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Another Storm All-Star?

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Kevin Pelton, storm.wnba.com | May 31, 2007
Over the first seven years of the Seattle Storm, there have been nine All-Star appearances, but amongst just two players - perennial picks Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson. Bird and Jackson, both voted starters the last two years, were joined in Connecticut by the Storm's coaching staff in 2005. However, what about another Storm player in the All-Star Game? There's a chance one of the Storm's three other starters could earn that distinction in 2007.

Betty Lennox
An All-Star in 2000 as a rookie in Minnesota, Lennox has always seemed to be on the bubble when it comes to the All-Star Game since joining the Storm. It hasn't gotten any easier to make the Western Conference All-Star team at guard this year. Dawn Staley, voted a starter in her final year, has retired, but the West added Becky Hammon at guard.

With Bird likely to be voted in for her fifth straight All-Star start, the other starting guard position has several candidates. Hammon was voted to start in the East in 2005 and 2006, but Seimone Augustus and Cappie Pondexter (reserves in 2006) will also challenge for a starting spot.

Lennox's best chance is for the West to choose five guards. Last year, four guards were chosen along with Diana Taurasi, a guard/forward. Lennox can certainly help her chances by keeping up her hot shooting start. Her improvement from beyond the three-point line has translated into 4-for-7 shooting from downtown this season, and despite a poor night at San Antonio, Lennox is hitting 51.7% of her shots in the early going while showing her usual versatility on the glass and with 4.0 assists per game.

Iziane Castro Marques
The Storm is pushing fans to write in Castro Marques, but she faces a distinctly uphill battle to get voted into the All-Star Game without being on the ballot. No WNBA player has been voted in as a write-in. Beyond that, the forward position is very crowded in the West. Jackson and Sheryl Swoopes, last year's two starters, are joined on the ballot by Taurasi, voted in as a guard in 2005.

As far as reserves, Tina Thompson is a near-lock to make the roster, and whichever of the three top candidates to start isn't voted in will probably make it as well. It's possible that Swoopes, off to a slow start to the season and battling back trouble, might not make it. However, Swoopes is such a legend that an All-Star Game without her is almost unthinkable. Sophia Young was the fifth forward on the West squad last year as a rookie and is off to another solid start.

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT
Voting for the 2007 WNBA All-Star Game in Washington is underway. Fans can vote once daily online. Click here to cast your vote for the Storm and don't forget to write in Iziane Castro Marques.
Other candidates at forward include Sacramento's DeMya Walker, an All-Star in 2005 and four-time All-Star Chamique Holdsclaw. Castro Marques is off to a solid start, averaging 17.0 points per game through the Storm's first three games and making six three-pointers. She'll have to keep up that kind of performance to have a chance to emerge from the crowded pack at forward.

Janell Burse
Burse might be the Storm's best chance at a third All-Star. The center position in the West has been synonymous with Lisa Leslie and Yolanda Griffith, but Leslie will miss at least the first half of the season because of pregnancy, while Griffith is off to a very slow start (6.3 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game) at age 36.

Voting for the center position in the West is wide-open. Griffith was the pick last year, but San Antonio's Ruth Riley has been voted a starter in the past while playing in the East and Taj McWilliams-Franklin is also a popular player.

Last year, Leslie and Griffith were joined on the West's roster by Michelle Snow, an injury replacement pick in her second straight appearance. Snow and Burse, two younger centers, have been the most productive players at the position this season. Burse's league-leading rebounding and her consistent play in the post has given her a solid shot at being selected by the coaches as a reserve even if she is not voted a starter.

WHERE THEY RANK
It's early, but storm.wnba.com ranks the Storm's other three starters statistically amongst the players on the All-Star ballot at their position.
Player
Pos
PPG
RPG
APG
PER
Betty Lennox
G
14.0 (4)
4.3 (t2)
4.0 (6)
24.9 (3)
Iziane Castro Marques
F
17.0 (t4)
2.0 (14)
2.7 (t4)
16.3 (7)
Janell Burse
C
11.7 (3)
11.0 (1)
0.7* (BPG/t4)
23.3 (2)


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