WNBA question

[Vowelguy]

I don't really watch, so a question on who have been the top rookies. I take it that Nneka is the shoo-in for ROY, but who else has been good? I saw that D Peters was playing a bunch of Q1 for the Lynx tonight.

What about the rest of the top 10 from the draft?
#2 Stricklen
#4 G Johnson
#5 S Johnson
#6 Prahalis
#7 Cain
#8 Novosel
#9 Dabo -- not in league?
#10 Barrett -- not in league?

 

[JoePgh]

You are right -- Nneka is a shoo-in. The race would be for second place. I seriously think that Tiffany Hayes would be a contender for second place. Riquna Williams for Tulsa (out of Miami, not sure of spelling) has also had a good season. Prahalis has had a surprisingly good season in Phoenix.

Cain has been predictably awful. Novosel has been surprisingly little used by one of the worst teams in the league (Washington). Glory Johnson has made an impact on defense for Tulsa, but not so much on offense. Shekinna Stricklen has been valuable off the bench for Seattle, but has not distinguished herself.

Tiffany, though, has been amazing in replacing Angel's minutes and doing everything, as she could and sometimes did at UConn. She played 30 minutes against the Sun on Sunday even though Angel was back and available (Angel had 19 minutes). We will see whether this continues in the playoffs when the games are in the spotlight, or if Tiffany then suffers from her past tendency to fade in big games.

 

[UCONNfan1]

The rookies have actually been fairly even - Nneka is not a runaway ROY IMHO as some predicted (and as it looked) early on. I still think she wins but the rooks have played pretty well...

Nneka 13.5 PPG, 28.5 MPG
Sammy 12.1, 32.3
Glory 11.7, 28
Riquina 10.8, 20
Tiff 8.7, 22.8
Shekinna 7.7, 20.8

Cain's stats are dead last among players still in the league or who have played more than 4 games this year.

 

[JoePgh]

Tiffany's stats are affected by the fact that her minutes were minimal until Angel had her difficulties (which included injuries as well as 'tude). Since then, I think she has been close to 30 minutes per game, and her recent scoring (not to mention assists and steals) has been far better than her season-long averages. I realize that the ROY award is based on the entire season, but still ...

 

[VAMike23]

#1 Nneka easily at this point

#2 Riquina Williams
#3 Glory or Sammy

 

[easttexastrash]

You are right -- Nneka is a shoo-in. The race would be for second place. I seriously think that Tiffany Hayes would be a contender for second place. Riquna Williams for Tulsa (out of Miami, not sure of spelling) has also had a good season. Prahalis has had a surprisingly good season in Phoenix.

Cain has been predictably awful. Novosel has been surprisingly little used by one of the worst teams in the league (Washington). Glory Johnson has made an impact on defense for Tulsa, but not so much on offense. Shekinna Stricklen has been valuable off the bench for Seattle, but has not distinguished herself.

Tiffany, though, has been amazing in replacing Angel's minutes and doing everything, as she could and sometimes did at UConn. She played 30 minutes against the Sun on Sunday even though Angel was back and available (Angel had 19 minutes). We will see whether this continues in the playoffs when the games are in the spotlight, or if Tiffany then suffers from her past tendency to fade in big games.

Nneka is averaging 13.3 points and Glory is averaging 11.7, yet Glory isnt doing much offensively? That's not even 1 shot more a game. It's not as if Nneka is performing leaps and bounds ahead of Glory. Glory is playing very well all the way around, IMO. She's is grabbing 6.9 rebounds a game compared to Nneka's 7.4. Nneka has a slight advantage over Glory in each category but not by much.

But Nneka is the ROY.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Don't forget that Tiff was wearing a mask for a handful of games, and it impaired her shooting. She is clearly playing better than one would expect from the 14th selection.

 

[EricLA]

Don't forget that Tiff was wearing a mask for a handful of games, and it impaired her shooting. She is clearly playing better than one would expect from the 14th selection.

Totally agree. If you look at the players taken ahead of her, especially the guards, Tiff is certainly performing better than several of them. Having said that, I understand why she was taken where she was. Drafts are part science and part luck. Some players are an absolute sure thing (Nneka), but others are a surprise. Heck, Taj was taken in the 3rd round the year she came out of college...

 

[TheTruthBelow]

Nneka is averaging 13.3 points and Glory is averaging 11.7, yet Glory isnt doing much offensively? That's not even 1 shot more a game. It's not as if Nneka is performing leaps and bounds ahead of Glory. Glory is playing very well all the way around, IMO. She's is grabbing 6.9 rebounds a game compared to Nneka's 7.4. Nneka has a slight advantage over Glory in each category but not by much.

But Nneka is the ROY.

Glo-Jo has been incredible. She's on the same tier as Nneka, with everyone else at least a step behind.

 

[easttexastrash]

Glo-Jo has been incredible. She's on the same tier as Nneka, with everyone else at least a step behind.

I agree that Glory is playing on a near even level as Nneka but she's not getting much attention since she is playing for a non-contender and small market in Tulsa. If she had these numbers on a better team she would certainly be getting more respect. After those two, everyone else is a distant third.

 

[JoePgh]

It would be of interest to compare Glory's numbers to Tiffany's on a "per minute played" basis. I believe that Glory has been a starter all year for Tulsa, which was definitely not the case with Tiffany in Atlanta. But it would not surprise me to find that that their per-minute stats, except in rebounding, are comparable.

I was not aware of Glory's 11-ppg average. Needless to say, I am surprised by it. In the recent game against Connecticut at Mohegan Sun, Glory played about 40 minutes of a 45-minute game, despite having 5 fouls for much of the way. She was crucial to Tulsa's chances, but she scored only 2 points in that game. Obviously I overgeneralized from that one data point.

The other factor (which probably should not be weighed for ROY selection, although it is very real) is that any rookie (not named Nneka) is going to score far fewer points on a team with Angel, Sancho, and recently de Souza than she would score on a less star-studded team such as Cambage-less Tulsa.