ISL's Around the WNBA
- Indiana’s Tamika Catchings
By CLIFF BRUNT
ISL Editor
Early thoughts on the WNBA season:
Minnesota, Connecticut and Indiana all are unbeaten.
Minnesota, coming off a championship, is off to a 5-0 start. The Lynx finally had a close call, a 79-77 win over Washington on Wednesday night, but they’ve handled everyone else. Perhaps the most notable change early is the redistribution of scoring. Maya Moore is the team’s No. 2 scorer instead of Lindsey Whalen, who has dropped to third. Moore is averaging 14.8 points and shooting 51 percent. Seimone Augustus is still the top scorer.
Indiana is 3-0. Tamika Catchings, now playing primarily power forward after playing most of her pro career as a small forward, was Eastern Conference player of the week in her first week. She is averaging 21 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Shavonte Zellous has filled in nicely in Catchings’ old spot. Indiana has two wins over Atlanta and a victory at Chicago.
Connecticut is 3-0. Tina Charles is averaging 20.7 points and 10.7 rebounds whils shooting 56 percent. Connecticut has two wins over New York and a victory over San Antonio to start the season.
The Sparks are back.
Los Angeles, coming off back-to-back losing seasons is 4-1. Candace Parker was the Western Conference player of the Week in Week 1 – looks like she’s back to normal after limited play the past two years. The biggest surprise? Kristi Toliver is dropping 20 points a game and shooting 52 percent. She has a career average of 9.7 points and has shot 44 percent in her four years in the league. No. 1 overall pick Nneka Ogwumike has started all five games and is averaging 13.8 points and 5.8 rebounds.
Seattle and Tulsa are a combined 0-7.
Seattle is missing Lauren Jackson, who is off with the Australian national team preparing for the Olympics. You could cut the Storm a break: they have two losses to Los Angeles and one to Minnesota, teams with a combined 9-1 record. Ann Wauters has filled in nicely at center for Seattle, averaging 15 points and eight rebounds early. She had been out of the league since 2009.
Tulsa is much improved from the team that went 3-31 last season and 9-59 combined the past two years. The Shock have lost their past three games by a combined six points. Temeka Johnson leads the way with 14.8 points per game and Ivory Latta is second with 14.3.
Angel McCoughtry is better than she was last year.
It’s early, but it’s clear that McCoughtry has improved in the mental aspect of the game. She sets up defenders as well as anyone in the league. Her shot selection is improving. She’s one of the few players in the league with true takeover capability, and she’s learning to do it withing a team concept. She leads the league with 23.3 points per game. In the season opener, she dropped 26 on the Indiana Fever, and looking at the box score created one of those really? moments where you weren’t quite sure where it all came from. That’s when you know you’re elite. She is shooting 51 percent from the floor and is posting that 23-plus scoring average on just 15 field-goal attempts per contest.
Prahalis fitting in
Rookie point guard Samantha Prahalis of the Phoenix Mercury is fourth in the league is assists with 5.3 per game. She has started all three games and is averaging 7.7 points per game.
