Sparks head coach Curt Miller on adding Queen Egbo, the playmaking of Jonquel Jones

[Music] um hi Kurt so today is the Liberties Pride game um and I guess I've just been reflecting on what queer culture in the WNBA looks like and so I just want to ask you how would you describe what queer culture in the W looks like and how have you seen it evolve over time I didn't know it was briide game so it's fun um you know for me it's a league that's um very inclusive um it's a league that um is made up of both gay and straight players gay and straight coaches um you know the diversity outside of sexual orientation is outstanding in this league and there's great respect and camaraderie amongst our players as hard as they compete together uh they really are a sister of there is a real bond between these 144 players or thereabouts um are numbers um and there's such respect around the league for each other with the diversity so um again I I can't believe that there's a league men or women uh professional League that has um you know just greater diversity than the WNBA and it's something certainly we should champion and be proud of CT I think you were you were joking coming out here pregame the other day that you weren't getting any Liberty questions so ask what is your impression of this year's version especially as compared to last year basically the same Cas except for the bench really um what what strengths do you see at this to yeah I think I've been around the league long enough that one of the things that you notice is continuity and chemistry matters and um you can tell when teams or their core groups have played together um for longer and you know last year the you know the the super team you know Mantra became you know a big calling card last year around the league and it just doesn't happen just because you put a bunch of great players together and so the biggest thing that I see is just a comfortability a continuity a chemistry um you're in your second year with a coaching staff you're in a second year with each other you understand each other's player strengths and weaknesses you understand how to play off a each other and I just think you noticed that with this uh New York team um and you know this New York team has a way of separating in fourth quarters in close games you know and so um they just know how to win at the end of games and it just doesn't happen when you first put together a new group and I think that's you know has something to do with them being together second year personally I obviously um will always be a huge advocate fan friend colleague of JJ and uh just you know it's you see JJ um in great shape uh playing with her motor that you saw her play with in her MVP season for us back in Connecticut um and you know like she um she looks like an MVP candidate candidate and when she plays like that it's just a New York different dimension of a team in my [Music] opinion hey Kurt it seemed the other day that you made them make plays down the stretch to beat you I'm guessing you watched film last there or so what changes can you make to potentially make it tougher for them to make those plays yeah you know like I think the caveat of yesterday or you know the game on Thursday was um that 30 point third quarter was disappointing some of it the run that happened to initially get them going was off our turnovers which has been our Achilles heel and they were self-inflicted it wasn't necessarily their pressure uh but you know we made a big run back at him in the fourth quarter we had between 4 and A2 or just under 5 minutes to the 2 and 1/2 minute Mark almost two and a half minutes we had the ball multiple times down six uh where we missed some foul shots to get it to four we missed the three to get it to three we missed the layup to get it to four and I think they could have really felt us and uh you know so we made it it was a real game um when you look at those from the 5 minute to the 2 and 1 half minute Mark and we just needed to go make some winning plays there it could have been a real interesting finish but to their credit um when we didn't take advantage of those opportunities they were able to respond and eventually make some big plays and big shots um and that's the thing you know like in this league you just show um these swings you miss a layup they make a three that's five-point swing you miss two foul shots they make a basket there's a four-point swing and when your your uh line of winning and losing is a little bit thinner because of injuries and because of a young building roster you have to avoid some of these opportunities where these swings happen naturally where just a simple Miss layup can turn into a five-point swing um and that Miss layup turns into a three and we were able to show our players some of their points off of our turnovers but even more importantly what people don't talk about some of their possessions after we miss layups and how that turned into four and fiveo swings so if we can eliminate some of those do some good things be curious to see if Laney or sl's playing tonight which would be great for us to continue to learn um but we're anxious to get get back out there and compete we felt like we did a lot of really good things no one feels sorry for an injured team no one feels sorry for a young building team um and we don't feel sorry for ourselves so we we look forward to competing and uh finishing this road trip in our ninth game in our 18th day our ninth game and our 18th day of the night hey coach you talked about your connection with JJ and recently Sandy brondel just talked about her growth as a passer as a playmaker and she said that she's always had that ability just how have you seen JJ's growth as a playmaker over the years yeah always been a very good ball handler for her size especially in the open floor can see over and and see things she's got good knowledge of the game which makes her a good passer here maybe more than our Heyday and Connecticut they're playing in some five out uh buckets which has modernized basketball so they're in you know three to four major NBA actions which the WNBA has all stol now so she's in that position more than she's ever been and you can see her making plays and uh but it to us that have coached her and known her uh she's always been capable of that the back um you touched on the chemistry and the continuity of the Liberty I guess I was wondering if you could be like a little more specific and can be General around the lead too like what are you kind of picking up tangibly from like a basketball schematic standpoint what you see a team with the continuity is it how they cut is it how they rotate and close out on defense like what are the kinds of things that you're noticing on film um of a team in a second third fourth year together yeah I mean this could be a dissertation we could be here a while but um some some of the things that are natural is is that you just understand Tendencies and so you know this player likes to cut um from the 45 or this player you know will be in the corner in these actions and understand JJ you know is going to do this then and so it's just a lot of getting used to playing with each other and also you feel it at the defensive end and so they cover for each other they they have each other's backs in certain actions where you see that there's a coverage and there may be slippage but they have each other's back um they try to help out Sabrina in actions defensively and you can tell there's intent on these are areas where you know players can be successful but these are areas where we got to have each other's back and the congestion and the flow to those actions are going to help specific players so um it's hard to you know like show you it you know but when you watch it you truly feel it as a coach um hello Coach New York's defense um has held opponents to a season low a league low um in Second Chance points how will the addition of Queen Eggo helped ensure um you capitalize on those offensive opportunities yes certainly they're um you know such a good defensive rebounding team and they limit uh teams to you know one and done and that's why the other night it was really important for us to be one of the few teams that shot over 50% from the field against them it put us in position um have a successful night because we had a successful field goal percentage night um our main offensive bucket we didn't have a great night in but we did a lot of things uh differently in that game made adjustments and and we made plays it's not easy to get offensive rebounding uh excited about the addition to Queen she got it in the middle of the night you know I I mean it's really difficult for hardship players to get acclimated in 24 hours without a practice we didn't have a shoot around so we had a film session I you know I walked through you know some things with her but what are you going to teach her in 15 minutes about our 78 plays you know and and you know that doesn't even start the defensive game plan but what I know and what I told her and I've told people that on hardships before in her situation and who she is I said when in doubt tonight remember your ours all run rebound roll Rim protect and be relentless you can always have your RS if you don't know the Playbook if you don't know anything she can be that and offensive rebounding is something that she can help us with but I when she's out there I'm just going to continue to remember remind her we don't expect you to know what the heck's going on but we expect you to remember your hours tonight okay we're going to end with one last question on Zoom from Ran hey coach uh speaking with Queen what are some attributes you've seen from her throughout her career uh that you're kind of EXC kind of led to you know this time yes you know I've always been a fan of Queen um you know rookie year started in Indiana obviously brought up the bench after they drafted Aaliyah Boston that second year but was all rookie um that first year with Indiana in that rebuilding uh time and one of the things that stood out was her physicality her physicality in Washington bothered us last year even Off the Bench when they were dealing with some injuries she went toe-to-toe with NECA um she went toe-to-toe with dear and AER last year and her physicality at times bothered us so I believe she can bring physicality I think she can bring some Rim protection she can bring some rebounding we're back to those hours again ran so um you know I I I like some of the stuff through the years she's gone from a starter her rookie season to a role player and now it she's navigating like a lot of young Pros do to find her place um she was in a situation that became it was really easy for her rookie year they needed her they plugged the hole her and Elissa came in as college team tees and just you know were able to fill that front court for Indiana now she's navigating where she's been on multiple teams where she's had to be a role player and trying to find her Niche and again that's that's the winding road of a lot of young pros and you know Queen's challenge is taking advantage of some of these opportunities finding another home and carving out her role um because it's not going to be like her rookie year most places for her right now so excited to work with her excited to throw a lot at her um in this opportunity for her to be a hardship player for us thank thank you