Breanna Stewart named Rookie of the Year

To no one’s surprise, Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart was named the 2016 WNBA Rookie of the Year, the league announced. The only surprise was that it wasn’t unanimous, as Stewart received 38 out of a possible 39 votes.

The Storm become the first team in league history to have two players win back-to-back Rookie of the Year awards after Jewell Loyd took home the hardware last year.

This season, Stewart led all first-year players in points, rebounds and blocks, while she came in second with steals and steals among rookie players.

To me this could have been the only unanimous award given out. Stewart has been a saving grace for the Seattle Storm. The rookie has not only been having a great rookie campaign, but a great year as professional player in general.

With her season averages, she joins Sylvia Fowles,Yolanda Griffith, Lauren Jackson, Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker, as only the sixth WNBA player to reach averages of 18.3 points per game, 9.3 rebounds per game, and 1.9 blocks per game.

After a couple years of missing the playoffs, Stewart returned the Storm to the playoffs.

Stewart was awarded Rookie of the month four times during the season. She also finished as one of the top six scorers in the league after averaging 18.3 points per game.

Her defense this year was solid, which also brought up talk that she could have won Defensive Player of the Year. She finished third in blocks behind Brittney Griner and Elizabeth Williams, and Stewart almost led the league in rebounds, pulling down only 0.6 less than Charles (Stewart, 9.3 rebounds per game and Charles 9.9).