Sparks' Candace Parker will be named WNBA MVP
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Sparks forward, who will be named winner Friday night, has already won the rookie of the year award.
Expectations for a No. 1 overall draft pick often exceed reality. That's not the case for Sparks forward Candace Parker. She was better.
Tonight, one day after accepting WNBA rookie of the year honors, Parker is expected to be named the league's most valuable player. The announcement will come during Game 2 of the WNBA finals in San Antonio and it will make her the first WNBA player to win both awards, regardless of the year.
It also will put her in an even loftier group: only two NBA players have won both awards in the same season -- Wilt Chamberlain in 1959-60 and Wes Unseld in 1968-69.
"It would mean a lot to me, playing in that highest level and actually winning the MVP award," Parker said Thursday morning in an interview with The Times, not long after being named the top rookie.
The former star for the Tennessee Lady Vols averaged 18.5 points (fourth best in the league), 9.5 rebounds (best in the league) and 2.3 blocks (second best) during the regular season. Only teammate Lisa Leslie, a three-time MVP, averaged more blocked shots. Parker also shot 52.3% from the field and averaged 3.4 assists.
"She's pulling those type of numbers with great people around her," said Sparks General Manager Penny Toler. "I know people say that's easier, but it isn't. Sometimes, if you have a rookie, they may sit back and say, 'Well, let me just do the minimum.' But she never sat back, she did as much as she could to try to help us win."
Parker, 22, said she was proudest of her rebounding, an aspect of her game that has been reinforced by every coach she has had, from her father, Larry, to Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt, to Sparks Coach Michael Cooper.
"With rebounding, you get extra possessions, you finish possessions and it's important to your team," said Parker, who credited Cooper for giving her the chance to grow as a player.
"He never lowered the bar," she said. "He always continued to raise it and I think that's why I always continued to be successful this year. . . . Sometimes, coaches have a really tight rein, but he let me make mistakes and grow from them. . . . I'm better because of that."
From the season's opening tip, she proved she wasn't a typical rookie, scoring 34 points in her first game, the most by a WNBA player in her debut. She also contributed 12 rebounds and eight assists. Two games later, she totaled 16 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, five steals and six blocks in a double-overtime loss to Indiana, becoming the first WNBA player to total at least five in each of those statistical categories.
