Speaker 1: In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an
Speaker 1: iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
Speaker 1: and Entertainment. Welcome back to another episode of In Case
Speaker 1: You Missed It with Christina Williams here on iHeartRadio, and
Speaker 1: I am super excited about this week's guests. We are
Speaker 1: on the heels of the WNBA expansion drafta just passed
Speaker 1: last week, so joining me this week for the show
Speaker 1: is General manager ohemma Ennen, head coach Natalie mccasse, and
Speaker 1: President of the Golden State Valkyries Jess Smith. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the show, ladies.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I love that personally. Have you all been enjoying New
Speaker 1: York City so far?
Speaker 3: Yes, it's been about twelve hours for me, but I
Speaker 3: love I love it here this time of year, right,
Speaker 3: the Christmas decorations are everywhere.
Speaker 2: It's beautiful, it's cold.
Speaker 1: It's cold. Are you used to this? Right?
Speaker 4: I am, But I didn't realize the Cali sun is
Speaker 4: a thing?
Speaker 1: Yeah? And Natalie, what is what has it been like
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 2: Well, when we come here, we always have really good dinners,
Speaker 2: so I can't wait for our fifteenth dinner.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 1: I love that all right, So I want to just
Speaker 1: dive right into things right now. What was the moment
Speaker 1: for each of you where you knew you wanted to
Speaker 1: be a part of the Golden State Valkyries organization.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the moment I knew, Can I say when they
Speaker 4: offered me? I think, you know, throughout the interview process,
Speaker 4: I got to meet a lot of really good people,
Speaker 4: and at every moment I was like, oh, like, I'm
Speaker 4: not leaving an organization of you know, five years of
Speaker 4: relationships for just anybody. And they did a really good
Speaker 4: job of making sure that real stakeholder that I would
Speaker 4: ever come into contact with was a part of the
Speaker 4: interview process, and that just made it kind of like
Speaker 4: an easy yes.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: For me, it was really meeting with Joe and Peter,
Speaker 3: our owners. And Toohamma's point, there's so many talented people
Speaker 3: at Golden State. It's really apparent the minute you start
Speaker 3: meeting people that these are good people that want to
Speaker 3: do great things and then want to do that together.
Speaker 3: But the level up that you get from talking to
Speaker 3: Joe and Peter specifically and their passion for what they're building.
Speaker 3: They are relentless in winning, like it is they say
Speaker 3: that you hear it and things like this, but when
Speaker 3: you're in the room with them, you can tell how
Speaker 3: genuine that is. And for me, what I really appreciated
Speaker 3: about that is they are storied, successful human beings and
Speaker 3: everything they do, especially sports. And to sit down and
Speaker 3: see the curiosity they had with me about how to
Speaker 3: build women's sports and not necessarily to replicate what they've
Speaker 3: built with the Warriors, I thought was just astounding. And
Speaker 3: so to see how do we do this, but do
Speaker 3: it the way that these fans deserve and what they've
Speaker 3: been waiting for versus just trying to replicate what was
Speaker 3: done with the Warriors was the minute I knew this
Speaker 3: was going to be special.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean ditto the backside story. For me, when
Speaker 2: I was with the Clippers back in the day, I've
Speaker 2: always kind of low key dreamed to work for Golden
Speaker 2: State just because of all the history of the winning
Speaker 2: and multiple championships. Especially when Joe took over, it was like, gosh,
Speaker 2: I really want to I want to win some And
Speaker 2: then having conversation with Joe and then my final really
Speaker 2: decision was when Ohema called me and we literally had
Speaker 2: a great conversation and we met just a couple times before,
Speaker 2: Like we really weren't that close, but just our like
Speaker 2: quick dinners, her genuine feel of a person, like you
Speaker 2: have a sit down lunch or dinner with her, she
Speaker 2: makes you feel like her best friend. And so I
Speaker 2: think I knew like because of that, Caro, I was
Speaker 2: in really good hands.
Speaker 1: Just you've had a hand in helping launch sports teams
Speaker 1: before an Angel City FC. Are there any similarities between
Speaker 1: helping to launch you know, that team versus a WNBA
Speaker 1: expansion team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm real tired all the time, honest answer. I
Speaker 3: learned a ton with Angel City. I was so fortunate
Speaker 3: to be surrounded by that group of people that at
Speaker 3: that point in time was willing to build something that
Speaker 3: had never been done before, willing to take a mindset
Speaker 3: of it's not about can we sell four thousand tickets,
Speaker 3: it's can we build this to sell out games? And
Speaker 3: that mentality and understanding that the community shows up if
Speaker 3: you build something the right way was an incredible confidence
Speaker 3: to come into this group to build it with. But
Speaker 3: what I've really learned in women's sports and what the
Speaker 3: fans demand is that you are genuine right. You have
Speaker 3: to be very intentional about what you're building, how you're
Speaker 3: building it, who you're building it with, and they can
Speaker 3: sniff out if that's not real. And we have to
Speaker 3: be bold and we have to you know, be honest,
Speaker 3: you know, throughout this journey on what's hard and what's right,
Speaker 3: and that's what they want from us, and so you
Speaker 3: have to be vulnerable. And I've really just learned to
Speaker 3: be truthful with our fans and community and with that
Speaker 3: they show up tenfold, you know, and they're going to
Speaker 3: be with us on this journey, but they can trust
Speaker 3: that we want what they want and it's a really
Speaker 3: shared experience, which is really special.
Speaker 1: Oh, Emma, you mentioned the five years you spent with
Speaker 1: the New York Liberty, who recently won the w NBA Championship.
Speaker 1: What have you taken with you from your time with
Speaker 1: the New York Liberty under Jonathan Cole that you're going
Speaker 1: to bring with you to this organization.
Speaker 4: Relationships matter, I think very specifically, if you invest in
Speaker 4: these athletes, they'll invest in you. And investing in these
Speaker 4: athletes is not just with money, right, it's understanding who
Speaker 4: they are, where they came from, what they're trying to
Speaker 4: go to and how we can be, you know, active
Speaker 4: participants in a mutual journey. I would say somebody that
Speaker 4: I don't highlight a bunch is Kia Clark. She is
Speaker 4: a phenomenally phenomenal human who just always lended an ear
Speaker 4: to say, you know, you can do this better or
Speaker 4: you're doing an amazing job in this aspect. But just
Speaker 4: her gentle care was something that I am definitely going
Speaker 4: to bring over here as well. And then just understanding
Speaker 4: kind of what this organization is going to be in
Speaker 4: terms of the Golden Save Valkyries and having just be
Speaker 4: my partner in crime. Learning from Kia, I know that
Speaker 4: I'm in exceptional hands with Jess because they say the
Speaker 4: same things, they have the same demeanor. They're both really
Speaker 4: unapologetic about women in sports and.
Speaker 2: Like our platform.
Speaker 1: Natalie, you're coming from the two time w NBA Chance,
Speaker 1: two time.
Speaker 2: The Las Vegas.
Speaker 1: Aces, where you served as first here on the assistant
Speaker 1: head coach next to Becky Hammond. So what have you
Speaker 1: learned coaching those players and what sort of identity and
Speaker 1: team culture do you want to create with the Golden
Speaker 1: State Valkyries.
Speaker 2: I learned that they are crazy. No, I mean those
Speaker 2: two championships but the years I spent there, I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm never going to forget them. I always talked about
Speaker 2: Becky opening her heart and being you know, allowing everyone
Speaker 2: to be their authentic self. That the players did the
Speaker 2: same thing. Like there is so much genuine love amongst
Speaker 2: those players and myself and the staff, Like you know,
Speaker 2: it was very, very hard to leave. But what I'm
Speaker 2: going to take is just again We've been saying it
Speaker 2: over and over, the genuine care investing in people. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's really the key to success, just because understanding team
Speaker 2: chemistry is really huge in winning championships, So building that camaraderie,
Speaker 2: building that really competitive culture we've talked about, but also
Speaker 2: always staying connected.
Speaker 1: When I think about the Valkyries team name, I want
Speaker 1: to know where did this name originate? Jess, and were
Speaker 1: there any names that got left off the list that
Speaker 1: you can tell us?
Speaker 3: Are there any that you think would have been better?
Speaker 3: I'm going to put that back real quickly.
Speaker 2: I love the pressure of me.
Speaker 1: I love the team name and the colors and the
Speaker 1: identity that you all up bringing.
Speaker 3: But back to you, yeah, I was a journalism majors.
Speaker 3: It's not as I get that in I love that right. No,
Speaker 3: it was the first step of really listening to our fans.
Speaker 3: And so the San Francisco Chronicle, right after the team
Speaker 3: was announced, where the rights were given to this ownership group,
Speaker 3: ran a article that said what should the team name be?
Speaker 3: And this was not a drop down box circle C
Speaker 3: versus D. This was a write in name and twenty
Speaker 3: five percent one in four people wrote in the Belcrease
Speaker 3: so very candidly. That really put it on the radar
Speaker 3: from day one. There were a lot of things in
Speaker 3: the mix, but that one kept coming back to the top,
Speaker 3: and when you would read through, yes we do sometimes
Speaker 3: read the forums, you know, the different comments of how
Speaker 3: people identified with that. It was really beautiful to see
Speaker 3: the strength and femininity that they wanted it to bring
Speaker 3: under the Golden State brand that complemented the Warriors, but
Speaker 3: was uniquely its own right. So it just kept coming
Speaker 3: to the forefront and then we had the opportunity to
Speaker 3: make it what it is today, which as you see,
Speaker 3: we're not blueing gold. We really lean into that valkyrie violet.
Speaker 3: We want this color to be ours, even if you
Speaker 3: don't see our logo with it, and we can't be
Speaker 3: happier with how it's turned out in our fans response
Speaker 3: to it.
Speaker 1: Listen, I did see Steph Curry show up.
Speaker 3: To a game right in the player society.
Speaker 1: Here, so I definitely need some mercha. Oh him Back
Speaker 1: to you. You just completed the w NBA Expansion draft.
Speaker 1: Can you just talk about the approach to your strategy
Speaker 1: in drafting the eleven players that you selected.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was outside of hiring coach and a case.
Speaker 4: That was the number one thing on my mind, which
Speaker 4: was who were these athletes? We watched it a lot
Speaker 4: of film. We've all become experts in spreadsheets. That's like
Speaker 4: the running joke. Now I'm kind of hoping that I'll
Speaker 4: get more learning around it, but candidly that we knew
Speaker 4: probably top four five athletes that most likely would get protected.
Speaker 4: And so then the question was if they didn't protect
Speaker 4: player A or B, would they fit into coach and
Speaker 4: a Casse's system, yes or no? If yes, then why?
Speaker 4: If no, then why? And so we just did this
Speaker 4: whole ransom repeat. Come in, have a conversation, team by team,
Speaker 4: player by player, discuss, go watch film, come back, and
Speaker 4: we did that for a really long time. We had
Speaker 4: a lot of very passionate conversations because we wanted to
Speaker 4: make sure that we were battle tested when we were
Speaker 4: asked about why we picked player A or player C.
Speaker 2: And I think.
Speaker 4: This entire process showed us that number One, we care.
Speaker 4: Number two, we will do our homework to make sure
Speaker 4: that we're competitive not just on the court but amongst
Speaker 4: each other. And three, you know, constructive feedback is always
Speaker 4: going to be harsher from within them externally and.
Speaker 1: Happily for you. What did that collaboration look like on
Speaker 1: frapt Night.
Speaker 2: Our collaboration m hm, oh gosh, you're still sitting here.
Speaker 2: I was in the middle. I mean, we've been collaborating.
Speaker 2: I think the moment I got hired, we went for
Speaker 2: a celebration dinner, and the collaboration was real. It was fun.
Speaker 2: And what I noticed as I learned more and more
Speaker 2: from Jess and o'hemma and you know, valling in behind
Speaker 2: behind scenes, Kimberly, we all be great in our position.
Speaker 2: And I'm not talking great, I'm like saying the best.
Speaker 2: And I think when you're surrounded by greatness, like they
Speaker 2: motivate me even more.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 2: That's what I've started to learn, is like, yeah, we're collaborating,
Speaker 2: but we're pushing each other, and I think that's really good.
Speaker 2: What's going to set us apart from other organizations? Okay,
Speaker 2: I have.
Speaker 1: So many questions about the roster makeup. Seven of the
Speaker 1: eleven players are have international experience. Was that intentional to
Speaker 1: select players with that type of experience.
Speaker 4: No, it wasn't intentional. I would say, we really just
Speaker 4: looked at the athletes for who they are, and then
Speaker 4: it just happened to be seven out of eleven have
Speaker 4: international ties. What I will say is, you know, in uh,
Speaker 4: the different drafts that we had amongst ourselves, you know,
Speaker 4: some were post heavy, some were guard heavy, some were
Speaker 4: a mixture of the two. And so every day once
Speaker 4: we came up with like our this was this is
Speaker 4: what the Valkyries will look like, we then had to say, well,
Speaker 4: if nothing else happened, could we play basketball in the
Speaker 4: way that coach that wants to play? And so that's
Speaker 4: what kind of brought us back and forth. I love
Speaker 4: that we get to highlight these seven athletes that rain
Speaker 4: from a different country outside of the United States, because
Speaker 4: the globalization of this sport doesn't get talked about as much,
Speaker 4: and these athletes deserve to be put on this platform
Speaker 4: to be able to you know, shine and so I think, yeah,
Speaker 4: we're really excited about it.
Speaker 1: Jess. One of my favorite parts about the draft was
Speaker 1: just seeing all of the different people come together to
Speaker 1: introduce the players, whether it was Baron Davis eight forty,
Speaker 1: I think that you all did such a great job
Speaker 1: and bring in the community together. What ways do you
Speaker 1: plan to continue to engage the community and the fans
Speaker 1: and the Valkyrie's identity.
Speaker 3: Well, first, thank you for noticing you know that intentionality
Speaker 3: is really important to our entire team, right we have
Speaker 3: a lot of people, as coach Natalie mentioned, working behind
Speaker 3: the scenes to think about things like that and make
Speaker 3: sure we're representing the different people that are following what
Speaker 3: we do. And that's really the main piece, Like we
Speaker 3: want to think through what does this feel like for
Speaker 3: everybody as they're watching this and seeing our brand identified.
Speaker 3: It's important, right, Like how they see people show up
Speaker 3: that are wearing Valkyrie's gear and speaking on our behalf
Speaker 3: is a really big moment for us. So it's just
Speaker 3: about making sure we're growing that base. You know, we
Speaker 3: hope and we know obviously now that we have Michelle,
Speaker 3: we West, Dannie forty and barn As fans. You know,
Speaker 3: we want many other people to join what we're doing
Speaker 3: and be able to speak about it. But it was
Speaker 3: a bit moment for us for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I loved, like before launched the block parties
Speaker 1: and just getting the community actively engaged in getting excited
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 3: My three and five year old's first concert was pel
Speaker 3: Klani and I was like, Okay, this is who you are.
Speaker 2: You are the area.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, So I think I nailed parenting that day.
Speaker 3: So if I've done nothing else, I expose them to
Speaker 3: the right folks.
Speaker 1: But there's this question to Natalie and Ohima. With WNBA
Speaker 1: free agency coming up, and of course the w NBAH
Speaker 1: draft where you all have the number five pick in
Speaker 1: each of the rounds, how do you prioritize the short
Speaker 1: term goals of the team and the roster versus the
Speaker 1: long swim team goals? Knowing that also another expansion draft
Speaker 1: will be coming in twenty twenty five for the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six teams.
Speaker 4: Yeah, mister Joe has said that we need to win
Speaker 4: the championship. He put a timeline by it and then
Speaker 4: made a joke during the expansion draft we could do it.
Speaker 4: Maybe we could do it in less time. So the
Speaker 4: goal is always to organically create a winning culture, and
Speaker 4: how we do that, we're kind of keeping close to
Speaker 4: the vest. But the Bay has been hungry for a
Speaker 4: w NBA team for a very long time, and the
Speaker 4: three of us are sitting here because we understand the
Speaker 4: assignment and we want to make sure that every day
Speaker 4: we're not leaving any stone unturned to put the best
Speaker 4: competitive group of women on court and also make the
Speaker 4: case that you should invest in women sports.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So my first conversation with Joe Laika, as you said,
Speaker 2: like we're winning in five years. That's the deal. That's
Speaker 2: what you sign up for. So right away, I mean
Speaker 2: I'm motivated, right, and so a lot I've been getting
Speaker 2: a lot of questions of like what does the first
Speaker 2: season look like for you? I want to win every game.
Speaker 2: I mean I don't want to go into the locker
Speaker 2: room and say hey to my players like yeah, maybe
Speaker 2: we'll win or yeah maybe we'll lose. No, Like, my
Speaker 2: mindset is going into every game preparing us to the
Speaker 2: best of our ability, and we want to win every game.
Speaker 2: And that's the mindset that I want our players to have.
Speaker 2: So to me, that success is when we prepare them
Speaker 2: and we go out there and compete and be battle
Speaker 2: tested like we've been talking about. That to me is success.
Speaker 1: When you look at the roster makeup of this group,
Speaker 1: how would you say it blends well with your coach
Speaker 1: and style.
Speaker 2: So if you watched all of these eleven players, like
Speaker 2: you can't take your eyes off the fact that they
Speaker 2: play so hungry, Like they are hungry. They play like
Speaker 2: their life depends on it. Like I can go down
Speaker 2: the line from Kayla to Kate Martin to Xander Lassini
Speaker 2: to Conde for those you know that you know haven't
Speaker 2: seen Conde play, But they play so hard and that's
Speaker 2: what you want, like from the from the jump to
Speaker 2: the end, and then their ability to space the floor
Speaker 2: and more importantly as you watch them even closer, they're
Speaker 2: high IQ like they have a very good high IQ.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to throw on this too high character
Speaker 2: like they're just really really great people.
Speaker 1: I throw this to all of you. What's been the
Speaker 1: most surprising or challenging part about being able to start
Speaker 1: up a new WNBA team from each of your perspectives
Speaker 1: and roles.
Speaker 3: I mean, for me, we talked about how much we
Speaker 3: all care about this. That's a weight right every day
Speaker 3: you wake up every day motivated, but with a specific
Speaker 3: timeline that on Friday, May sixteenth, Chase Center will be open.
Speaker 3: We will be playing the La sparks, our fans will
Speaker 3: be showing up, the world will be watching. What does
Speaker 3: that feel like? And that is such a privileged opportunity
Speaker 3: to have a chance to work towards something you truly
Speaker 3: believe is making this world a better place and representative
Speaker 3: of what these incredible athletes deserve and have deserved for
Speaker 3: a long time. And it's heavy because you want to
Speaker 3: get it right so much. So I think the opportunity
Speaker 3: and the difficulty is I think as any leader that
Speaker 3: manages anything can tell you like you just carry that
Speaker 3: with you, and you carry that stress that you can
Speaker 3: see and everybody around you with you as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say to Biggie back off of that,
Speaker 4: there is no blueprint. We're creating the blueprint, and so
Speaker 4: I think we're highly selective first and foremost of the
Speaker 4: people that we hire to bring into our organization. So
Speaker 4: don't ask me any hiring questions because I'm going to be.
Speaker 2: Very negative about that.
Speaker 4: And because there's no blueprint we want to make sure
Speaker 4: that how we're laying down the foundation of how other
Speaker 4: expansion teams can do it, not only in the w
Speaker 4: but also in any other sport. We collectively don't give
Speaker 4: each other grace, and we need to continue to do
Speaker 4: that in order to understand the heaviness that we elected
Speaker 4: to be a part of on a daily basis.
Speaker 2: Yes, you might think I'm a little sick in the head,
Speaker 2: but I love challenges. I kind of been taught since
Speaker 2: a young age to take more of the tough road.
Speaker 2: So I love challenges. I'm embracing it. I love proving
Speaker 2: people wrong. So for those of people who don't think
Speaker 2: that we can win in five years, like, please keep
Speaker 2: telling me that, because that's only going to add field
Speaker 2: my fire. So yeah, I'm excited, not more looking at
Speaker 2: the challenge.
Speaker 1: When you think about rounding out your coaching staff, what
Speaker 1: types of characteristics for who do you have in mind?
Speaker 1: I know that with a lot of the recent hires
Speaker 1: in the w NBA, a lot of organizations, I've been
Speaker 1: leaning towards college coaches or looking at the NBA for hiring.
Speaker 1: What is that process looking like for you right now?
Speaker 2: Like I just mentioned a little sick in head. Dallas
Speaker 2: was sick in the head, you know. No, I'm just
Speaker 2: being and self aware. Yeah. No, genuine people, that's from
Speaker 2: the top. Again, I've learned that from Becky Hammond. She
Speaker 2: gave me the opportunity. She opened her heart when I
Speaker 2: was in a very very tough time, you know, losing
Speaker 2: my dad, and she just opened her heart and her
Speaker 2: home to me. And so I feel that when you
Speaker 2: do that, you can get the best out of your players.
Speaker 2: So genuineness comes from the top. And then I think
Speaker 2: a little crazy, a little crazy, and then obviously just
Speaker 2: attention to detail and a constant learner. That's the keys
Speaker 2: for me.
Speaker 1: Are you close to finding some of those assistant coaches.
Speaker 2: Yeah, We've been doing a lot of interviewing, which is
Speaker 2: the process. Like I think, having a long process and
Speaker 2: being thorough because again, I don't want to miss on
Speaker 2: this opportunity to get a great fit. Because I think
Speaker 2: the coaches, as much as they get along, we're going
Speaker 2: to be pouring into the players. So we're actually the
Speaker 2: full leaders of our team. You know, it's just not
Speaker 2: just me, it's just my whole coaching staff. So I
Speaker 2: want to pick the right people.
Speaker 1: Non basketball related question, what excites to you the most
Speaker 1: about just being in the Bay Area. Why should w
Speaker 1: NBA fans be excited?
Speaker 3: I mean, it's so representative of the culture in the Bay.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 3: The Bay is where everyone looks to what comes next
Speaker 3: in this world, right technology, innovation, how we treat people, representation,
Speaker 3: and so to have that vibe and when you're in
Speaker 3: the Bay, you know, we mentioned some of the great
Speaker 3: musical artists you know that are with us too. But
Speaker 3: there's a grit to the Bay that is undeniable. And
Speaker 3: there's a little bit of that side smirk that if
Speaker 3: you don't know about the Bay, you're going to know
Speaker 3: about the Bay. We might not be as big, but
Speaker 3: we're going to be as strong, right you might You're
Speaker 3: going to know who we are, you know, in a
Speaker 3: really big way. And so for me, I just I've
Speaker 3: lived in the b area on and off for almost
Speaker 3: twenty years now. It's home for me for sure. And
Speaker 3: I also personally love that we have roots in Oakland
Speaker 3: and San Francisco, you know, to be able to span
Speaker 3: both cities as well, it's super special.
Speaker 4: I'm on the East coast gurly, so this I'm still
Speaker 4: trying to figure it out. I think what I love
Speaker 4: is the passion people are just all in. To have
Speaker 4: twenty thousand people standing in line to get season tickets.
Speaker 1: Wow, congratulations.
Speaker 5: By the way, it's team and team, prior to myself
Speaker 5: hiring a head coach, prior to our athletes being announced,
Speaker 5: prior to playing a basketball game.
Speaker 4: That passion, you can't buy it. Like you there's no
Speaker 4: other place that is going to unapologetically, And I think
Speaker 4: the word that I'm looking for is authentically like be
Speaker 4: behind our team, and that just makes us want to
Speaker 4: work even harder.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I would say invested. I was walking yesterday
Speaker 2: down the street to go grab coffee in San Francisco,
Speaker 2: and I was wearing my Vockeries, you know, hoodie because
Speaker 2: they hooked me up. So I'm down and a gentleman
Speaker 2: was hey hey. He's like, are you the coach of
Speaker 2: the Valkyeries And I'm like yeah, and he goes all right,
Speaker 2: like I'm right, So I kept walking. He goes hey,
Speaker 2: he goes, you got a game today?
Speaker 3: And I was like do I have a game?
Speaker 2: Because I was like, wait, do I have a game today?
Speaker 2: But no, I mean I just checked. I was like,
Speaker 2: holy crap, don't have a came but just investment, right, like,
Speaker 2: just invested the buy in. I mean it's already there.
Speaker 2: So I think that's what I'm really excited about.
Speaker 1: Looking ahead to the Aull Girl season, you open up
Speaker 1: against the Los Angeles Sparks on May sixteenth. We just
Speaker 1: talked about what's exciting about the Bay Area and twenty
Speaker 1: thousand fans season ticket holders as well. What excites you
Speaker 1: the most about just tipping off May sixteenth against a
Speaker 1: legacy team like the Sparks.
Speaker 4: I haven't thought about it, to be quite honest. I
Speaker 4: think there's a lot of work to be done, and
Speaker 4: that's okay. Like I I think as I get closer
Speaker 4: to it, you know, we we still have to put.
Speaker 2: Our full team together.
Speaker 4: We have free agency coming up, we have the collegiate
Speaker 4: draft coming up, and then we have training camp and
Speaker 4: the goal is to have the most competitive training camp.
Speaker 4: We want these athletes to be hungry, excited, and I
Speaker 4: would say probably like honored to be able to put
Speaker 4: on a Valkyrie's jersey, right Like, for the first time
Speaker 4: ever in a really long time. You get to put
Speaker 4: on a jersey that nobody else has put on. You
Speaker 4: get to have your first number there's so many firsts
Speaker 4: that are going to come along the way, and I
Speaker 4: think that we as a front office and the business
Speaker 4: team can like lean in on that.
Speaker 1: So now I have a hard question for you.
Speaker 2: Here we go, Here we go.
Speaker 1: Agency is coming up, and of course you all did
Speaker 1: not select a player from the Seattle Storm. However, has
Speaker 1: been reported that Jewel Lloyd requested a trade. Now, I
Speaker 1: know you're not gonna tell me your strategy here on
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 2: Right about that, let's start there.
Speaker 1: Kelsey Mitchell is also a player who says she's open
Speaker 1: to exploring free agency. True guard to you know, big.
Speaker 2: Names can play basketball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is anything going to be ruled off the table
Speaker 1: when it comes to those sort of players in free agency?
Speaker 4: We're open to all players, to be quite honest, like that,
Speaker 4: our non negotiables have stayed the same, and as coach
Speaker 4: Natalie described, we're looking for competitive individuals first and foremost,
Speaker 4: we want them to be connected. This is the first
Speaker 4: time everybody's gonna put on a jersey and go on right.
Speaker 4: To build versus to win. Building sometimes has a negative
Speaker 4: connotation that like, if you're in build mode, that means
Speaker 4: you're losing games. And we are going to change that
Speaker 4: mindset and that definition. So to answer your question without
Speaker 4: answering your question, stay dumned, you.
Speaker 1: Will be keeping on us on it. Jest for you.
Speaker 1: You all are expected to unveil your new practice facility
Speaker 1: sometime next year, and we've seen how important that is
Speaker 1: to attract free agents. Why is Golden State a place
Speaker 1: where athletes should look to play?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's my job is to make sure we can
Speaker 3: do as much as we can on the commercial side
Speaker 3: to support the atmosphere that Ohamma and coach Natalie want
Speaker 3: to build. So for us, you know, they can speak
Speaker 3: more to attracting the free agents, but for us, it's
Speaker 3: about making sure that we have elite facilities that our
Speaker 3: players can be their best selves in and making sure
Speaker 3: that it's representative of the brand that all of us
Speaker 3: have come to the table with a lot of work
Speaker 3: and thought behind, so that whether it's those players walking in,
Speaker 3: you know, somebody from the media walking in, somebody coming
Speaker 3: in for a youth clinic, that they feel what the
Speaker 3: valkyries are you know, inside Chase Center and inside Oakland
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 2: Well. I'd like to add, like when we have invest
Speaker 2: in you know, the resources like we've talked about like
Speaker 2: we also care about the longevity of their career. So
Speaker 2: Joe is not only like just having a facility. It's
Speaker 2: like the treatment rooms. It's a therapy, it's the mental therapy,
Speaker 2: it's everything. It's all the layers who's thinking about because
Speaker 2: we don't want just the players to just come in
Speaker 2: and have like a season, like we want them to
Speaker 2: make it their home. And I think that's what we're
Speaker 2: talking about intentionality with how we build things and.
Speaker 1: All that note, I want to thank you all for
Speaker 1: joining us this week on In Case you missed It
Speaker 1: with Christina Williams here on iHeartRadio. It's been such a
Speaker 1: pleasure and I'm looking forward to May sixteenth, but most
Speaker 1: importantly what you all do in free agency. Of course,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I just want to thank jess Ohemma and Natalie again
Speaker 1: for stopping by to the show this week. Don't forget
Speaker 1: to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast, and we'll
Speaker 1: be back here next week on In Case you missed
Speaker 1: It with Christina Williams here on iHeartRadio. In Case you
Speaker 1: missed It with Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports
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