Tina on pace for a historic season

[HuskyNan]

Charles currently leads the league in both scoring and rebounding, pouring in 22.3 points and hauling down 9.9 rebounds a night. Incidentally, one of the only two other players to ever lead the league in both categories went to the same high school as Charles: Christ The King Regional High School in Queens, New York. That player was Chamique Holdsclaw, and she accomplished the feat in 2002 while playing for the Washington Mystics. In 2007, the Seattle Storm’s Lauren Jackson became the second, and last, player to pull it off.

While it doesn’t make the potential accomplishment less impressive, everyone has always known Charles was a dominant force in the paint. What has set Charles’ performance this year apart from the rest of her career, is her passing. Never a passing maestro, Charles is suddenly sixth in the league in assists, dishing out a career-high 4.5 dimes per game. The mark nearly doubles her previous career high, of just 2.4 a night, which she set last season. And on June 22 against the Dream, Charles set her single-game career high with 10 assists.

In addition, Charles is just 0.1 assists per game behind Moriah Jefferson for fifth in the league. If Charles can make up the minuscule difference and finish in the top five in the league in assists, it would, along with her other numbers, move her season from merely historic to one of a kind.

With Tina Charles On Pace For Historic Season, A Closer Look At Her Much-Improved Passing - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA


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[EricLA]

Tina, Maya, Angel, Nneka, Breanna, Diana, Elena, Kayla, Jewell, and Candace are all having phenomenal seasons. People can argue the MVP based on which team has performed the best, but Tina, Maya, Angel, Elena, Breanna and Diana have been the most consistent from a scoring perspective all at 18+ PPG so far. Many of them are top 10 on other lists as well. Really no surprises in those top 6, but once you go outside it and see Jewell, Nneka, Kayla, and then players like Sugar Rogers, Taylor Hill, Emma Messerman and Odyssey Sims, it's nice to see those new faces making an impact.

Side note - did you know Tina Charles is also shooting 45% from beyond the arc? Who knew?!!

 

[Roger G]

Tina's stats are cumulatively better than anyone's this year. She is almost two points ahead of Angel in first place for points per game. Yet in the "Race to the MVP" on the WNBA website, she is listed third. Candace is tenth and Maya is sixth in points. And of course, Tina leads in rebounding. I know, Candace and Maya are on teams that are ahead in wins, but that to me is no way to pick an MVP.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Tina's stats are cumulatively better than anyone's this year. She is almost two points ahead of Angel in first place for points per game. Yet in the "Race to the MVP" on the WNBA website, she is listed third. Candace is tenth and Maya is sixth in points. And of course, Tina leads in rebounding. I know, Candace and Maya are on teams that are ahead in wins, but that to me is no way to pick an MVP.

To be fair, your post suggests that the player who leads the league in points per game should be the MVP (or at least listed higher in the MVP race than the current position of third).

If you compare the statistics of Moore, Parker, and Charles, Tina has the highest numbers in points and rebounds and is only .1 assist less than Parker.

But if you consider what constitutes "most valuable," Charles missed the game against Minnesota (on the road, in Minneapolis) because of her broken nose. New York won on the road in overtime, 95-92, without Charles. Granted, it is only one game, but winning on the road against the second best team in the league without your best (i.e., most valuable) player also can hurt one's candidacy for an overall MVP.

Before the season, I thought Candace Parker would win the MVP, based on how she performed in the second half of last season and because she was left off the Olympic team (using that as motivation).

Based on what I have seen, you cannot go wrong with Charles, Moore, or Parker as the MVP, at this point in the season.

 

[Carnac]

Charles currently leads the league in both scoring and rebounding, pouring in 22.3 points and hauling down 9.9 rebounds a night. Incidentally, one of the only two other players to ever lead the league in both categories went to the same high school as Charles: Christ The King Regional High School in Queens, New York. That player was Chamique Holdsclaw, and she accomplished the feat in 2002 while playing for the Washington Mystics. In 2007, the Seattle Storm’s Lauren Jackson became the second, and last, player to pull it off.

While it doesn’t make the potential accomplishment less impressive, everyone has always known Charles was a dominant force in the paint. What has set Charles’ performance this year apart from the rest of her career, is her passing. Never a passing maestro, Charles is suddenly sixth in the league in assists, dishing out a career-high 4.5 dimes per game. The mark nearly doubles her previous career high, of just 2.4 a night, which she set last season. And on June 22 against the Dream, Charles set her single-game career high with 10 assists.

In addition, Charles is just 0.1 assists per game behind Moriah Jefferson for fifth in the league. If Charles can make up the minuscule difference and finish in the top five in the league in assists, it would, along with her other numbers, move her season from merely historic to one of a kind.

With Tina Charles On Pace For Historic Season, A Closer Look At Her Much-Improved Passing - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA


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I fully expect Kiah Stokes to benefit form Tina's tutorship, and watching her play. You KNOW Tina has taken Kiah under her wing. The best thing that can come from this relationship is that Kiah increases the rpm's in her motor, and becomes a clone of Tina on BOTH ends of the court.

 

[easttexastrash]

I said earlier in the season that Charles was my pick for MVP and she has done nothing but solidify that opinion. Her level of play and effort are the best I've seen this year. She is going to kill it in the Olympics with her soft outside touch, that baby hook and relentless rebounding.

 

[Jmpenn]

To be fair, your post suggests that the player who leads the league in points per game should be the MVP (or at least listed higher in the MVP race than the current position of third).

If you compare the statistics of Moore, Parker, and Charles, Tina has the highest numbers in points and rebounds and is only .1 assist less than Parker.

But if you consider what constitutes "most valuable," Charles missed the game against Minnesota (on the road, in Minneapolis) because of her broken nose. New York won on the road in overtime, 95-92, without Charles. Granted, it is only one game, but winning on the road against the second best team in the league without your best (i.e., most valuable) player also can hurt one's candidacy for an overall MVP.

Before the season, I thought Candace Parker would win the MVP, based on how she performed in the second half of last season and because she was left off the Olympic team (using that as motivation).

Based on what I have seen, you cannot go wrong with Charles, Moore, or Parker as the MVP, at this point in the season.

I would put Nneka as a top candidate also. Her shooting percentage is crazy at 68.3. Of course it might hurt both her chances and Parkers since they are on the same team. If the season ended today I think it would be between Nneka, Parker, Moore, and Charles and it would be a hard choice.

 

[MilfordHusky]

My leaders for MVP are Tina, Nneka, Maya, Candace, Stewie.

I saw Tina in person once and on TV about 6x. She's in beast mode. She draws the attention of the defense and yet can score. I think she may have the best offensive repertoire in the league, that now includes the 3-pointer.

 

[Roger G]

To be fair, your post suggests that the player who leads the league in points per game should be the MVP (or at least listed higher in the MVP race than the current position of third).

If you compare the statistics of Moore, Parker, and Charles, Tina has the highest numbers in points and rebounds and is only .1 assist less than Parker.

But if you consider what constitutes "most valuable," Charles missed the game against Minnesota (on the road, in Minneapolis) because of her broken nose. New York won on the road in overtime, 95-92, without Charles. Granted, it is only one game, but winning on the road against the second best team in the league without your best (i.e., most valuable) player also can hurt one's candidacy for an overall MVP.

Before the season, I thought Candace Parker would win the MVP, based on how she performed in the second half of last season and because she was left off the Olympic team (using that as motivation).

Based on what I have seen, you cannot go wrong with Charles, Moore, or Parker as the MVP, at this point in the season.

I think you make some solid points and your reply is well thought out. I still think at this point Tina should be the front runner, given how she dominates the stats, but I recognize that picking an MVP is somewhat subjective. Candace does mean much to her team as witnessed by the second half of last season and the contrast of this year's start to last year's. On the other hand, Tina is without Epiphanny Prince. the only other established superstar on her team, while Candace has Nneka. Maya has of course several supporting superstars. We haven't seen if LA can win or not this year without Candace. Nneka has certainly improved from last year and so have the Sparks in general. It may be that with Lavendar and Tolliver, etc. they could be a team that could win regularly, perhaps even beat a great team like the Lynx when the Lynx are having an off day.

 

[Roger G]

Tina, Maya, Angel, Nneka, Breanna, Diana, Elena, Kayla, Jewell, and Candace are all having phenomenal seasons. People can argue the MVP based on which team has performed the best, but Tina, Maya, Angel, Elena, Breanna and Diana have been the most consistent from a scoring perspective all at 18+ PPG so far. Many of them are top 10 on other lists as well. Really no surprises in those top 6, but once you go outside it and see Jewell, Nneka, Kayla, and then players like Sugar Rogers, Taylor Hill, Emma Messerman and Odyssey Sims, it's nice to see those new faces making an impact.

Side note - did you know Tina Charles is also shooting 45% from beyond the arc? Who knew?!!

I'm getting old, so maybe it's me, but I don't remember a season where so many players had point totals for games in the thirties.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

We haven't seen if LA can win or not this year without Candace. Nneka has certainly improved from last year and so have the Sparks in general. It may be that with Lavendar and Tolliver, etc. they could be a team that could win regularly, perhaps even beat a great team like the Lynx when the Lynx are having an off day.

Frankly, the biggest key with LA is having a legitimate small forward. In previous years, LA went with a frontcourt of Candace, Nneka, and Lavender, which clogged down the offense and did not allow for outside shooting, as Toliver was the only legitimate threat (Beard is not a consistent threat, and Erin Phillips did not perform in LA the way she did in Phoenix).

What Agler did was move Lavender to the bench and putting Parker as a playmaking PF on offense and a center on defense. This created a LOT more spacing. With Essence Carson in the starting lineup (and having her revert to her 2013 form, without her having to be the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd option on offense), the spacing is much better and there is a better balance in terms of outside shooting and scoring in the paint.

As evidence of this, Ogwumike is shooting a WNBA record 70.4 percent from the floor. But as a team, LA is shooting 39 percent from three, which is incredible? Last year, the Sparks shot 29.7 percent from three, while in 2014, it was 31.6 percent. Keeping Lavender on the bench and surrounding Parker with better offensive balance is why LA has been successful this year.