WNBA Top 15 Players Survey: Indiana Fever Style

By Cole McKeel

As part of the WNBA’s 15th anniversary celebration, the league will recognize the 15 most influential WNBA players, since its commencement in 1997. A panel of media members and basketball experts were selected to choose a ballot of 30 players. From the list of 30, the fans are currently voting for the final 15 spots. Fan voting continues through midnight on Thursday, July 14th. The team will be announced at the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game in San Antonio on Saturday, July 23rd.

ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Three current Fever players (Tamika Catchings, Katie Douglas, and Tangela Smith) and two former Fever players (Yolanda Griffith and Natalie Williams) were among the 30 finalists.

ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ In response to the league’s Top 15 balloting and using the same ballot fans can find online, (http://top15players.wnba.com/), Indiana Fever players and staff conducted an informal survey to see which players they would choose as their Top 15.

ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Tamika Catchings was the only player to receive a unanimous selection for the Top 15 honor. Catchings, who received all 13 votes from Fever player and staff ballots, played collegiately at the University of Tennessee and is in her 11th season in the WNBA, all of which have been spent in a Fever uniform. A member of the WNBA’s 10th Anniversary All-Decade Team, awarded in 2006, Catchings has been named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year an unprecedented four times. She is the only player in history to rank among the WNBA’s Top 25 in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.

ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Following closely behind Catchings, Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson, Lauren Jackson and Lisa Leslie rounded out the top five vote getters. Of the five, Catchings and Thompson are the only two which have never received the league’s MVP award. Swoopes, Jackson and Leslie have combined for nine of the WNBA’s 15 MVP awards, each winning the award three times, respectively.

ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ With five Fever representatives on the ballot, all but Natalie Williams, who was a member of the Fever from 2003-05, were selected as a Top 15 player. Here is a capsule look at the rest of the team chosen by Fever players and staff (listed alphabetically):ï¿½ ï¿½ï¿½

In a 2011 preseason survey, given to the WNBA’s general managers, Sue Bird was named the league’s best point guard at the age of 30. Ranking second among the all-time assists leaders, the four-time WNBA All-Star was named to the WNBA’s First Team in four consecutive years from 2002-2005.

Cynthia Cooper played for the Houston Comets, winning the WNBA Finals MVP four consecutive years. The USC Trojan standout was named the WNBA’s MVP in 1997 and 1998 and also became the first WNBA player to score 2,500 points.

Douglas became the first player in WNBA history to record 500 3-pointers and 500 steals. A three-time WNBA All-Star, she has been named to the All-WNBA Team and All-Defensive Team four times each.

In 1999, her first season in the WNBA, Griffith made an immediate impact, winning both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year Awards. In her last WNBA season, Griffith was a part of the Indiana Fever, playing only three games before retiring on August 4th, 2009.

A member of the All-Decade Team, Jackson has been named to the WNBA’s First Team five times and has totaled three MVP awards (2003, 2007, 2010). Jackson has the distinction of scoring the most points in a WNBA game, with 47, a record she shares with Diana Taurasi.

Leslie won three MVP Awards (2001, 2004, 2006) and was a two-time World Champion (2001, 2002). She has the distinction of being the first WNBA player to reach the 6,000 point plateau, as well as, being the first player to dunk in a WNBA game.ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½

Taj McWilliams-Franklin, a 12-year veteran, has averaged 11.9 points and 7.0 rebounds, while in the WNBA. Her best season to date was in 2006, when she scored 12.6 points to accompany a career-high 9.6 rebounds per game.

Katie Smith ranks third on the WNBA’s All-Time scoring list, behind Leslie and Thompson. This member of the WNBA’s All-Decade squad, Smith is a five-time All-Star and a two-time WNBA First Team selection (2001, 2003).

Though she broke the heart of every Fever fan in 2009, a new uniform has altered the perception of this WNBA great. Tangela Smith, a member of champion Phoenix Mercury in 2007 and 2009, hit a crucial three-pointer to aid the Mercury past Indiana in the WNBA Finals. Now, Smith, the WNBA leader in games played, suits up for the team she beat.

As the 9th overall pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft, Dawn Staley was chosen by the Charlotte Sting. She is fourth all-time in WNBA history with an average of 5.1 assists.

Swoopes became the first-player in history to be named the league’s MVP (2000, 2002, 2005) and Defensive Player of the Year (2000, 20002, 2003) three times. The WNBA legend is also the only player in history to record a playoff triple-double.

Taurasi won the 2009 MVP Award, en route to a WNBA title, her second such title in three years. She has been selected for the WNBA’s First Team five of her seven years in the league.
Thompson was the number one draft pick of the Houston Comets, where she played alongside Cooper and Swoopes, helping the Comets win the WNBA Championship four straight seasons. A member of the WNBA All-Decade Team and nine-time all-star selection, Thompson is the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer.

One of the inaugural WNBA players, Teresa Weatherspoon held the honor of being the only WNBA player to start in every one of her games, until 2003. A two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (1997, 1998), Weatherspoon was named to the All-WNBA’s Second Team four times, to go along with four All-Star nominations.

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Though there is definitely a case for all 30 players on the ballot, every one of the 15 players selected by the Fever players and staff can be easily justified. There is no questioning the positive impact these women have had on the WNBA in its pursuit of growth, prosperity and another successful 15 years.

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