Carrie Graf, LJ and Tully get first 2005 WNBL win!

The Canberra Capitals started their season with a dominant 91-47 win over the Australian Institue of Sport (AIS) team. LJ dominated the game with 39 pts, 9 rebounds and 5 steals. Tully added 5 pts, 7 assists and 5 steals. Kellie Abrams (15 pts) and Jenny Whittle (12 pts) rounded out the scoring for the Capitals. Canberra shot 40% from the field, 40% from behind the arc, had 23 steals and harrassed AIS into 40 turnovers.

2006 WNBA Free Agents

The league has posted the 2006 free agency list. I took a stab at the offensive ratings for the available agents. I have sorted them and selected the top 10 offensive ratings, though the number of scoring possessions should be considered since some of the players put in very few, albeit quite effective, minutes.

Player	Off. Rtg.	2005 Poss.	Pts. Prod/G
Simone Edwards	119.91	40.56	1.74
Vickie Johnson	114.69	314.87	11.65
Wendy Palmer-Daniel	112.85	267.65	8.88
Charlotte Smith-Taylor	109.44	227.01	7.31
Kristen Rasmussen	107.77	115.06	4.59
Becky Hammon	107.28	453.86	14.32
Tamika Whitmore	104.34	304.55	9.35
Katie Smith	102.76	393.59	11.23
Andrea Stinson	102.53	26.04	1.48
Elena Baranova	102.17	283.38	8.52

I know I am biased towards our last Storm original, but she makes the top of the list because of her efficiency this year, not because she is still my favorite Storm player. This alone makes me think she gets signed again next year. Katie Smith and Becky Hammon are going to go for big money, and are not really on the table for the Storm next year. Most of the rest won't be in the Storm's price range either. Andrea Stinson might be a veteran steal at the guard spot, and comes from a solid defensive team in Detroit.

Other notables on the top of the list are Dawn Staley, Janeth Arcain, Lakeshia Frett and Tamecka Dixon. Of course, the Storm are looking for veteran leadership in a backup point and to shore up the small forward position. Defense is more important from the point, but offense would be useful at the three.

I left some excellent names out from the restricted list, since I doubt we see any movement from those players, at least as far as the Storm are concerned. They won't be bidding high enough for these players to avoid teams matching the offers.

It will also be interesting to see how teams' needs change after the expansion draft. Chicago may decide to pursue some of these more high profile free agents for more cash than other teams, since Chicago has no big salaries on their roster to start with.

WNBA