Leslie Is Obvious MVP, but Cooper Is No Lock for Coach of the Year

It’s time to roll out the carpet, hand out the WNBA regular-season awards and duck the inevitable outrage that follows.

Some choices are no-brainers. The Sparks’ Lisa Leslie has been the league’s most dominant and most complete player from the first game, and is an easy choice as most valuable player.

Other selections will be trickier.

Michael Cooper was last season’s coach of the year for leading the Sparks to the league’s best record. But they did not unseat the Houston Comets as league champions. Once again, the Sparks should finish with the league’s best record.

Working against Cooper is that only Western Conference coaches have won the award. Houston’s Van Chancellor won it the first three years.

Expect voters to reward the Cleveland Rockers’ Dan Hughes. The 22-7 Rockers, without the benefit of a marquee player, will end the New York Liberty’s two-year hold on the Eastern Conference regular-season championship. Just as impressive, the Rockers routed the Liberty all three times they played.

Anne Donovan won’t win but deserves consideration for getting the Charlotte Sting, which began the season 1-10, into the playoffs.

Rookie of the year will probably come down to the Portland Fire’s Jackie Stiles, the Seattle Storm’s Lauren Jackson, the Utah Starzz’s Marie Ferdinand and the Minnesota Lynx’s Svetlana Abrosimova.

They are the top four rookie scorers, with Stiles and Jackson leading with 15.5 averages.

Jackson doesn’t think she is worthy.

“I don’t think I’ve had that good a season,” she said recently. “If I won, it would be a big surprise. I think Jackie Stiles has had a great season. And [the Miami Sol’s] Ruth Riley has come on strong.”

Stiles had a good first half but has tailed off. . She has a bright future.

Abrosimova was injured part of the season and has come on strong the last three weeks. Ferdinand was not a starter in Utah at the beginning of the season but has become an integral part of the Starzz’s playoff push.

Riley provides a lot of intangibles but has not asserted herself as much offensively as she should.

Jackson could not lift the Storm into the playoffs but has played consistently well. No matter what she believes, she’ll probably win.

The first and second all-WNBA teams are the hardest to select, at least if you’re looking for balance.

The problem is the West has been the dominant conference since the league began. It has won all four league titles and all three All-Star games. You could fill two teams with West players before including one from the East.

Nevertheless, one observer’s picks:

First team: guards Janeth Arcain of Houston and Merlakia Jones of Cleveland, center Leslie, forwards Tina Thompson of Houston and Yolanda Griffith of the Sacramento Monarchs.

Arcain (18.5 points), who will probably edge the Sparks’ Latasha Byears in the voting for most improved player, has helped the Comets through a rough season without Cynthia Cooper, who retired, and Sheryl Swoopes, who is injured. Jones (13.5) may be a reach, but she is probably the best rebounding guard in the league (5.8) and the key reason the Rockers are in first place.

Griffith (15.5 points) is out of position here--she’s a center--but she’s also the league’s best rebounder (11.1) and a rugged defender. Thompson (20.9 points) was the lone star left in Texas and did not shrink as the Comets’ go-to player.

Leslie’s play (20.3 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.23 blocked shots) speaks for itself.

Second team: guards Tamecka Dixon of the Sparks and Teresa Weatherspoon of New York, center Tari Phillips of New York, forwards Katie Smith of Minnesota and Chamique Holdsclaw of the Washington Mystics.