WNBA
Mechelle Voepel 6y

Seattle's Breanna Stewart is espnW's WNBA MVP; A'ja Wilson and Nicki Collen also honored

WNBA, Seattle Storm, Las Vegas Aces, Atlanta Dream

This WNBA season has presented us with such a variety of excellent and compelling performances, it's hard to narrow it down to the best. But before the regular season wraps up Sunday, it's time to present espnW's picks for the best player, rookie and coach of 2018. ESPN's Rebecca Lobo and ESPN.com's Kevin Pelton were consultants for espnW's awards.

Most Valuable Player: Breanna Stewart

Breanna Stewart has had an outstanding season for the league-leading Storm, and the comparisons to  former Seattle star Lauren Jackson were inevitable -- and this looks like one more way their careers are similar. Jackson won her first of three MVP awards in her third WNBA season (2003). Stewart is now in her third season, and like Jackson has proven to be a force on both ends of the court.

With two games left in the regular season, Stewart is averaging 22.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. She's shooting 52.2 percent from the field, with a true shooting percentage of 62.6.

Her player impact estimate (PIE) of 19.2 is the best of her three seasons, and second in the league this year to Dallas' Liz Cambage, who is Stewart's chief competitor for MVP.

Cambage leads the league in PIE at 21.3, along with scoring at 23.0 PPG. Cambage is second in the WNBA in rebounding at 9.6, fourth in field-goal percentage at 58.8 and fifth in blocks at 1.8.

Cambage leads Stewart in player efficiency rating (PER), too, at 30.4 to 28.4. So how does Stewart get the nod for MVP?

Let's look at win shares: Stewart leads at 7.1, while Cambage is third at 5.7. ESPN.com's Kevin Pelton also has a Wins Against Replacement Player (WARP) metric that has Stewart first at 8.8 and Cambage second at 7.3.

Pelton also notes that Stewart would be the sixth player in league history to lead in WARP while also playing on the team with the best record. Of the previous five, three won the MVP award (Cynthia Cooper -- the only player in WNBA history to win back-to-back MVP awards -- in 1997 and '98, and Sylvia Fowles in 2017), while the other two finished second (Sheryl Swoopes in 1999 and Maya Moore in 2013).

That leads to part of what hurts Cambage's MVP candidacy: her team's performance. It's always a debate how big a factor that should be in MVP voting. But the Wings, with two games left, are 14-18 and have been in a free-fall since before the All-Star break, losing nine in a row.

Seattle, by contrast, is 24-8 and has lost just three times since the start of July. The Storm haven't lost back-to-back games all season, and they've secured an early-round bye into the semifinals.

Stewart's consistency has been exceptional, too: She has been held below double figures in scoring just once, and that was in the second game of the season when she had nine points. She has eight double-doubles, with six of those coming in July or August.

Bottom line: In a highly competitive year, Stewart's huge contributions to the best team in the WNBA make her our espnW MVP.

Also considered: Liz Cambage, Dallas; Elena Delle Donne, Washington; Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota; Tiffany Hayes, Atlanta; Candace Parker, Los Angeles; Diana Taurasi, Phoenix.

Rookie of the Year: A'ja Wilson

From the time she was considered the No. 1 recruit in the country, A'ja Wilson has been dealing with big expectations. She keeps living up to them.

The consensus 2017-18 college player of the year as a senior at South Carolina, Wilson was the No. 1 draft pick in April and immediate favorite to be the WNBA's top rookie. While other members of the 2018 rookie class have distinguished themselves, Wilson has been in a class by herself in terms of consistent impact.

She was the only rookie to make the All-Star Game, where she had 18 points and five rebounds. Even in that exhibition, Wilson's competitive drive was at work.

Aces coach Bill Laimbeer saw Wilson as a franchise anchor from the start of her pro career. With the team relocating from San Antonio, the dynamic and personable rookie has helped the franchise grab fans' attention in a new city -- and also brought the Aces a fan base from across the country in South Carolina.

Wilson leads all rookies in Pelton's WARP rankings at 4.6. She is sixth overall in the league in scoring (20.2 PPG), which is second only to Minnesota's Seimone Augustus (21.9 in 2006) in rookie average in league history.

Wilson also is averaging 8.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.6 blocked shots while shooting 44.9 percent for the Aces, who are 14-18 and tied with Dallas for the last playoff spot this season.

WNBA rookies have one of the toughest learning curves in pro sports: They start their careers within two months of finishing their college season. It's sink or swim in a highly competitive league. Wilson was expected to be a difference-maker right away, and she has been.

Also considered: Ariel Atkins, Washington; Diamond DeShields, Chicago; Kelsey Mitchell, Indiana.

Coach of the Year: Nicki Collen

This was the hardest award to pick because two candidates easily could share it. We went with Atlanta's first-year coach Nicki Collen for getting the Dream into a position not too many people expected, and setting a franchise record for regular-season victories.

With two games left -- at Phoenix on Friday and at Las Vegas on Sunday -- Atlanta is 22-10 and poised to get one of the byes into the semifinals. Last year, the Dream went 12-22 and missed the playoffs.

Seattle's Dan Hughes is the other top candidate. The veteran coach returned from a brief retirement to help the Storm fulfill the potential that was seen -- but not realized -- last year.

Like the Dream, the Storm struggled in 2017. Seattle finished 15-19 and grabbed the last playoff spot, but lost in the first round under interim coach Gary Kloppenburg. He took over for Jenny Boucek, who was let go in August last year. In the offseason, Hughes -- who realized he was itching to get back into coaching after retiring in 2016 -- took over as head coach, with Kloppenburg moving again to assistant.

Under Hughes, the Storm have their second-best record in franchise history, behind only the 28-6 of their 2010 championship team. Of course, the Storm also have had the last two No. 1 draft picks (and rookies of the year) in Jewell Loyd and Stewart.

Atlanta's last No. 1 pick came in 2009 with Angel McCoughtry. She sat out 2017, Michael Cooper's fourth and final season as coach. Collen, who'd previously been an assistant in college and in the WNBA, took over the Dream with a clear vision of how she wanted them to play: up-tempo, strong defensively and with a collaborative offense that didn't rely on one specific player.

McCoughtry bought into that on her return and was still an All-Star this season. Unfortunately, she was lost for the season to a knee injury suffered in an Aug. 7 game. Yet Atlanta has won the last three games without her.

Tiffany Hayes (17.3 PPG) has had her best season in the WNBA, and the Dream also have gotten big contributions from newcomers to the team this season like Renee Montgomery (10.2 PPG) and Jessica Breland (8.0 PPG, team-high 8.1 RPG).

The Dream have the WNBA's best defensive rating (95.9), fulfilling one of Collen's primary goals, and they're also the only team that has beaten Seattle twice.

Also considered: Dan Hughes, Seattle; Curt Miller, Connecticut; Mike Thibault, Washington.

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