5 seconds to decide whether you’re going to shoot it, pass it or drive it. And then if you do drive and get into the paint, where’s the open spot so you can re-space?”
“It was more about just making sure we have the right values in place and that were driven by the players. It’s not my culture, it’s player-driven culture . . so, it allows us to hold them accountable. We bring in, ‘This is how we want to play, this is how we think we can be effective.’ And then you need that buy-in so it’s all about developing those relationships so that you can have honest conversations.”
“Buy-in and role definition are important. I want everyone to be great, but I try to put you in a role that’s going to help us win.”
“You want to play free flowing. But there’s a time and place when you need to make sure that you’re getting your best players involved.”
“We had the best offensive rating during this season, but our defense became number one in the postseason, and that’s how you want it. I still think we could be way better offensively. So that’s our goal now. So how do we play our best basketball in the playoff when it gets even more physical?”
“You’ve got to live with the decisions because we’re competitors. We all want to win and it hurts when you lose. I’m pretty good at letting go. I tell my players, ‘Don’t get too high or too low.’ . . We can have a bad game. I cannot have the best coaching game, but next morning I have to be able to move on because you’re holding on to something you can’t change. The only thing you can change is what you’re going to do that day. So, we use the phase, ‘Win the day.’ That’s all we need to focus on, that one day at a time. If we can do all the little processes throughout the year, it will mean a championship.”
Sandy Brondello Breakdown:
Sandy Brondello Selected Links from the Podcast:
Sandy Brondello
Sonia Raman
Andrew Wade
Olaf Lange
Zach O’Brien
Natasha Cloud
Tom Maher
Sabrina Ionescu
Breanna Stewart
Jimmy Butler
Steph Curry
Jonquel Jones
A’Ja Wilson
Brittney Griner
Steve Kerr
Leonie Fiebich
Kayla Thornton
Caitlin Clarke
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