Seton Hall
WNBA All-Star Game snubs
Date: July 16, 2019By: Heaven Hill
The WNBA season has reached the halfway point in the season, with the All-Star Weekend festivities fast approaching. In fact, with the WNBA All Star Game on July 27, the league recently announced the starters and reserves for the game. The W followed the NBA’s lead and eschewed away the previous conference-based format, going with a more exciting draft to pick the teams.
The leaders of the fan vote, Washington Mystics superstar Elena Delle Donne and budding superstar for the Las Vegas Aces, A’ja Wilson, will choose from a pool of starters and reserves, alternating with Delle Donne picking from the starters first and Wilson having first picking from the reserves.
Now, this season the All-Star selections were interesting with many of the league’s biggest stars, who would be clear locks for the game, suffering injuries that removed them from qualifying.
Because of this, greats like Sue Bird, Candace Parker, Angel McCoughtry and many others were unable to make the cut. Despite this, these unfortunate injuries allowed some of the other great players in the league to make a name for themselves and get selected.
The starters include Las Vegas’ Liz Cambage, Phoenix’s Brittney Griner, the Seattle Storm’s Natasha Howard, Connecticut’s Jonquel Jones, Los Angeles’ Chelsea Gray, Seattle’s Jewell Loyd, Las Vegas’ Kayla McBride and New York’s Kia Nurse.
The reserves are Phoenix’s DeWanna Bonner, New York’s Tina Charles, Chicago’s Diamond DeShields, Indiana’s Candice Dupree, Minnesota’s Sylvia Fowles, Los Angeles’ Nneka Ogwumike, Chicago’s Allie Quigley, Minnesota’s Odyssey Sims, Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas, Washington’s Kirsti Toliver, Chicago’s Courtney Vandersloot, and lastly, Indiana’s Erica Wheeler.
Congratulations should be made to these amazing players, as they’ve all been excellent, and each deserves this recognition. First-time All-Star Erica Wheeler is the first undrafted player selected for the game since 2014, while Odyssey Sims, who was traded in the offseason, also received her first All-Star selection after being the only player in the league in the top 10 in scoring and assists.
However, there may be some players around the league that could have made a better case to be selected for the game. So, with that, this’ll be a light break from the power rankings, and we’ll analyze the constantly shifting league some other time. Who in the league could have been more deserving for an All-Star spot?
Tiffany Hayes, Atlanta Dream
Hayes made a great case for an All-Star selection, but the league’s coaches unfortunately didn’t share the same feeling. The Atlanta Dream have struggled this season since the devastating injury to star McCoughtry, and they have a bottom-three record with the Fever and the Dallas Wings. As a result, the league’s coaches decided not to reward Hayes, and many around the W believe that to be a mistake.
Hayes has been honestly the sole reason why Atlanta Dream games are watchable, as despite their struggles as a team, she’s still averaging 13 points per game, with three rebounds and three assists per game as well. That, along with her amazing ability to destroy a team’s offense with her smothering defense, definitely deserved consideration for the All-Star game. However, when factoring in team success, along with the fact that her stats are down from last season, it is understandable that the coaches decided against Hayes.
Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Collier has taken the league by storm and is a big reason the Minnesota Lynx are in command for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, after losing Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen and other important players from last season.
In her first game, she scored the second-most points in a debut for a rookie in WNBA history, with 27 points. She’s been outstanding since college at UConn, and Collier has continued her steady play and lockdown defense in the pros. As a rookie, league-wide she ranks third in minutes, second in steals per game, third in defensive win shares, sixth in overall win shares, fourth in defensive rating, and in the top ten in steal percentage and block percentage.
Now, this may all sound a little confusing, but simply put, she is a powerful, game-altering force capable of controlling the offense, while shutting down teams on the opposite end. Collier is having a rookie season for the record books, and it was a common thought that she was a lock to make the All-Star game.
Unfortunately, rookies aren’t voted in every year with Wilson in 2018 being the first rookie voted in since 2014; also, the Western Conference is stacked with amazing forwards and bigs so it would have been almost impossible for Collier to be selected. Despite this, she has a great chance to make it in 2020, as she continues to put the league on notice.
Leilani Mitchell, Phoenix Mercury
Mitchell has been an important spark plug for the Phoenix Mercury since being substituted into the starting lineup. Normally, the usual Mercury game would feature about 40 points and 20 rebounds from their All-Star frontcourt Bonner and Griner, then the rest of the team would struggle to score or even create offense, combining for around 25 points or so, resulting in a tough loss.
However, since Mitchell’s entry into the starting lineup, she’s been a vital piece for a team that has had to adjust without legend Diana Taurasi. She’s scored in double figures six times this season, including an amazing 22-point, seven-rebound, six-assist performance to lead Phoenix over the rival Los Angeles Sparks. While her stats on the entire season haven’t been All-Star worthy, her recent performance has been vital to the Mercury playoff push.
Dearica Hamby, Las Vegas Aces
While Hamby is the only bench player featured on this list, she is perhaps the most important bench player in the league and definitely in the running for Sixth Woman of the Year. Simply put, she comes into games for limited spurts, shutting down the opposition’s best big, while providing a jolt for the team offense.
Hamby has been outstanding this season, as the Aces have struggled with production from their backcourt almost all season long. She’ll give you consistent play, while being tough-as-nails and she is exactly the player you’d want on a team. Sometimes, she’s feeling unguardable, like when she dropped 27 points on the Dallas Wings on 14 shots.
Other days, she’s feeling dominant, racking up double doubles in back-to-back games against the Sparks and Fever. Most of the time, she controls the game without doing anything noticeable, like on June 16 when she checked into the game against the Lynx and Minnesota didn’t score for over four minutes. Regardless of the circumstances, she’s an animal, and this is a snub.
Arike Ogunbowale, Dallas Wings
Ogunbowale, the woman with the ultimate green light on a basketball court, has been absolutely enthralling to watch this season and has honestly been the sole bright spot of the dismal Dallas Wings. With Skylar Diggins-Smith missing time due to maternity leave, along with the league-altering trade of Cambage, the Wings were missing a lot of shots and production when they decided to draft Ogunbowale with the fifth pick of the 2019 WNBA draft.
They instilled confidence in her from day one and have given her a lengthy leash on the floor. As a result, Ogunbowale has had some of the most amazing performances this year. Whether it was her 23 points on 10/17 from the field against the then-powerhouse Connecticut Sun in a victory or her 2/23 shooting performance two days later, you never know what you’re going to get with her. That is what makes her game so fun to watch, yet potentially dangerous as well.
Despite the rough shooting percentages, which were bound to happen due to her top-three usage percentage in the league, she still puts together strong statlines and even beat out Collier for WNBA Rookie of the Month for the month of June.
Point is, it would be nice to see her in the All-Star game, chucking up deep threes which would be in her element, and the WNBA would benefit to add a rookies vs sophomores game, so fans could see these great draft classes of recent years duke it out.
In summation, Ogunbowale has the potential to be an All-Star in the near future with the performances she’s had, but it all hinges on her getting her shot selection and efficiency in order. Once that happens, Ogunbowale has a chance to be great.
Heaven Hill can be reached at heaven.hill@student.shu.edu.
