Quantcast

WNBA Player Rankings: Becky Hammon Earns Player of the Week Award, Moves Up NSR Player Rankings

posted by Swish Appeal
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 8:38pm EDT

In keeping with SB Nation’s innovative use of social media in reshaping sports journalism, our vision is a women's basketball site that goes beyond merely providing game reports; instead, we want to capture the narratives that fuel our passion for the game, while maintaining the critical stance that helps us understand the game better.

Support women's sports and SHARE this story with your friends!

Last week, Ed Bemiss of National Sports Rankings explained to us why San Antonio Silver Stars guard Becky Hammon was not listed among his list of hypothetical 2012 WNBA All-Stars.

But coming off a week that earned Hammon a season-first WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week award, might his player rankings show something different?

As per the WNBA release, Hammon opened the week on Tuesday by scoring 22 points and dishing out four assists in an 82-81 win over the visiting Phoenix Mercury. She then tallied 19 points, making all three of her three-point field goal attempts, in an 88-72 win over the Indiana Fever to begin a four-game road trip. Hammon finished the week with a 23 point and six assist performance in a 94-81 win over her former team the New York Liberty.

In total, Hammon scored 20.3 points per game and 4.8 assists per game last week, helping the Silver Stars extend their winning streak to seven games and collect her eighth career Player of the Week award. But most importantly given Bemiss' analysis last week, Hammon averaged 1.7 turnovers per game last week, less than half of her season average entering the month.

All of that was enough to move Hammon into the top 30 - an improvement over last week - but she still didn't crack Bemiss' All-Stars.

But someone else's impressive performances thus far in July did help catapult her into the ranks of Bemiss' Western Conference All-Stars.

West All-Stars 91.94 Candace Parker Los Angeles Sparks 91.62 Sophia Young San Antonio Silver Stars 90.47 DeWanna Bonner Phoenix Mercury 89.02 Taj McWilliams-Franklin Minnesota Lynx 88.00 Rebekkah Brunson Minnesota Lynx 87.60 Sue Bird Seattle Storm 87.20 Maya Moore Minnesota Lynx 87.20 Nneka Ogwumike Los Angeles Sparks 86.56 Kristi Toliver Los Angeles Sparks 86.04 Seimone Augustus Minnesota Lynx 85.43 Tanisha Wright Seattle Storm 82.42 Temeka Johnson Tulsa Shock

 

It has to be pointed out that Bemiss is putting Johnson here as a function of her being the top player on her team, which is probably a debatable standard given that the Shock have only won three games - Hammon (83.18), Jia Perkins (84.61), Lindsay Whalen (84.59), Samantha Prahalis (84.42), Alana Beard (83.69), Ann Wauters (83.01), and Camille Little (82.61) all rate higher than Johnson. A few of those players have All-Star arguments over Johnson, but for now, Bemiss leaves them out.

Kristi Toliver was the high riser this past week in these rankings, with her 29-point performance against the Minnesota Lynx giving her a bit of a boost.

East All-Stars 93.95 Tamika Catchings Indiana Fever 92.47 Sylvia Fowles Chicago Sky 90.65 Angel McCoughtry Atlanta Dream 90.54 Epiphanny Prince Chicago Sky 90.32 Tina Charles Connecticut Sun 89.48 Sancho Lyttle Atlanta Dream 88.71 Cappie Pondexter New York Liberty 86.89 Katie Douglas Indiana Fever 85.87 Kara Lawson Connecticut Sun 84.67 Asjha Jones Connecticut Sun 84.45 Essence Carson New York Liberty 83.97 Crystal Langhorne Washington Mystics

 

On the Eastern side, not much changed in terms of who made the team with Essence Carson bumping teammate Leilani Mitchell off the 12-member team.

But with Prince injured for so many games - and likely out in the event of a hypothetical game - Mitchell would probably get the nod as a replacement player.

Who would be the front-runners for your 2012 WNBA All-Star teams? Feel free to drop your thoughts on these or your own in the comments below.

For the full list of this year's current WNBA player ratings - as well as NSR players ratings dating all the way back to 1997 - check out Ed Bemiss' WNBA Player Rankings page.

Support women's sports and SHARE this story with your friends!


Filed Under:  

View Original Post at swishappeal.com

View Q McCall's Full Profile

No one has commented on this yet. Be the first!

Leave Your Comment:  Read our comment policy

  |