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2013 WNBA MVP watch: Ivory Latta, Maya Moore, Diana Taurasi off to efficient starts as perimeter scorers

2013-06-19T15:00:04Z

In 2009, Minnesota Lynx wing Seimone Augustus had as good a start to a WNBA season as you could want from a wing.

The Lynx were off to a 4-1 start, led by Augustus' 23.4 points per game. While that might not sound that extraordinary - either in the context of considering league scoring champions or her own career - the efficiency with which she did it was truly remarkable. The Lynx guard was shooting 57% from the field and an even more impressive 64.3% from the 3-point line in addition to a career-high 90.5% from the free throw line.

There are players who have been more efficient scorers over the course of a season during the course of WNBA history, but the four players who have done better over the course of the season were either post players (who were getting a large number of shots closer to the basket) or a low usage point guard (Jennifer Azzi). That Augustus was that good as a volume scorer - even for a short period of time - is still astounding.

Year	Tm	G	PER	TS%	ORB%	DRB%	TRB%	STL%	USG%
2009	MIN	6	30.9	.661	2.6	15.0	8.6	3.4	26.9
Career		193	22.3	.552	2.4	11.5	6.9	1.5	26.5

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table. Generated 6/17/2013.

Of course, the reason that season isn't talked about much and won't be listed among the best scoring seasons of all-time is that it didn't continue past the beginning: Augustus suffered an ACL injury in the sixth game of the season in Phoenix. The Lynx would go 10-19 from the moment of her injury and miss the playoffs once again that year before bringing about some of the changes that have brought them to where they are now.

But that brief moment in time always stands out in my mind as a snapshot of just how brilliant a talent Augustus can be, both in terms of her ability to carry a team and her ability as a pure scorer. And when I make the case that Augustus has a case for being the best - or "most creative" - "pure scorer" the league has seen, that snapshot is both left out for obvious reasons and The Example of a killer instinct that eludes some more highly touted players.

That, for me, is the idealized, if unrealistic, vision of what a pure scorer is: a scorer so deadly that shooting the ball is always the best option for her team, even when the other team knows it's coming. It's a lofty standard and one that is almost foolish to hold anyone to.

I bring all that up now because there's a player this season that has put up numbers awfully close to Augustus' 2009 season. And if someone is approaching that standard, you have to wonder how close they are to being considered the MVP. The question is whether that standard as a pure scorer even makes someone a lock for the top spot in the MVP race. And that comes down to how you define "value", which could be especially tricky this season.

How do you define "value"?

I've described a definition for value in previous years and I'm not going to change it this year. Click here to see that, but before reading on do note that I've left out plus/minus for now because it's probably the least useful statistic at this point in the season.

The Candidates

The following are a list of the players with the top 15 MVP ratings in the WNBA as of 6/16/13 (ordered by MVP).

Player	Team	MVP	PVC	Usage%	Pts/empty poss
Candace Parker	L.A. Sparks	13.7	22.08	26.11	2.35
Angel McCoughtry	Atlanta Dream	12.67	20.14	34.27	1.5
Ivory Latta	Washington Mystics	12.65	25.48	23.83	2.56
Diana Taurasi	Phoenix Mercury	12.58	24.7	28.41	2.64
Tina Charles	Connecticut Sun	12.03	24.47	30.9	1.78
Maya Moore	Minnesota Lynx	11.91	20.00%	26.68%	2.85
Elena Delle Donne	Chicago Sky	11.78	20.82	23.87	2.74
Sylvia Fowles	Chicago Sky	10.9	19.27	20.18	2.17
Tamika Catchings	Indiana Fever	10.33	22.94	30.79	1.62
Glory Johnson	Tulsa Shock	10.21	22.72	26.7	2.07
Seimone Augustus	Minnesota Lynx	10.09	17.02	22.90%	3.01
Rebekkah Brunson	Minnesota Lynx	9.96	16.8	17.99	2.8
Lindsay Whalen	Minnesota Lynx	9.85	16.6	21.51	2.16
Nneka Ogwumike	L.A. Sparks	9.76	15.7	19.46	3.34
Shavonte Zellous	Indiana Fever	9.65	21.43	22.23	2.91

Notes

Since All-Star voting has just started this week, the color coding indicates the top five players per conference, orange for the Western Conference and blue for the Eastern Conference.
It's worth noting that I probably wouldn't use the MVP formula to choose All-Stars: the difference is MVPs have to demonstrate that they've done more to help their team win more than any other player in the league whereas All-Stars could just be the most productive players independent of what that means to their team.
It's way too early for plus/minus numbers to mean much of anything, so I'm leaving that out for now. But, as an example of when it becomes important, Parker's plus/minus is always something to pay attention to in the MVP discussion: it was negative last year because of her team's performance on the defensive end with her on the floor.
Last, it's worth noting that I use these numbers as a guide to looking at the landscape of MVP candidates instead of looking for deterministic final answers. Not only is it really early in the season to be looking at MVP statistics, but in a number of cases the entirety of a player's statistical profile undermines their case for MVP. So the fact that the list above is ordered by MVP rating does not reflect how I'd actually rank the players.

All-Star decisions

First, the WNBA's All-Star voting format now asks fans to select two guards and three frontcourt players, which is better - and honestly, less complicated - than voting by "traditional" positions (G-G-F-F-C). However, I usually select All-Star or All-WNBA teams by squeezing players into a format that more closely matches the way most teams actually play basketball: PG - Perimeter - Perimeter - Frontcourt - Frontcourt. Feel free to debate this in the comments, but point guards serve a function on the floor distinct from every other player and require a specific skillset (and some would argue, personality) to do well - it's somewhat unreasonable not to individually recognize the best point guards when selecting All-Star or All-WNBA teams.
So given the point guard point above and that voting is starting now, Ivory Latta has to be voted in as a starter in the Eastern Conference. She has been by far the best point guard in the Eastern Conference, arguably the best scorer in the Eastern Conference when you compare her efficiency to Elena Delle Donne's, and - just for kicks - she's always had an All-Star personality. There's just no reasonable argument against her being a starter.
Things are a bit more complicated in the Western Conference if you were to argue for voting in a point guard. Lindsay Whalen is still arguably the best point guard in the league when you take her efficiency running the offense as a distributor and scorer into account. And interestingly, based on the MVP numbers above, she'd be competing with teammates Augustus and Brunson for the last spot as an All-Star starter in the West. My argument for Whalen over her two teammates: point guards do a number of intangible things that aren't reflected well in the standard statistics. And again, if you evaluate point guards as a separate set of players, the very fact that she's the best at what she does at the very least in her conference if not in the league has to mean something.
Glory Johnson has to make the All-Star game: despite the numbers above for Parker, you could argue Johnson is the best two-way post in the Western Conference right now (and coincidentally, she's by far the best defender of fellow Lady Vols alum Parker). And in light of her most recent performance, it's really difficult not to vote for her.
Catchings would be on the outside looking in based on the numbers above, but with all she's being asked to do for the defending champion Fever - a few percentage points more than what Fowles contributes to Chicago - the argument could be made that Catchings deserves your vote. The sticking point is a below average true shooting percentage of 43.65%, the lowest of any of the names on the list above.
Now go vote. And if you don't vote for Latta, please state your position in the comments because I'd love to hear it.

MVP observations

Diana Taurasi is that player putting up numbers comparable to what Augustus put up in her lone six games in 2009, but she's doing so quite differently. As we've grown accustomed to, Augustus thrived off hitting mid-range shots. In contrast, Taurasi thrives off her ability to knock down threes - she has made twice as many as Augustus did in 2009 - which boosts her true shooting percentage close to that of where Augustus was at a slightly higher usage rate.

Year Tm G MP
TS% ORB% DRB% TRB% STL% USG%

2013 Phoenix 6 33.17 64.77 3.22 9.63 6.7 1.76 28.41

Career Phoenix
269 31.9 58.2 2.3 13.0 7.8 1.9 28.3

Taurasi's numbers through six games in 2013. Career numbers via Basketball-Reference.

To put up a 64.77 TS% at that usage rate is extremely impressive. Yet what might be surprising is how high her PVC is: for as talented as the Mercury are, you wouldn't think they'd rely so heavily on one player. But this only goes back to something that folks around here have commented on multiple times: this is still Taurasi's team, no matter who else is on the roster.

So why then is Taurasi not at the top of that list?
Candace Parker is going to be at or near the top of this list any year that she's healthy and this season is no different. And with the way she's cleaning the defensive boards - a 36.24% defensive rebounding percentage - an argument could easily be made that she's the MVP this season. However, her offensive rebounding percentage is below average and, although we're not looking at plus/minus just yet, it remains to be seen how that will play out for her defensively. And otherwise, the same critiques of her game that could be made prior to the season based on Synergy numbers could be applied to this season.
Reigning MVP Tina Charles is a bit more difficult case to explain, however. How is it that she's so high on the list despite being considerably less efficient than others? The answer lies in that PVC number above, second only to Latta, as well as a very high usage rate for a center at 30.9%, second only to McCoughtry. Charles has put up nearly 70 more shots than the second highest player on her team, which is more of an indicator that the team is feeding her the ball at a level above which she can be efficient and doing the bulk of the work for a struggling Sun team. When you add that to her rebounding numbers - she's averaging a double-double and has an offensive rebounding percentage of 11.64% - it's easy to see why she's near the top of this list. However, the same argument that was levied against her being MVP last season applies to this season and perhaps to a greater extent: does an inefficient, volume. jump shooting center merit a MVP award?
With Sancho Lyttle scheduled to miss a few games, Angel McCoughtry has already stepped her game up and has continued to show why she is considered one of the most dominant players in the game. The major development in her game this season has been her willingness to create scoring opportunities for others and that shows up in her assist ratio (18.14%) which is close to the rate of some of the league's starting point guards. To do that while also being relied upon so heavily for scoring is actually quite remarkable (or dangerous, if you're an opponent). Yet the reason she doesn't have an even stronger MVP rating is that efficiency number in the last column above: her low scoring efficiency and above average turnover ratio hurt her overall efficiency.
So speaking of Latta again, she has a very strong argument for the early season MVP once you get past the name recognition - it's difficult to argue that anybody is doing more for their team right now. As the team's starting point guard, you might be able to knock her for being an inefficient distributor (pure point rating of -0.18) but as efficiently as she's scoring (62.31% TS%) she's doing what the team needs as a scorer. What will be interesting to see is whether she can maintain anything close to this efficiency (which would be a career-high by a wide margin). But if the Mystics make the playoffs and Latta remains such an efficient scorer, it will be very, very difficult not to say she's the MVP.
And yet quietly - and possibly in spite of the numbers above - the argument could easily be made that Maya Moore is in fact this season's MVP. First, it's worth considering what kind of numbers someone would have to put up to float to the top six of this list on a team with three other All-Star candidates - with that many talented teammates, her PVC is obviously going to be a bit lower because she's sharing so much of the credit with others. However there's a really strong argument that Moore is the best all-around player in the league right now. Her 58% TS% isn't quite at the Latta or Taurasi (or 2009 Augustus) level of efficiency, but it's still very good for a volume scorer. In addition, Moore has been a solid solid rebounder for a wing scorer (5.4% offensive rebounding percentage) and has been an extremely efficient ball handler (3.96 pure point rating) because she simply doesn't turn the ball over often (4.75 turnover ratio). She is relying heavily on her 3-point shooting to boost her efficiency (her 2-point% of 38% is mediocre for a wing) but the bottom line is that she's still more efficient than a number of people on this list.

Even if you don't think that Moore is the MVP right now - and there's good reason not to believe she is - you also have to ask yourself a question without any easy answers: who's most likely to maintain the pace they're on given their style of play? Latta and Taurasi would have among the most efficient scoring seasons in league history if they maintained their current pace, which suggests they're likely to take a dip as they play more games and defenses adjust to their teams (both of which look very different from last year). Moore is far more likely to cruise along doing exactly what she's doing now and, based on her career, likely to actually improve as the season goes on and her 2-point percentage creeps over 40%.

Year	Tm	G	MP	TS%	ORB%	DRB%	TRB%	STL%	USG%
2013	Phoenix	6	33.17	64.77	3.22	9.63	6.7	1.76	28.41
Career	Phoenix	269	31.9	58.2	2.3	13.0	7.8	1.9	28.3

Obviously, these numbers will change over the course of the season. But rather than expanding or shifting, this tends to be a list of players that just shrinks to the point where only 3-5 players are left standing as legitimate contenders (2011 was an exception where I really do think 8 players had a legitimate case for being labeled a "contender"). In any event, it is a helpful guide for choosing All-Stars since the voting has already begun.

Poll

Which player do you think has the best case for being a starter in the 2013 WNBA All-Star game?

New York Liberty sign Avery Warley to replace Cheryl Ford

2013-06-18T01:42:40Z

The New York Liberty announced today that they have signed free agent center Avery Warley after releasing veteran forward Cheryl Ford.

As we've noted before around here, Warley was a very strong rebounder in her rookie season with the Phoenix Mercury in 2012 and there's little question that the boards would be her immediate impact, if any at all - while the Liberty are not a poor offensive rebounding team, they're working with a slim differential relative to opponents.

The question though is whether the Liberty have any further moves coming: signing Warley leaves open the possibility of adding a bigger salary player down the line should coach/GM Bill Laimbeer be interested in making a trade, a possibility that some have mentioned after Essence Carson was ruled out for the season due to injury.

2013 New York Liberty Season: The Bill Laimbeer Era begins

2013-06-17T23:00:00Z

The New York Liberty will be going for its fourth straight playoff appearance under the leadership of Bill Laimbeer who was hired as the team's new head coach and general manager as well as their franchise guard, Cappie Pondexter

After a 2012 season full of inconsistency, the New York Liberty have announced that Bill Laimbeer will be replacing John Whisenant as general manager and head coach.

From the New York Liberty release:

"We're excited to have Bill Laimbeer join the New York Liberty as our general manager and head coach. He has brought his winning pedigree and passion to the WNBA and I believe he will play a large role in bringing a championship to the Liberty," said Allan Houston, the New York Knicks' assistant GM, who also oversees Liberty basketball operations. "We appreciate Coach Whisenant's dedication to our team and the organization, and wish him well in the future."

"I am very excited to return to the WNBA, and for the opportunity to join the New York Liberty," Laimbeer said. "I missed the competitive fire of players like Cappie Pondexter and Plenette Pierson, two hard-nosed competitors for the Liberty. The commitment of our fans and the City will be invaluable in our quest to bring a WNBA championship to New York. After all, that's really all that counts."

Although this probably comes as a surprise to many WNBA fans, Mel Greenberg had previously mentioned Laimbeer as a possible candidate for the Washington Mystics vacancy. Since leaving the Detroit Shock in 2009, Laimbeer had been working as an assistant coach with the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves presumably in pursuit of a NBA head coaching post before they made a coaching change. SB Nation's Detroit Bad Boys detailed Laimbeer's qualifications for the Detroit Pistons' coaching vacancy this past summer - including a summary of his WNBA career - but he wasn't considered a top candidate. Most recently, Laimbeer had been doing NBA analysis for NBA TV.

Although Whisenant guided the Liberty to consecutive playoff berths, they were 15-19 in 2012 and had a negative differential in each of the Four Factors, as described by Ray Floriani at the end of the regular season. In plain terms, the Liberty weren't a particularly good team offensively or defensively this past year, finishing 9th in defensive and offensive efficiency. However, with the fifth pick in what is considered a deep 2013 WNBA Draft and All-WNBA guard Cappie Pondexter on the roster, Laimbeer certainly has something to work with in New York.

Angel McCoughtry, Diana Taurasi win Player of the Week awards

2013-06-17T20:24:52Z

Angel McCoughtry, Diana Taurasi win Player of the Week awards

An additional note on Angel McCoughtry: she was guarding Chicago's Elena Delle Donne throughout the fourth quarter and held her to 1-for-3 shooting. It was a team effort for Atlanta to get it done, but McCoughtry did step up to get the job done.

Click the link above for more.

NBA Draft 2013: Peyton Siva, Aziz N'Diaye among participants in Golden State Warriors weekend pre-draft workouts

2013-06-17T15:00:05Z

The Golden State Warriors held a six-player workout on Saturday in advance of the June 27 NBA Draft which included the following players:

Chris Babb, G, Iowa State
Kevin Foster, G, Santa Clara
Elijah Johnson, G, Kansas
Devon Moore, G, James Madison
E.J. Singler, F, Oregon
Peyton Siva, G, Louisville

Siva's name stands out on this list as much for his standing among 2013 NBA Draft prospects as the fact that he won a National Championship at Louisville: he's the first player that the Warriors have had in for a formal pre-draft workout who is projected by some to be selected on June 27.

For those searching for signs that the Warriors will look to trade into the draft, this probably isn't it: as a player projected as a mid- to late-second round pick, Siva could easily become a candidate to add to the summer league roster as an undrafted free agent. Potentially making things more difficult for Siva is that he might have trouble standing out in a point guard class that is considered pretty deep.

Peyton Siva, PG, 6'1", Louisville Cardinals

Peyton Siva's Golden State Warriors pre-draft workout interview.

Siva was asked for his thoughts about whether his size is a limitation after the workout, but that concern is probably overstated, as described by Fear the Sword's Sam Vecenie after the draft combine measurements were released.

However, the combination of being a 6-foot-1 point guard with a suspect jumpshot is probably not a positive for Siva.

Peyton is probably the most recognizable name on the list as the starting point guard on the team who just won the NCAA National Championship. He is extremely quick and athletic, a great defender with excellent lateral quickness, and a good distributor. However, he is not a good shooter, and like Pressey, has a tendency to believe he is. While Siva is often referred to as being undersized, I think this is much less of a concern than his perimeter shooting. If Siva can develop a consistent jump shot and be more selective with his shot selection, he could be an absolute steal in the second round for a team looking for a young point guard.

Still, when trying to project his NBA potential his strengths are clear: playmaking out of the pick and roll, as described by Curtis Pashelka.

Siva is regarded as an exceptional passer and scorer, a solid pick-and-roll player who is quick enough to get to the basket.

"My playmaking ability is pretty much what my calling card is,"said Siva, who has worked out for eight NBA teams so far. "Just showing that I can make plays for others, get others involved."

The first time I actually saw the Seattle native play was during an annual basketball tournament in Seattle in which the city's best basketball talents return for a high school alumni tournament. Siva had just finished his sophomore year at that point, but the strengths people are highlighting now were evident then, even in what was more of a loose pick-up environment: he was poised and seemed unbothered by pressure up against the likes of Aaron Brooks, Will Conroy, Jamal Crawford, and Nate Robinson (defensive wizards, I know). He navigates the game with relative ease and seeing him run Louisville's offense in the 2013 National Championship game was an extension of everything I'd known about him. The question is whether he'll be able to overcome his perceived weaknesses in the NBA.

Aziz N'Diaye, C, 7'0", Washington Huskies

Aziz N'Diaye's Golden State Warriors pre-draft interview.

N'Diaye was part of another six-player workout on Friday and is also a player who I'm familiar with from my time in Seattle. But my first memory of him wasn't entirely positive: he went 3-for-15 from the free throw line against McNeese State back in November 2010.

But, as noted the other day, his offense came along over time and his real strength is something that the Warriors have seemingly been chasing forever: defense and rebounding, which brings to mind an old quote from a former Washington teammate after that McNeese State game.

"His presence down there - on both ends - his rebounding is ridiculous," said Bryan-Amaning of N'Diaye. "You forget sometimes you don't realize how long his arms are because he's seven feet tall. But everybody talks about my wingspan but he makes me look like a baby out there sometimes. We've got plays in practice where he has legit just stood up and had both of his arms up in the air and I can't get the ball just because of how long he was."

Although N'Diaye's free throw shooting remained a problem (obviously to a lesser extent) throughout his career, his rebounding only improved year-by-year and was the Pac-12's top offensive rebounder during the 2012-13 season.

Season	School	Conference	G	PER	TS%	Oreb%	Stl%	Blk%	Tov%	Usg%	ORtg	DRtg
2010-11	Washington	Pac-10	35	14.9	.547	15.4	0.8	6.2	21.3	14.4	105.4	95.7
2011-12	Washington	Pac-12	33	16.0	.500	12.3	1.3	4.2	16.3	18.7	99.4	96.0
2012-13	Washington	Pac-12	34	18.0	.537	13.4	1.0	4.1	17.3	17.8	103.9	98.5
Career	Washington		102	16.6	.525	13.6	1.1	4.7	17.8	17.2	102.6	96.9

Aziz N'Diaye's statistics at Washington (via Sports-Reference.com).

N'Diaye is yet another guy the Warriors have brought in who is not projected to be drafted, but with his length and rebounding ability he could be a worthwhile guy to look at in summer league or for the D-League.

Today, the Warriors are scheduled to work out three more players according to Hoopshype:

Keion Bell, Missouri
Dwayne Davis, Southern Miss
Ehimen Orupke, Wichita State

For more on the draft, check out SB Nation's 2013 NBA Draft section.

Monday WNBA links: Maya Moore's MVP credentials, WNBA All-Star voting, and Katie Smith contemplating retirement

2013-06-17T15:00:03Z

This past weekend featured nine WNBA games with a few surprising results.

However, having already discussed many of those elsewhere (in our "WNBA Scores" section and with the help of SB Nation's Bright Side of the Sun) we'll focus on some of the games we missed and throw in a random link that applies to how all basketball fans think about the game.

The Chicago Sky found themselves down 16-2 early in their game against the Atlanta Dream yesterday and spent the game trying to dig themselves out of a hole. During that first quarter and most of the game, former Sky player Le'coe Willingham was guarding star rookie Elena Delle Donne and held her to 1-for-4 shooting. But the Dream's quickness as a unit to collapse on Delle Donne when she got into the paint was key to holding her to 36.8% for the game. Read more >>>
Mike Brown of the Tulsa World recapped the Tulsa Shock's fourth overtime loss of the young season yesterday, this time to the Phoenix Mercury. Gary Kloppenburg's post-game quote sums up the Shock's season thus far: “I’m running out of speeches for overtime losses,” head coach Gary Kloppenburg said. “But I’d rather be in these where kind of games where you have a chance to win than losing by 10 or 12 points." Read more >>>
Lynn Jacobsen writes that Maya Moore had an off night in the Minnesota Lynx's 83-74 win over the Tulsa Shock on Friday night, but teammate Rebekkah Brunson stepped up with a team-high 19 points to go with a game-high 13 rebounds. On a night when Tulsa only shot 38%, the Lynx simply overwhelmed them. Read more >>>
It's early, but it's All-Star voting time. Voting began yesterday and the game itself is on July 27. Please think deeply about this and vote responsibly. Vote here >>>
Rich Winter of the Panic Button blog laid out Maya Moore's MVP credentials, highlighting her impressive scoring efficiency numbers: "The numbers are just impossible to argue. Moore is shooting 46 percent from the field, 57 percent from distance, and is close to 90 percent accuracy from the charity stripe." Read more >>>
Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register wrote about California Golden Bears alum Ashley Walker's long journey back to a WNBA roster. Since being drafted in 2009, Walker has played no more than 13 games in a season due to injuries and the roster limitations of the league. Having made the Connecticut Sun roster this season - and leading the team in offensive rebounding (16.88% offensive rebounding percentage, albeit in limited minutes) - Walker is just hoping to stick around for a bit longer than she has in the past. Read more >>>
John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant looked at the early going of Connecticut Sun rookie Kelly Faris who has been forced to endure playing for a losing team thus far this season after four years of winning with the Connecticut Huskies. Howeverm compared to other rookies, Faris is getting her chances to contribute with the Sun nursing injuries. Read more >>>
Jim Massie of the Columbus Dispatch reported on Friday that 39-year-old Katie Smith is "pretty sure" that this will be her last season, though she hasn't officially announced it. The article concludes by describing the impressive defensive work that Smith did on Atlanta Dream star Angel McCoughtry last week. Read more >>>
Scott Walsh of the Courier Mail reported after the Indiana Fever visited the White House on Friday that Erin Phillips has now met Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller, and now President Barack Obama. She says Obama tops the list. Read more >>>
Michael Lee of the Washington Post caught up with Muthu Alagappan, who authored a paper for the 2012 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference that redefined the standard taxonomy of positions in terms of style of play. The paper itself was interesting if you haven't read it previously, but it's worth noting that the idea that traditional "point guard" to "center" positions are antiquated has been around for a while - it's one of the first things that I found fascinating about the WNBA. What distinguishes this paper is the level of analytical rigor it brought to the discussion. Read more >>>

The new positions of basketball: Muthu Alagappan at TEDxSpokane

As usual, there are probably more links floating around the web that haven't been listed here. Feel free to drop them in the comments, create a fan shot, or write up a fan post if you have extended thoughts about something related to women's basketball.

Photo: Skylar Diggins driving past Brittney Griner in Tulsa's loss to Phoenix

2013-06-16T23:15:03Z

(Photo by Troy Littledeer)

The 2013 WNBA Draft's #3 pick Skylar Diggins faced #1 pick Brittney Griner for the first time in the WNBA today. For Diggins, the meeting of two top WNBA picks was bittersweet.

On the one hand, she had an excellent game individually with a team-high 8 assists and just one turnover to go with 22 points. On the other hand, the Shock managed to lose in over time for the fourth time in 8 games.

For more photos, visit Littledeer's gallery on Instagram.
Click here for WNBA.com's box score and game story.

Video: President Barack Obama honors the Indiana Fever for their 2012 WNBA championship

2013-06-15T22:34:41Z

Video of President Barack Obama congratulating the Indiana Fever for their 2012 WNBA championship and Fever coach Lin Dunn thanking Obama for his work to empower women (via White House).