Jones, Whalen named to All-WNBA teams

Connecticut Sun stars Lindsay Whalen and Asjha Jones were recognized for their career years Friday. The second player in league history to average at least 10 points, five rebounds and five assists, Whalen was named the All-WNBA First Team; Jones, who tied the Sun's franchise mark for scoring average, earned a nod on the Second Team. It's the first such honor for each player.

Voting for the teams was conducted by a panel of national sportswriters and broadcasters. Players were selected by position and received five points for each First Team vote and three points for each Second Team designation.

Here are the teams in full:

First Team
F Candace Parker (LAS) 221 points
C Lisa Leslie (LAS) 192
G Lindsay Whalen (CON) 178
G Diana Taurasi (PHO) 173
F Sophia Young (SA) 171

Second Team
G Sue Bird (SEA) 166
G Becky Hammon (SA) 133
F Asjha Jones (CON) 99
F Deanna Nolan (DET) 95
C Lauren Jackson (SEA) 68

I'll have more in tomorrow's paper, but as far as an initial reaction, all the spots are deserved outside of Seattle's Lauren Jackson, who was dominant when she played but appeared in only 21 games (about 40 percent of the season) and didn't warrant a spot over someone like Tina Thompson. The voters had to go by position, but if you can argue that Deanna Nolan is a forward, I'll argue Thompson could have made it here as a center.

Also Parker got the highest number of votes to the first team by a very wide margin while Young received the fewest. Is this an indication of how the MVP voting also went? We'll see. The MVP is being announced prior to tonight's finals game. The Rookie of the Year honor, which went to Parker, is being awarded at the same site 10 minutes earlier.