It’s been almost a week since Liberty training camp began.
The start of the WNBA preseason looked a bit different for the defending champion Liberty. The main difference: point guard Natasha Cloud is in the building.
Cloud, who arrived in New York during a whirlwind offseason that featured her in two trades, described herself as a “sponge” that’s faced with the tasks of learning new teammates and schemes before the first regular season game on May 17.
The veteran admitted that the tasks are challenges for her despite 10 years of experience. The 33-year-old describes the process as fun, though, and is using the short training camp to get on the same page with all of her teammates.
“And then implementing myself in there as well,” said Cloud, who arrived in New York after being traded by the Connecticut Sun in March. She never appeared in a game for the Sun after the Phoenix Mercury traded her a month prior.
“So I’m going to continue to study. I just asked for a playbook today, because as a point guard, I love to be thorough. So I don’t want to only know what my position is. I want to know where everyone’s supposed to be on the board, the nuances of offense, the options too.
“And once I retain that, I’ll be better handling offense, too. So that’s my main goal right now, is just being able to run our offense with fluidity and knowing it like the back of my hand.”
Even with Cloud on the back end of her WNBA career, being in sync with her new Liberty superteam could put her back amongst the league leaders in assists. She ranked third in assists per game (6.9) with the Mercury in 2024 — behind Caitlin Clark (8.4) and Alyssa Thomas (7.9). In 38 starts, she also averaged 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game while earning All-Defensive Second Team honors.
Cloud has averaged at least six assists per game in the past four seasons.
“It’s gonna be great,” teammate Sabrina Ionescu said about sharing the floor with Cloud. “Just the ability to play off one another, her ability to get downhill and create. She’s through and through a pass-first point guard.”
After five days of training camp, Cloud gave herself a B+ grade. The above average ranking mostly reflects her defense.
“Defensively, I’m great,” said Cloud.
It’s her offense that she’s more critical about while attempting to get acclimated.
“If I’m going to be honest, I’m playing a little too fast right now,” Cloud admitted. Cloud’s speed has made her one of the toughest guards to deal with — on both ends of the floor — in the WNBA. Center Jonquel Jones described Cloud as one of the fastest players in the league and credited the the guard for arriving to training camp in “midseason shape.”
But Cloud is her own toughest critic and expects to improve her offense in hopes to match her level of defense.
“All those weapons that we have on offense, we don’t have to rush, we don’t have to do anything,” she said.
“We just have to make simple reads. But that chemistry, learning each other as teammates, that [will all help] that be smoother. But I’m proud of myself for where I am too. I’m always going to be critical of myself more than anyone else, so I really want to learn both of these schemes, defensively and offensively, within like the next week or so. So that’s my challenge.”
Jones added: “I just told her to give herself grace, like she already looks amazing, if anything it’s just more about her learning the plays, learning the space, and learning her teammates’ tendencies.”
Cloud’s experience playing a season with future Hall of Famer Diana Taurasi will help getting used to Ionescu — the two will likely be backcourt starters — and the rest of the Liberty.
Taurasi and Ionescu are both sharpshooters who force defenses to cover much more ground on the court. For a guard like Cloud who is capable of knocking down the open jumper and slash to the rim, there couldn’t have been a much better guard to play with after switching teams.
Cloud also shared the floor with Ionescu with the Phantom in Unrivaled during the winter.
“What I loved about playing with DT and Sab is that I get to take a little bit of weight off of the shoulders by being able to get into the paint, engaging too, and then finding them as they’re moving and creating easy shots for them.
“So DT also prepared me from a different perspective, how she prepared is very much how everyone here prepares. It’s a very top tier professionalism. Everything is the main thing, keeping basketball the main concern, the main goal, the main focus.”
