 And joining me right now, the head coach of the New York Liberty, first year head coach, Walt Hopkins. Joining me, coach, how you doing? I'm doing well, thanks. Thanks for having me. Let's take you, let's go back to drafts night. What kind of a roller coaster, what kind of an exciting day was that for you? You know, it was, it was, there was a lot, there was a lot to it because we had won the side of it that we, outside of a couple of picks between one and nine that we didn't expect that the end results other than us getting Megan Walker, which was just I think people are going to look back on and be blown away that that happened. Other than that, though, the draft really ended up being exactly what we had slotted out in different locks and things like that, even though that the middle of one to nine looked different, it still ended up being the same results that we were kind of open for. The biggest surprise was Megan. So that's one that I think I'm sure you're going to have some questions about, because that was just just a gift. Yes, we will definitely get to Megan. Let's let's start with Sabrina, though. And just an embarrassment of riches there with her being able to do so many different things on the court. What will that process like meshing, you know, everything that she does well with the style that you want to play? Yeah, I think we really focused on putting the style together that fit her. I think coming out the gate, Sabrina's not going to have to do anything to fit in. You know, this this team is is built for her skill set and for Lesia skill set, you know, they're really and then the players, you know, with Kea Nurse and Zowie. I mean, they all are built Marine Asia. They're built to play in this type of a system. And I think it's really going to kind of take away some of the limitations to what they're good at and add to the things that they do great, you know, because they're just going to be in positions to succeed. And they're going to have shooting and people who can put the ball on the floor and defend multiple positions really everywhere you look. So I think for Sabrina, the, you know, for instance, we were talking through our playbook just the other day, because the first thing Sabrina did after she got drafted was text me and I want a username and password to start looking at the playbook and interacting with all that stuff. And she was like, Coach, this there is there some kind of a mistake? Like this is a lot of the stuff we ran in college. And I'm like, no, Sabrina, that's not a mistake. That's intentional, you know, we're we're doing that because we want you to, you know, one, those are good actions. And, you know, and you were running that system because you had a good coach who knew how to maximize his people. But two, we're built similarly to Oregon. You know, we are going to have fours to shoot the ball. We're actually going to have five to shoot the ball, which is really exciting. And then, you know, every other position creating spacing for her to kind of go into a pick and roll and find the person who the help leads. If nobody leaves, like Stanford tried not leave her and she had, you know, 30 something or 28. And so that's the way that we're built really is going to suit her well. What impresses you most about Sabrina's game when you watch her? I said this before, I think her competitiveness, her her edge is really, you know, Diana Kobe like it's, you know, with blast dance airing, you know, it's Michael like it's it's got she's got a real a real focus on the things that she needs to do and that her teammates need to do. And she doesn't really care how it happens. It just needs to happen. And to see that drive behind somebody, you can see it in her eyes. You can see it in her actions. You can see it in the way that she approaches every game. She she approaches the first quarter different. She approaches the third and fourth quarter like she really is thinking and adjusting on the fly as well as anybody I've seen. And it all comes from everything is informed by her desire to win. And she just does whatever is necessary to win. So some games she might have, you know, 15 rebounds, 12 assists and eight points. Another game she might have 32 with four assists because that's what the defense was giving her and so she capitalizes. So to have that that versatility in her skill set offensively, you know, she couldn't do that if teams were able to play off of her and say, go ahead, Sabrina, beat us with your three point shot. And she didn't have a three point shot. She wouldn't be able to do that. But you can't take anything away from Sabrina without giving her something because she's capable of capitalizing on whatever you give her. And naturally, as the number one overall pick and to have a college career as decorated as she has, she's taken the headlines. But I love hearing you, you know, your excitement about what Megan Walker is going to bring to the table. What will she provide to the New York Liberty? Yeah, at nine and 10, you know, I know that people probably know Megan. The fewer people probably know Jocelyn Willoughby. They are statistically very similar. If you go in and look at their numbers, very similar. They both shoot well over 40 percent from three. Megan's at 45 on like 173 attempts or something, which is absurd to go with the fact that she's not shooting a bunch of just set standing there wide open jumper. She comes off the stagger screen. She shoots off the move. She can shoot him off the dribble and she can put it on the floor. She's long. She can rebound, defend multiple positions. And obviously that Yukon pedigree is, is, you know, without equal. I mean, they come out knowing how to play basketball. So she moves well without the ball, which is going to be really important for us as teams, you know, are focused on pick and roll action on the weak side. She can either stay spaced and spot up to knock down threes or she can cut if you lose sight of her, if you're worried about the stuff going on with Sabrina and Zowie on the other end. So I think she's a perfect fit in that regard. And Jocelyn is really the exact same. She's, she's six feet tall. She's an inch shorter. She's probably as versatile or a little bit more versatile off the dribble. She really excels getting to the free throw line. She gets all the way to the rim. She's a good finisher, but both of them, I mean, embarrassment of riches is the exact terminology I use. So I, I totally agree with that. All right. We talked about three of the draft picks. So the Liberty never had this many picks in one. WNBA draft. Quickly, your thoughts on the other ladies, Jasmine, Kylie and Leon. Yeah, that, that group, they all provide something different. The thing that's, that's a steady factor with all of them is their, their buy-in. And one of the things that we did, you know, that our assistants, the staff, when they called all these players, they wanted to get a feel for them. And everybody had a different approach, asking different types of questions. And they all brought their genuine personalities to these interviews. And then when I came in from, from the interviews that the assistants told me about, I was able to kind of tailor mine according to whatever questions we had based on that pooled beta. And so getting to talk to all these players, you know, with a player like Megan, for instance, I really went straight, straight with her and just said, listen, you know, this is what you're going to need to do for us. If that's not a fit for you, then we get it. It's not a big deal, no hard feelings. But if you do buy into this, you could be phenomenal in this system and doing the things we need you to do. And she was all for it. And as we went through every single one of these players, they all said the same things. They just, they're bought in. They understand that it's going to be a process for them to learn and grow. And they know that they're coming in as rookies. Nobody has expectations as to what they deserve and things like that. And that's essential for a rookie. I mean, it's absolutely essential because when you have somebody coming in who's entitled and, you know, thinks they deserve X, Y and Z. And then they're upset in the background and things like that. I mean, this group, they all want to play for one another. Getting to jazz and Kylie and Nay, the three of them are all really versatile. So if you look at jazz, she's a phenomenal defender and athlete. And she shot a really good percentage from three. Just didn't shoot a ton of them, but a ball of energy. She's just amazing. Kylie is built for our system. You know, she's six, five defensive player of the year. Led the ACC in blocks, shoots 37, 38% for her career from three. She's perfect for what we want to do. And Nay is a player who literally can play any position as she continues to develop her athleticism off the charts. And she's another just great person. So the way that we see them fitting in is her versatility is going to be huge for her as we need to fill plug different holes throughout the season. You know, as things happen, she'll be there and she's going to be able to do that kind of in that, in that 11th or 12th player role. Last thing for you, coach, I know with you, still things are still fresh. You were announced in early January and you're all about making these connections. I'm sure you're chomping at the bit to get this group together. We had a WNBA virtual draft. Will you be having doing some virtual coaching? How will you, you know, establish player development at a distance right now? Yeah, I mean, part of it's our online playbook, you know, we're doing, we've uploaded everything and we have this, we have some really cool features on the site that allow us to quiz the players and they can interact with it, you know, in a more intimate way than they would have if they were just like looking at a diagram and memorizing, you know, rote memory, all these plays. That's one way. And then we as a staff, we actually have a call tomorrow to really now that the draft is over to lock in on some creative things that we can do with them that are, you know, that aren't corny, you know, that we want to, we want to really bring them together with things that they're, they're adults, they're pro athletes, you know, we're not going to, we're not going to be doing, you know, like rock climbing team building stuff anytime soon. So yeah, we're going to, we're going to really just do our best to do something creative, but, you know, authentic and genuine that really helps them. The excitement continues to brew for this New York Liberty team. Coach, thank you so much for your time. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.