How Fiebich has Fit with the Liberty » Winsidr

“I really don’t like awards,” Leonie Fiebich said flatly. “I don’t like MVPs, I don’t like all these things around it.”

The 24-year-old German is not your conventional rookie. She’s already a multiple-time champion and, despite her aversions to winning honors, a repeat Most Valuable Player overseas. On Thursday, Fiebich added a WNBA All-Rookie Team distinction to her impressive list of accolades; on Friday, she placed second behind Tiffany Hayes in voting for Sixth Woman of the Year. But in New York, she’s a part of the whole, one of a dozen suiting up in seafoam, and she’s more concerned about fitting in than standing out.

“There’s so many players that don’t get the recognition that are great in their role,” she continued. “In order to win and get to the Finals and win the Finals, you have to fulfill your role. So, I don’t think it should be rewarded with an award, as long as my teammates know, as long as my coaches know—we all know what we do for each other, that’s the most important.”

Nyara Sabally, another German national who has made her way to New York, played with Fiebich while rising through the ranks of German basketball. “She’s always hated awards,” Sabally noted, “ever since she was little.” Sabally warned Fiebich about the uptick in media coverage she’d encounter stateside, knowing Fiebich’s skill on the court would prevent her from avoiding the spotlight.

Jonathan Kolb, the Liberty’s general manager, said that Fiebich has fit in perfectly with this veteran squad that’s hungry to avenge last year’s loss in the Finals. “She’s an egoless player who puts winning above all else and gives it everything she has in every game, on both ends.”

Still, Fiebich wasn’t a day-one star here. She had to earn the trust of the coaching staff, to crack a rotation that had made the Finals the year before and had brought back its top seven players. In eight May contests, she played just over 10 minutes a night but soon after began to see an uptick in minutes. It took Fiebich time to get acclimated to the WNBA—particularly what she’d be able to get away with, in terms of physicality. “I had to adjust those first games; you guys have different rules here,” she said, way back in June. “I’m a little bit more comfortable with everything now, used to the refs. I got used to less contact under the basket.”

Before the Olympics break, she took a major step, entering the starting lineup for an injured Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. Then, a month sojourn to France, where she logged heavy minutes representing Germany in the Games, before returning for the stretch run of the W season. It was exhausting, she acknowledged, with the compressed schedule and the travel, but that pattern enabled her to string together consistent efforts. “It helps you stay in rhythm,” Fiebich said. “And it’s really high-quality basketball, high-quality games.”

After the WNBA’s return to play, Fiebich caught fire from deep, knocking down 52.2 percent of her long-range looks through those 15 games. Across the entirety of the season, her 43.3 percent ranked third among players with 100 or more three-point attempts, that mark also good for second-highest three-point percentage all-time for rookies. Every one of her looks came within the flow of the offense; all of her 55 makes from deep came off a teammate’s dime.

“She just wants to do whatever she can to help this team win,” Breanna Stewart said. If there’s any knock on Fiebich’s unselfish team-first mentality, it’s that her teammates are constantly pushing her to be more aggressive. ”Sometimes, I’ve told her, ‘Leo, you need to look at the basket,’ because of the weapons that she has offensively and defensively, using her length.”

“Every opportunity I get an open shot, I’m gonna take it,” Leonie Fiebich told me after Sunday’s game, when I informed her that she’d knocked down 15 of her last 23 three-point attempts. She just splashed home her first attempt from deep tonight to continue that hot shooting.

— Myles (@MylesEhrlich) September 11, 2024

Fiebich was especially effective in transition, another weapon in the open court for the Liberty. Per Synergy, including the postseason to this point, Fiebich’s 1.667 points per possession (PPP) topped the league this year. She’s 14-of-17 on twos and 16-of-28 on threes, hitting 67 percent of her total transition shots, good for an 84.4 effective field goal percentage (eFG%), which adjusts for threes being more valuable than twos.

“Oh, it’s the best, man,” Sabrina Ionescu said of Fiebich’s addition as a fast break option. “She’s probably the best shooter on this team, percentage-wise. For her to be a rookie and to come in and do whatever it is that she needs to do, it’s pretty impressive.”

Her on-ball tenacity has unlocked ultra-switchable lineups for New York and her pressure, in tandem now with a healthy Laney-Hamilton, suffocates perimeter actions. According to Second Spectrum data, Leonie also held opponents to the lowest shot quality on drives (45.1% qSQ), neutralizing some of the W’s premier shot creators. “She can guard somebody 94 feet all game, and it feels like she does not break a sweat,” Sabally said, with a laugh. “Her length, her disruptiveness, and her basketball IQ are exactly what we need.”

Next Stop: Atlantic Avenue, Barclays Center

Fiebich’s path to Brooklyn—and a spot on a WNBA roster—was far from linear, which is true for many international prospects. She first popped up on the Liberty’s radar around 2020, because the Liberty’s head coach at the time, Walt Hopkins, also helmed the German National Team.

“He was the first contact point with the organization,” Fiebich said of Hopkins, along with Dustin Gray, who worked as an assistant and development coach on both of Hopkins’ staffs. “Dustin was continuously just reaching out to me and supporting me from afar.”

As a result, Kolb recalled, “There was a relationship there [between Gray and Fiebich], and it gave us insight into her, not only as a player, but as a person. We were hoping to draft her in that draft class, but at the time, LA got ahead of us and took her. So, she was a player we just continued to monitor. ”

The Los Angeles Sparks selected Fiebich with the 22nd pick in the 2020 draft, four slots ahead of New York’s final pick of the night. The Sparks would hold her rights for a year before moving them, along with Stephanie Watts (no. 10 overall in ‘21), to the Chicago Sky, in exchange for Gabby Williams.

Initially, getting drafted to the WNBA was exciting for Fiebich, but that shine wore off as she remained an ocean away, treated as an abstract asset in league transactions. At the time of her selection, Fiebich said, it was a big deal, with people in Germany writing articles, celebrating her in the media. But then, she said, that excitement faded, after first Los Angeles, and then Chicago, failed to reach out. 

“I don’t think that they had any use for me at that moment, so they acted like I was not part of their organization. I took it for what it was, right? It was not in my control,” Fiebich said. “And then it sounds a bit weird, but the WNBA was never a priority for me because there were no touch points with them, right? Like, I was drafted, but what does that even mean?”

Despite being an afterthought in those two markets, Fiebich remained a player of interest for New York. “Before we acquired her rights, we were always watching,” Kolb said. “Whether it’s club or national team, we were always going to make time to see her progression. It was just one of those things that, if her rights became available, we were going to jump at the chance to acquire them.”

In the winter of 2023—amidst a frenzy of moves that landed Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot in New York as free agents, as well as Jonquel Jones and Kayla Thornton via trade—the opportunity to add Fiebich finally presented itself. It was a complex deal, a rare four-teamer, headlined by Marina Mabrey going from the Dallas Wings to Chicago. With the new additions, New York had to clear a roster spot, and that meant sending out fan favorite Michaela Onyenwere, whose development in New York—paired with her enthusiasm and positivity despite an ever-changing role—had been a bright spot as the team battled for the backend of the playoffs. In return, the Liberty received the rights to Fiebich, a second-round pick from the Sky, and a 2025 pick-swap with the Mercury, which will move the Liberty up from the end of the first round to the middle of it next April.

“It was kind of funny at the time, because we’re sitting there feeling like we got a really good player,” Kolb said, reflecting on the local response to the trade. “And that was a hard deal too, because we gave up Michaela, who was our Rookie of the Year, the homegrown player. But we really believed in Leo.”

From a transactional standpoint, it was perfect execution for New York: they freed up a much-needed roster spot while gaining future assets, both in Fiebich and the still-to-come draft addition.

“Once we acquired her rights, we were always in touch, whether it was Dustin or myself; we’re always checking in after games, checking with her representation, just to make sure she had what she needed and was getting feedback from people within the WNBA. So, I think that was our method of just getting ahead. We’re here to build a relationship, so that when you get here, it doesn’t feel totally brand new. We just try to create a comfortable environment as soon as we can.”

“My first contact with JK—it was just super helpful…it seemed like they cared,” Fiebich said of Kolb. “Whereas, when I was with the other organizations, they didn’t really reach out, or they were not in contact with me. It was the first time that an organization was really interested. That was really cool, new for me. ” 

Last year, Kolb orchestrated a midseason visit for Fiebich, so she could get a feel for Brooklyn in the summer, a glimpse at what her future could be. She took in a Liberty/Aces game, got a feel for the facilities, and even caught up with Sabally and attended a Broadway show (though neither of them can remember which one—Fiebich thought it was German; Sabally’s best recollection was that it was “something with a train”). But, she also got a glimpse at the day-to-day, an idea of what she could expect if she decided to make the leap over the Atlantic.

“I was super-nervous, obviously, meeting all the players,” Fiebich recalls. “Like, you normally watch them on TV, never play against them or whatever.”

For Kolb, this visit was the culmination of years of scouting, years of developing and maintaining a relationship from a distance. “It turned out for the best, where she decided, ‘Hey, yeah, I want to give it a go,’ and we just couldn’t be happier.”

Although her success story is uncommon, Fiebich is not a unique case, especially in New York. Under Kolb’s leadership, the Liberty have been really intentional about utilizing late-round picks as overseas stashes. The current reality, with a dozen teams, is that there just aren’t enough spots to hold and develop third-rounders, especially not with a win-now roster like the one he’s assembled in New York. He developed this philosophy back when he worked at the league office, and he’s carried it over, finding success in developing players like Fiebich, like Marine Johannès. There are other players in the pipeline too—Raquel Carrera, Marine Fauthoux—who may make an impact in the years to come.

“I never really understood late draft picks being domestic all the time, because that’s an asset during the draft, then three weeks later you’re letting it go. It was kind of like the analogy of a car you drive off the lot,” Kolb said, in terms of that selection immediately losing a majority of its value. “If you have a way to get rights to a player to have them develop overseas and continue to check in on them, then maybe there is a time where it’s right, and we’ve found success with that.”

It has been gratifying for him to see Fiebich make such an immediate impact. At a fan event late last season, an attendee asked Kolb for a preview of the improvements to come on the 2024 roster. They needed length, they lacked size and switchability. “You don’t know Leonie Fiebich’s name right now,” he told the crowd, “but this time next year, you will.” Her addition, along with the signing of another overseas star in Kennedy Burke, helped to fill the gaps that capped New York’s ceiling the year before. Add to that, the growth from Sabally in her second healthy W campaign and Thornton’s reliable grit, and the Liberty reserves have provided the respite that was missing during last year’s run.

“She’s been great for us. It’s such a big understatement, but she’s been great for us on both ends of the floor,” said head coach Sandy Brondello. “And it’s fun to see, and she’s still just 24, so that’s a beautiful thing. The best is in front of her.”

Postseason Leo

Fiebich backpedals to the corner, anticipating the crosscourt pass from Stewart, knowing her drive would draw extra help. That simple action, getting the two-time MVP downhill early in the shot clock, scatters the Atlanta Dream defense, already out of rotation. Tina Charles is the closest, and she flies to contest, baited into the closeout by Fiebich’s momentary hesitation in triple threat before the Liberty’s 24-year-old rookie puts the ball on the floor and takes a dribble inside the arc. With everyone in disarray, all eyes are still searching for their matchups, but Fiebich knows where she’s going: a skip pass to the far wing to a wide open Laney-Hamilton. 

When the team is, as Brondello likes to say, “playing Liberty basketball,” these side-to-side actions are integral to their success. Because here, facing another aggressive close, Laney-Hamilton could drive, could easily pull up into the vacated space around the free throw line and generate an open look. But the team, to borrow another Brondello-ism, is constantly seeking out “good to great” in its shot quality. 

Fiebich, upon delivering the crosscourt pass, remains in motion, making herself available at the top of the key, ready for a return pass, having shed Charles with her relocation. Laney-Hamilton takes one dribble left to shield off her own defender, Allisha Gray, and kicks out to Fiebich, who has the time to set and fire, no Atlanta players within eight feet of her as she releases. The shot swishes through with a satisfying echo of nylon.

New York coasted to victory in this one, their first test of the 2024 WNBA postseason, and Fiebich’s playoff debut. After being a reserve for a majority of the season, Brondello slotted her into the starting unit, and Fiebich delivered: a game-high (and career-high) 21 points, knocking down all but one of her eight attempts and all four shots from beyond the arc. Through Fiebich’s first four WNBA playoff games—all Liberty victories—her eFG% is 95 percent, which, according to the New York Liberty’s stats page, is on pace for the highest mark ever, with a minimum of 10 shot attempts.

During the regular season, her +7.0 plus-minus ranked seventh in the WNBA, despite playing nine minutes fewer than the closest player ahead of her on the list. Through four postseason games, her +64 leads the league, and she paced New York in plus-minus in each of their first three contests. She has utilized her length on Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard, on Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum. Simply put, the Liberty go to another level with Fiebich on the court.

And though she’s not interested in “super stats-driven” awards, Fiebich has been a game-changer for the Liberty, and her addition could be the bridge that brings New York the first championship in its storied franchise’s history.