NFL
By: Stephen Garner
As the WNBA’s 25th regular season has concluded, and the start of the playoffs is tomorrow, there’s plenty of talk about the award recipients as national media members submit their ballots.
Here are my picks for this seasons major awards.
MVP: Jonquel Jones – Connecticut Sun
19.4 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.3 SPG, 1.3 BPG, 51.5/36.2/80.2 shooting splits
Well past being the best player in the best team, JJ had maybe her best season-long defensive showing as well.
Jones anchored the absolute best defense in the W. No, she is not the defensive player of the year for me, that’ll be identified later, but she was a stalwart and protected the back end of their defense with great consistency.
This shows just how much she’s grown and how well she’s played this season. Such a weapon offensively has grown into a player just as consistent on the less glamorous end.
She was 4th in PPG, 1st in RPG, 5th in true shooting percentage (61.4), 2nd in PER (28.3), 1st in win shares (6.6), 1st in defensive win shares (2.9), and 1st in defensive rating (88.3) which is a direct byproduct of team performance rather than individual impact.
She has one of the deepest bags in terms of scoring versatility. She can score coming off screens in the mid-range, post-up touches high or low, in isolation, in transition, via catch-and-shoot, off of offensive rebounds, as a screener, she’s as premium as it gets as a scorer and focal point of an offense.
Jonquel been backpacking the Sun all season on career-high numbers & they've been right at the top of the W all season. 2nd in scoring (20.6) & 1st in rebounding (11.4) as well
— Stephen PridGeon ☯️? (@StayTrueSDot3) August 20, 2021
Capping off her regular season she was awarded another player of the month honor, entailing her consistency that’s is second to none, which more than anything is why she garnered my MVP for season 25.
Sixth Player: Kelsey Plum – Las Vegas Aces
14.8 PPG, 3.6 APG, 2.5 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 43.7/38.6/94.4 shooting splits
The electric and starting-caliber spark plug that is KP, who’s coming off of an Achilles injury that sidelined her for the 2020 season, spent this season as her first in this role off the bench, making for an unmatched secondary attack for the Aces.
They have a league-leading scorer in her, and a tandem sixth player of the year duo when factoring in Dearica Hamby, the owner of the previous two top reserve awards.
For Plum, she’s been on an absolute tear this season.
https://twitter.com/staytruesdot3/status/1437522622703710208?s=21
She averaged 21.6 PPG over her final six games and finished the season with eight 20+ point outings as well as 16th in PPG.
Plum posted career highs in points, three-point field goals made (1.7), free throw attempts (3.5), and free throw percentage (94.4) which was second in the W.
She’s come up clutch time after time as the Aces leading fourth-quarter scorer. In the said quarters, over the final six games, she averaged 7.6 points and even had two 13-point final periods in that stretch.
She’s downright invaluable, being able to operate sans Chelsea Gray and able to share the floor with her, which is the daunting guard tandem coach Laimbeer closes with.
Plum’s efforts in her first season as a reserve have been, by far, better than anyone else’s.
They’ll surely need more of her pyrotechnic-like fourth quarter onslaughts under the playoff spotlight as their sights are set to make amends for their underwhelming Finals showing from last season.
ROY: Michaela Onyenwere – New York Liberty
8.6 PPG, 2.9 APG
The September rookie of the month completed a season-long sweep of said award, becoming one of only five players to accomplish this feat. In doing so, there wasn’t much competition as this should garner her unanimous honors.
All season long, the 6th overall pick has served as an integral piece for the Liberty and proved that her future is as bright as her draft selection suggests.
COTY: Curt Miller – Connecticut Sun
Connecticut, under coach Miller, has been the league’s most disciplined team and that’s a direct byproduct of his leadership. He even did so sans Alyssa Thomas who recently appeared in her first game of the season.
They allowed just 69.9 PPG (1st) while scoring 79.7 PPG and league-best +13.2 in net rating.
His scheming, rotation management, and overall feel for his team, in a sustained capacity, have been unmatched all season.
DPOY: Sylvia Fowles – Minnesota Lynx
Tied for first in DWS (2.9), 2nd in BPG (1.8), 90.3 in DRtg which again is a byproduct of team defense
After a slow start combined with a litany of injuries, Fowles was finally able to put her stamp on this rendition of the Lynx and reroute their trajectory which now has them placed 3rd with a 22-10 record.
Fowles finished her now 10th campaign of averaging at least one block and steal on a per-game basis.
Teams shot just 57.3% within 5 feet according to WNBA.com, which was good for fourth in the W.
Quite frankly, she was just a human eraser in anchoring whether it was her physicality or just her presence on the floor.
When you factor in her impact with her offensive workload in mind, you see just how great she had to be to sustain the type of success she’s enjoyed this season.
MIP: Kelsey Plum – Las Vegas Aces
Coming away with what should be her second award from this season should be Plum.
She saw no true uptick in minutes, however, she did see a jump in productivity in points per game (+6.2), steals (+0.2), free throw attempts, and percentage (+7.2%), career-high in PER (20.6), and win shares (3.2).
Her overall game improved all the while adjusting to a new role with the Aces.
All WNBA 1st Team
G – Skylar Diggins-Smith
G – Jewell Loyd
F – Jonquel Jones
F – A’ja Wilson
C – Brittney Griner
All WNBA 2nd Team
G – Courtney Vandersloot
G – DeWanna Bonner
F – Tina Charles
F – Breanna Stewart
C – Sylvia Fowles
*All stats and information used come directly from basketball reference unless stated otherwise and are accurate as of the conclusion of the regular season (9.19)*
