Inside The W with Michelle Smith: Postseason Award Predictions

Michelle Smith

We are down to days in the 2019 WNBA regular season. With teams still jockeying for their ultimate postseason positioning, that means it is also awards season, the acknowledgment for a summer’s worth of stellar contributions to one’s team.

As a voter for the league’s postseason awards and the Associated Press postseason awards, I wanted to share my own votes:

Rookie of the Year: Napheesa Collier, Minnesota. This is going to be one of the closest votes of the year considering the remarkable season that Arike Ogunbowale had for the Dallas Wings as a go-to scorer. That said, Collier’s team is in the playoffs and UConn product played a big part in getting them there and that is the edge here. Collier leads all rookies in minutes played and efficiency. She is averaging 12.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, and is shooting better than 48 percent from the field. She can play defense, collecting 1.9 steals and nearly a block a game. She is one of six players in league history to collect 400 points, 200 rebounds, 80 assists and 60 steals in a season and that puts her in very impressive company. Some of the other players on that list …Tamika Catchings, Maya Moore, Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie. She is an integral part of a remodeling Lynx team that suddenly can feel really, really good about the future.

 

Coach of the Year: James Wade, Chicago. Putting this out there first. My Coach of the Year pick is rarely the coach who led a title favorite to a championship. I prefer my COY winners in the underdog-to-playoffs realm. In his first season as a WNBA head coach, Wade wasn’t handed a team with a top draft pick or an obvious MVP candidate. The Sky are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2016 when Elena Delle Donne was still in town. Courtney Vandersloot is playing some of the best basketball of her career. Allie Quigley is one of the league’s most respected players. Diamond DeShields is an emerging superstar, and they have proven to be a tough matchup with 19 games decided by 10 points or less. They have wins over Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Washington, Connecticut, Seattle and Phoenix – nearly every Playoff team in the field.

Most Improved Player: Leilani Mitchell, Phoenix. Mitchell was not on a WNBA roster when 2019 started. She had been cut by the Phoenix Mercury. Twenty-nine games and 25 starts later, Mitchell, in her 11th WNBA season, is averaging a career-best 13 points a game and providing a desperately needed offensive punch from the perimeter as Diana Taurasi gets her legs and her shot back in time for a postseason run. There were plenty of interesting choices for this award — and I wrote about them here — but no one made a bigger leap in terms of impact to her team than Mitchell.

6th Woman of the Year: Dearica Hamby, Las Vegas. Hamby’s role for the Aces this season has been critical, both as the first player off the bench and the player who filled in so ably after A’ja Wilson missed eight games with an ankle injury. Hamby – who has started nine games this season – is averaging a career-best 11.1 points a game and 7.7 rebounds for a team that is looking to play for a title. She is gritty, she is heady, she balances her role as a mother with her competitive drive. Hamby will be a critical part of any championship run in Vegas.

Defensive Player of the Year: Natasha Howard, Seattle. Natasha Howard’s play on both ends of the floor has been critical in this injury-plagued year for the defending champs. But in this star-making season, Howard has been every bit the factor on defense for Seattle that she is on offense. She is averaging 2.2 steals and 1.7 blocks per game to go with 8.3 rebounds.

Most Valuable Player: Elena Delle Donne, Washington. The best player on the best team in the league. Seems awfully simple. And goodness knows that Delle Donne makes the game look easy. She sets a tone for the Mystics. Play hard. Play smart. And don’t let up. And the Mystics – a team that has routinely won games by 20 points or more this season – follows suit. While her scoring average of 19.5 points is only the 5th best in her seven-year career, she is shooting a career-best 51.6 percent from the floor and 97.1 percent from the free-throw line. She is efficient. She is effective and she is the best player in the WNBA in 2019.

First Team All-WNBA – this was no fun.
Brittney Griner, Phoenix – League’s leading scorer and most dominant interior player.
Elena Delle Donne – Simply the best.
Jonquel Jones, Connecticut – She did it all for the Sun this season.
Courtney Vandersloot, Chicago – Set the league single-season record for assists. Again.
Chelsea Gray, Los Angeles – Clutch shooter with a huge role on a surging Sparks team.

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