L.A. Sparks' Candace Parker has already won an Olympic Gold medal, a national college championship and college player of the year honors, but it appears that it's not enough. On Friday, the WNBA awarded Parker the league MVP trophy as well as Rookie of the Year honors, making her the first player to win both trophies in the same year."You know, Coach (Michael) Cooper set this goal for me early on, and I looked at him like he was crazy,'' Parker told NBC Sports. "He's like, 'We're going to win the rookie of the year, and you're going to win a championship and you're going to win the MVP.' I just looked at him like, 'That's what you expect of me already?'''
The Sparks didn't make it to the finals this year, after being ousted by the San Antonio Silver Stars, but like most fans, you can see a WNBA Championship in Parker's future. She was the #1 pick in the draft this season and averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds a game. Plus, homegirl can dunk.
1. good for Candace...the "media" campaigned hard for sue bird, and lindsay whalen, knowing good and well this young sister had better stats all the way around.
Kel at 9:37PM on Oct 6th 2008