Bid on great WNBA and NBA merchandise in the 
As the 2005 WNBA All-Star festivities kick off this weekend in Connecticut, six All-Stars will be participating in the festivities and experiencing everything for the very first time.
|
| Houston's Michelle Snow NBAE/Getty Images |
Two second-year players, the top two picks in the 2004 Draft, will also be making their first All-Star appearances. Coming into the league with tremendous hype, Mercury guard Diana Taurasi and Washington's Alana Beard are already superstars in the league, with fans voting Taurasi to start and the coaches honoring Beard with a selection. Both should be All-Stars for years to come.
A pair of young, but experienced centers will also be making their debuts on behalf of their respective conferences this weekend. Detroit's Ruth Riley is already an Olympic gold medalist and won 2003 WNBA Finals MVP honors en route to a championship, but she will be starting in her first All-Star Game, nearly doubling the second place finisher in total fan votes. Meanwhile, Comets center Michelle Snow, a fourth-year veteran from the University of Tennessee, is having her finest season as a pro and was nearly voted in as the starter over Yolanda Griffith and Lisa Leslie.
"I felt humbled," Snow told the Houston Chronicle. "That just lets me know that what I'm doing is paying off and it's for the good of this league."
So how will these newcomers fit in during the first practice? If anyone can show them the ropes it is a trio of elite superstars who have been here before. In fact, they have never NOT been here. There has never been a WNBA All-Star Game that didn't include three players, all of whom will make their sixth appearance in the midseason classic. Los Angeles Sparks' center Lisa Leslie has played in the five previous games and was the Game's MVP three times (1999, 2000 and 2001). She is a perfect 5-0 in the All-Star Games and is the game's all-time leading scorer, averaging 16.8 points per game. Leslie's new teammate, forward Chamique Holdsclaw, was also named to five previous All-Star teams, but has only played in three of the games. Sun guard Nykesha Sales is the only other player to appear in every game, having represented both the Orlando Miracle and Connecticut Sun.
2005 WNBA All-Stars (By number of appearances)
| Six-Time All-Stars | ||
| Chamique Holdsclaw | Washington | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Lisa Leslie | Los Angeles | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Nykesha Sales | Orlando/CT | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Five-Time All-Stars | ||
| Yolanda Griffith | Sacramento | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 |
| Katie Smith | Minnesota | 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Sheryl Swoopes | Houston | 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Four-Time All-Stars | ||
| Lauren Jackson | Seattle | 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Taj McWilliams-Franklin | Orlando/CT | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005 |
| Dawn Staley | Charlotte | 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Three-Time All-Stars | ||
| Sue Bird | Seattle | 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Tamika Catchings | Indiana | 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Marie Ferdinand | Utah/S.A. | 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Two-Time All-Stars | ||
| Swin Cash | Detroit | 2003, 2005 |
| Cheryl Ford | Detroit | 2003, 2005 |
| Becky Hammon | New York | 2003, 2005 |
| Deanna Nolan | Detroit | 2003, 2005 |
| First-Time All-Stars | ||
| Alana Beard | Washington | 2005 |
| Ruth Riley | Detroit | 2005 |
| Michelle Snow | Houston | 2005 |
| Diana Taurasi | Phoenix | 2005 |
| DeMya Walker | Sacramento | 2005 |
| Ann Wauters | New York | 2005 |