Basketball Hall-of-Famer and ESPN analyst Nancy Lieberman answers your questions and e-mails throughout the year. Click here to submit a question of your own.

So I'm fresh off doing Wednesday night's NBA game on ESPN and I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to my fellow Hall of Famer Dickie V.

Given how much basketball this man has called over the years, it was pretty cool to see how excited he was to be a part of the Nuggets-Heat game. And it really says something for the purity of the game and how much he loves it. The players were all excited to be around him, the energy in the arena was great and everyone was offering up their "Awesome, baby!" imitation for him.

(By the way, I'm not sure if you saw ESPN's promo for the game Wednesday night, but they had some players do their imitations of Dickie: Antawn Jamison, Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard, to name a few. But I'm telling you, Dirk Nowitzki does THE WORST impression of him you've ever seen. It was horrible! But take a look at the video here. "It's awesome, baby, with a capital A!")

Now let's get to the questions…

With the recent news about Candace Parker being pregnant, how quickly do you think she'll be able to come back and how do you think having a baby at the age of 23 will affect her career in the long run?
- Kate, Bonita, Calif.

She and Shelden have decided to start a family, which is an absolute blessing. Now obviously she's a female athlete just getting her professional career underway, but I think her timing is absolutely impeccable. She's due in May from what I understand, so timing-wise she could definitely come back this season. Of course, she could also decide to take the entire season off and come back the following year. Physically, she should be able to return to play fairly quickly as you saw with Tina Thompson and Sheryl Swoopes.

But the emotional side of it is different. Early on, you want to spend as much time as possible with your baby. And every person is different in the way they handle that. Lisa Leslie missed the entire season in 2007 and I would imagine she'll be a good sounding board for Candace if she wants her to be. Either way, though, it's her prerogative and none of us would be right to question her emotions in making that decision.

Candace has talked about getting back into shape and trying to come back as quickly as possible. And I'm confident that's what she wants to do right now. Candace is a nice, kind, loving person. Shelden is too. And they'll make the decision that's right for them.

And athletically, there will be some people who question her ability to get back into shape or compete at the same level. But I think she'll be motivated by that and will try to come back even better. I don't think it will have any long-term effect on her game. She's just starting her career. And she's going to get so much better and stronger. This is just part of the process for her. It'll help her become more mature in some ways. I don't see it being a problem at all.

Obviously, her potential absence could have a big effect on the Sparks. I'm sure Lisa Leslie and the rest of her teammates are going to miss her early on because they're all expecting her to come back and compete for a championship. And that will certainly affect their preseason expectations. But there's still a Tina Thompson out there they could sign, so you never know… she's not a bad fill-in. :)

Hi, Nancy. I'm a huge WNBA fan and Phoenix Mercury fan. I'm wondering… do you think that the Mercury will sign Lauren Jackson?
- Spanky, Elizabeth city, N.C.

I still think that Phoenix needs to find someone to pick up the slack for Penny Taylor, who may or may not return to the WNBA this year. That was the team's glaring issue last season. Penny is a real unique type of player in that she's very solid at both the three and four… she can shoot from outside, she can put it on the floor and she can get to the free-throw line. She added a dimension that not a lot of other teams had.

So if Phoenix could land a Lauren Jackson, and I think there's a decent chance of that happening because of her close friendship with Diana Taurasi, I would think they'll do everything they can to do it. They have the cap space, it would be a great city for her and I know that Corey Gaines is one of the coaches (along with Mike Thibault, Brian Agler and some others…) with a lot of interest in getting her. And they all think they can be championship teams with her.

See, Lauren is Lauren. And she has such a unique skill set. She's also her own person. And if she feels like it's her time to move on, she'll move on.

Now that the Mystics have finally filled out their coaching staff with Julie Plank and a new GM in Angela Taylor, how do you feel about the direction of the franchise in Washington? What is this team missing at this point?
- QDOG, Washington, D.C.

Washington's always been a bit of an enigma. They've always had tremendous talent and have one of the league's best owners in Sheila Johnson.

And I think they did a great thing in getting Angela Taylor. She knows this league inside and out. She's brilliant. People want to play for her. She's a great judge of talent and character. And all you have to do is look at Minnesota, which is an up-and-coming team that she helped build. They're going to be in the playoffs before too long.

And Julie Plank is going to get a good chance there. They picked up Matee Ajavon, one of the league's young, exciting players, in the Expansion Draft. She's smart, successful, a winner and she'll make that team better. They also signed Vicky Bullett and Vanessa Nygaard, both of whom will be head coaches in this league someday. They're both really good and really talented.

Combine all of those factors and I don't think Washington is going to be an enigma anymore. They're going to create some stability. They're going to be a playoff team in this league.

Renee Montgomery has been huge for UConn so far this year and should be a Naismith candidate. Which WNBA player does her game most resemble and what kind of pro do you think she'll be?
- Diane, Suffolk, Va.

We knew that Maya Moore was great. We knew that Tina Charles was a terrific player. We knew that Geno Auriemma had an enormous amount of talent. But the real difference-maker for the Lady Huskies this year has been Montgomery. She can shoot, she can get to the rim, she can defend, she's got lateral quickness and she can get up.

She's going to be a marvelous pro. I see her being a little like Cappie. She's not as physically strong, but she's like her in that she can beat you off the dribble, she's a competitor and she always wants to play against the best.

Montgomery's probably going to win my point guard of the year award and I don't know of anyone playing any better than she is right now, to be honest. She's really separated herself from a bunch of great players around the country. Geno knew she was good when he brought her in, but she's gonna be an All-American and UConn has a chance at another National Championship.

She's a terrific decision-maker and that's what really separates her. She'll be a top-five pick in the draft, too. If you have an average point guard in the WNBA, you have only an average shot of winning. If you have a good point guard, you have a good shot of winning.