RebKell's Junkie Boards

[pilight]

In the seven previous ROY races, the leading rookie scorer has won five times and a player that finished a close second in rookie scoring won twice (2001 and 2003).

That would seem to make Tan White the clear favorite in the ROY race, as she's at 11.8 ppg, more than a point/game ahead of the #2 rookie scorer.

The #2 scoring rookie is Temeka Johnson, who is leading the entire league in assists. She would be the first rookie since Ticha Penicheiro in 1998 to lead the league in any of the big three stats (points, rebounds, assists). She's also the only rookie that starts regularly.

Other candidates would include...

Katie Feenstra, who has come on after getting limited minutes earlier in the year. She's averaging 11 points and 6 rebounds over the last nine games and has moved into the top ten in the league in blocks.

Kara Braxton, who looked great in Detroit's opener (18 points in 14 minutes) but has faded since. She can't play extended minutes, due to being out of game shape, that's going to hurt her chances. She's only averaged 5 ppg and 3 rpg over the last six games, which will hurt even more.


I think Johnson has the inside track right now. Assists haven't traditionally been a big deal in ROY voting. Penicheiro led the league in 1998, Sue Bird was #2 in 2002, neither won the award or came close to winning. OTOH, none of the other rookies this year have been really lighting it up. White only starts about 1/4 of the time, has a mediocre FG%, and doesn't have much in the way of peripheral stats. Feenstra is still getting inconsistent minutes and can't seem to push Chantelle Anderson out of the starting lineup. Braxton seems to be falling out of the race.

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[CamrnCrz1974]

Bird lost to Catchings, Ticha lost to Tracey Reid. As I recall Catch and Reid had significantly greater scoring numbers...and Catch had numbers in all categories. The difference in scoring between Tan and Temeka is not nearly as great.

[bullsky]

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Penicheiro finished third, behind Reid and Korie Hlede. She scored 6 ppg on 33% shooting, which just isn't going to get you ROY no matter how many assists you have.

Bird was a distant second to Catchings. I suspect the only reason she got any votes was that some voters didn't think Catch should be eligible after sitting on the Fever bench for a year.

Reid was in Comets camp this year but got cut.

_________________
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I ain't got a home

[readyAIMfire53]

"Whatever happened to Reid?"

Here's my perspective of Tracey Reid's WNBA career (remember I'm a Duke fan and Tracey played college ball at North Carolina:

I was VERY excited when the Sting chose Tracey Reid, having watched her wreak havoc against my Dukies. She had an excellent rookie season, and was neck and neck with korie Hlede in stats and voting. The vote was swayed by virtue of the leadership role played by Reid on the Sting squad. More often than not, with the seconds counting down, the ball would find its' way into Tracey's hands and she delivered.

Alas and alack...Tracey suffered a string of injuries and never really got off the ground after that. It was too sad. I just think Tracey had never dealt with the mental fatigue that goes with recovering from such longterm injuries (ankle). She has never played at that level again.

And then the other sad part for me is that the Sting then selected Kelly Miller in the draft and I could never root for them again. Lucky for me, Alana went to the second closest team to me and I'm now a Mystics fan.

~rAf

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Follow your passion and your life will be true down to your core.

~rAf

[readyAIMfire53]

I think right now Lil Bit TJ2 Temeka Johnson has a slight lead in the ROY race. She is just SO solid, regularly making key shot, snagging rebounds along with all those assists. Temeka has been exactly the point guard the Mystics have needed, increasing her value to the team. She's the missing ingredient.

But it's awful hard to argue against the success of the Fever this season and the excitement of giving Catch another great option on the court in the form of Tan White. While the Mystics are about where they ended up in the standings last season, the Fever have spent the first half of the season trailing only the Sun in the East.

I'm looking for Janel McCarville to make a late season push for mention in the ROY talks. Her statline is solid, with tonight's being:
11 pts on 5-5 shooting, 7 rebs and 2 steals in 24 minutes. She was only out-scored (on her team) by Tangela Smith and out-rebounded by Sheri Sam, both of whom played almost twice as many minutes. Of course, if her team doesn't make it outa the cellar, she likely won't have the awesome stats that won the award for Taurasi last year, despite playing for a lottery team.

~rAf

_________________
Follow your passion and your life will be true down to your core.

~rAf

[pilight]

Playing for a lottery team doesn't hurt much in ROY voting. Only three of the seven winners have played for playoff teams. OTOH, the last three ROYs have played for teams that finished .500 or better.

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I ain't got a home

[sparkfan33]

All of the arguments above are full of shit.


Temeka is the ROY so far. She is a starter, a go-to player. Her team relies on her to be the Little General. She has performed. Got great stats in terms of pts and rebounds, let alone assists.

My god, she is leading the entire league in assists. Not the rookie list, but the entire league. Enough said. She is the MVP of the Mystics. She is the top Rookie of all others.

Not bad for a 5'3" Mighty Mouse.