It was only training camp, but Diane Richardson already could sense that everything had started to click for Jonquel Jones.
The Liberty star — healthy entering Year 2 with the superteam after navigating a stress fracture to start 2023 — was “in her bag, so to speak,” and she could sense that optimism oozing through their calls.
Just months earlier, Jones — who scored 22 points in the Liberty’s 93-80 win over the Los Angeles Sparks — had experienced WNBA Finals heartbreak for the second consecutive season.
It happened with the Sun in 2022.
during the Liberty’s 93-80 win over the Sparks. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
One year later, against that same Aces team, it materialized a second time.
She’d gotten so close — twice — only to watch both chances slip away, Richardson, the Temple head coach who was Jones’ legal guardian while also a coach, told The Post.
That gave Jones a “renewed interest.”
There was progress to build on from the second half of the campaign and something, again, to build toward.
She played in China and served as a focal point of that offense.
She dug into the Finals film and realized that there were open 3s she needed to take. And that all laid the groundwork for the perfect scenario for Jones to attack defenses from “different levels.”
There aren’t concrete ways to quantify comfort and cohesion within a system, but if any existed, Jones’ number would be higher — significantly — than a 2023 campaign during which she averaged 11.3 points and 8.3 rebounds.
The statistics suggest a similar trend, too: Jones’ 16.8 points per game mark her highest since her MVP season with the Sun in 2021.
Her revamped 3-point shot (43.3) hasn’t been this high since 2018. Her field-goal percentage sits No. 2 in the league.
And after a difficult transition last season, Jones has filled a more prominent role in the Liberty offense through the first 15 games entering Thursday against the Sparks, with the resurgence in points, assists and 3s igniting the next evolution of the Liberty offense.
“Even on the shots that I made, I looked a little bit hesitant,” Jones said of the series last year against the Aces, “so I wanted to come into the season and make sure like whatever shot I shoot, I’m gonna shoot it like it’s going in.”
Beyond those 3s, Jones has created an effective pick-and-roll option alongside Sabrina Ionescu.
That could lead to handoffs.
To Jones orchestrating the offense’s next moves.
To Jones rolling and converting a layup. To Ionescu, depending on the defensive coverage, driving to the basket.
The Liberty have used Jones for ball screens more often in 2024, head coach Sandy Brondello said.
That happened midway through the first quarter against the Aces on Saturday, when Jones, en route to a career-best 34 points, collected a toss from Ionescu after a screen, faked a 3-pointer and dribbled to the left block for a layup.
Active cutters scattered around the court help with opening up avenues for baskets after the screens, too, Ionescu said.
“She’s really familiar with [other Liberty players] and feeling like in the groove now,” Richardson said.
Brondello pinpointed the All-Star Game last year as a turning point, when she could tell that Jones was starting to get comfortable and understand her role within the offense.
Jones closed the year with eight double-doubles after the break, before topping 10 points and 10 rebounds in each of the Liberty’s first eight postseason games.
Those strides have carried over in 2024, with the assists jumping to a career-high 3.0, too. Jones can flip a no-look, underhand pass to Leonie Fiebich for a 3.
She can thread passes off the pick-and-rolls.
Jones has learned the spots teammates occupy on offense — a stark difference from this point in 2023, when three new starters were adjusting on the fly — and facilitated successful possessions when she’s not the one taking the interior shots and 3s.
during Game 3 of the WNBA Finals last season. Michelle Farsi/New York Post
“I have always called her the best offensive rebounder in the world,” Sparks head coach Curt Miller, who coached Jones for all six of her seasons in Connecticut. “She’s really talented with her back to the basket. But when she shows her versatility of making 3s, makes her a really, really difficult matchup.”
This version of Jones has resembled the one who earned all but one MVP vote in 2021.
These have been the contributions that the Liberty were missing in game No. 16 last year, too.
The Liberty haven’t changed much, Brondello said, besides getting her additional touches inside and outside the paint.
“And JJ’s doing the rest,” Brondello said.
