WNBA GM's predict Tulsa Shock to be most improved - Examiner.com

The results of the 10th annual WNBA.com GM Survey are in, with the league’s 12 general managers making predictions for the 2012 season.  While 83 percent of GMs selected the defending champion Minnesota Lynx as the team most likely to win the WNBA Finals, it was the Phoenix Mercury that GMs picked for the third straight year as the team most fun to watch (55 percent).
       
Minnesota, led by four members of the 2011 Western Conference All-Star Team, earned its first WNBA title in franchise history last season.  Each of those players returns, with three of them â€" Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore, and Lindsay Whalen â€" also slated to participate in the 2012 Olympic Games in London as part of the United States’ women’s squad.
 
The complete results of the exclusive survey are posted on WNBA.com in advance of WNBA Tip-Off presented by Boost Mobile, when the Seattle Storm hosts the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday, May 18, on NBA TV (10 pm ET).  Among the other key contests set for the opening weekend is a nationally-televised game on Sunday, May 20, when the Lynx, led by 2011 Finals MVP Augustus and Rookie of the Year Moore, host the Mercury and five-time scoring leader Diana Taurasi on ABC (12:30 pm ET).  

While the GMs believe Minnesota will repeat as champion, the group eyed Indiana (42 percent) and Connecticut (25 percent) as the favorites in the Eastern Conference over the two-time defending conference champ, the Atlanta Dream.

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Two players tied for the lead as the likely MVP â€" Minnesota’s Augustus and the Los Angeles Sparks’ Candace Parker â€" with each receiving 25 percent of the votes.  Ten players received votes as the player to be tapped first when starting a franchise (Moore’s two votes edged the one each received by Augustus, Parker, Atlanta’s Angel McCoughtry, Chicago’s Sylvia Fowles, Indiana’s Tamika Catchings, Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi, Seattle’s Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson, and Washington’s Crystal Langhorne.
 
For the fourth straight year, Taurasi was named the best shooting guard (58 percent) and Catchings (50 percent) the best small forward.  The vote for the best center, however, resulted in a tie between Fowles and Connecticut’s Tina Charles (42 percent apiece).

Taurasi also was voted the player who forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments (42 percent), the best pure shooter (55 percent), and the player they’d want taking a shot with a game on the line (36 percent).

The Los Angeles Sparks’ Nnemkadi Ogwumike, the top selection in the 2012 Draft, was the favorite to earn Rookie of the Year accolades â€" receiving 92 percent of the votes â€" as well as the rookie who GMs anticipate will become the best player five years from now, with 75 percent of the votes.  Others to receive votes in this latter category were Indiana center Sasha Goodlett and a pair of guards, Phoenix’s Samantha Prahalis and San Antonio’s Shenise Johnson. The Tulsa Shock’s Riquna Williams (36 percent), selected in the second round of the recent Draft, was voted as the “sleeper” rookie most likely to be a success.

The Seattle Storm came out on top in a variety of categories including the team with the best home court advantage (82 percent), best head coach in the last two minutes of a close game (Brian Agler, 44 percent), and best power forward (Lauren Jackson, 45 percent).  Storm guard Sue Bird was voted number one at making her teammates better (55 percent) as well as the active player who would make the best head coach (45 percent) and the top point guard (75 percent). Not surprisingly, Bird also was selected â€" for the fifth consecutive season â€" as the best leader (45 percent).

Additional leaders in the WNBA.com GM survey included:

        Tulsa Shock â€" team that will be most improved (73 percent)
        Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever â€" player with the greatest hunger to win a championship (50 percent) and defensive player of the year (42 percent)

       Sylvia Fowles, Chicago Sky â€" best interior defender (58 percent)
       Angel McCoughtry, Atlanta Dream â€" most athletic player (36 percent) and best perimeter defender (25 percent)
        Rebekkah Brunson, Minnesota Lynx â€" best rebounder (45 percent)
        Danielle Robinson, San Antonio Silver Stars â€" player that is fastest with the ball (36 percent)               Lin Dunn, Indiana Fever â€" head coach with the best defensive schemes (50 percent)