NEW YORK, September 27 – Connecticut’s Wendy Palmer and Indiana’s Kelly Miller were named the 2004 WNBA Most Improved Players of the Year, each receiving nine of a possible 48 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Palmer scored in double figures on 14 different occasions for Connecticut in 2004, and averaged 9.0 points and 5.5 rebounds – up from 4.7 points and 3.3 rebounds a year ago. She was the fourth leading scorer for the Sun and the second leading rebounder, almost doubled her assist output, doubled her steals per game, and increased her field goal percentage to 42.7 percent, up from 39.5 percent a year ago.
Miller made the most of her off-season trade from Charlotte to Indiana by posting career highs in points (10.2), rebounds (3.2), assists (3.1), steals (1.09), blocked shots (0.15) and free-throw percentage (87.7). She finished the season ranked third in the league in free-throw percentage, eighth in three-point field goal percentage (41.1) and 16th in assists. Kelly Miller is the second person in her family to win the award as her twin sister Coco of the Washington Mystics was the 2002 recipient. This is the first time in WNBA or NBA history that siblings have both won major awards.
As the WNBA Most Improved Players of the Year, Palmer and Miller will each receive a Tiffany-designed trophy and $5,000.
