Year by year on (W)NBA Tuesday, we keep looking at the historical facts of women’s professional basketball in North America—which often contradict modern-day hyperbole. We see a recurring issue, too, with many of the awards votes in the league over the years, propping up “stars” in the spotlight, who—while very good players—are not deserving of the awards in that specific season. It’s worse here than in any other sport, too.

2006 WNBA MVP: Lisa Leslie, C, Los Angeles (original); Lauren Jackson, F-C, Seattle (revised)

Despite being just third in PER (27.8) and fifth in Win Shares (6.4), Los Angeles Sparks Lisa Leslie won the MVP vote, proving once again it’s all about stars in big TV markets for the WNBA. We like(d) Leslie on several levels, but did she deserve this trophy? Well … her team went 25-9 and had a seven-game cushion to spare for the postseason. Meanwhile, there were a lot of other players that deserve(d) consideration here.

Seattle Storm forward-center Lauren Jackson topped the league in both PER (34.5) and WS (8.8), and with her team posting just an 18-16 record and barely making the playoffs, already she has more value than Leslie does. And she was a significantly better player on a lesser team, too, which is part of that value equation, obviously. But we have two other players to consider, too: Diana Taurasi and Tamika Catchings.

Taurasi, a Phoenix Mercury guard, finished second in PER (28.0) and third in WS (6.8), while Catchings, a forward for the Indiana Fever, ended up fourth in PER (26.1) and second in WS (7.7). With the Mercury losing out on the postseason via tiebreaker to Seattle, that puts Jackson over Taurasi, and the Fever actually had a 10-game playoff cushion in the Eastern Conference. So, we give this nod to Jackson (again). Dominant!

2006 WNBA ROTY: Seimone Augustus, G-F, Minnesota (original); Cappie Pondexter, G, Phoenix (revised)

We have two strong candidates for this piece of hardware: Minnesota Lynx guard-forward Seimone Augustus (3.9 WS) and Phoenix G Cappie Pondexter (4.8 WS). Augustus won the vote, probably because she had a higher PPG mark, but her team won just 10 games: she scored in a vacuum, without meaning. Meanwhile, we know the Mercury just barely missed out on the playoffs. There’s more value there.

2006 WNBA DPOY: Tamika Catchings, F, Indiana (original, confirmed)

Catchings (3.7 DWS) and Leslie (3.0 DWS) were the top defenders in the league, and we know how this works in terms of the standings above and relative value. With Catchings winning the DPOY vote, we can confirm it and award her this trophy for the first time. She won the vote last year, but we gave our nod to Leslie. Again, as we always note, things work themselves out in the end: that’s faith in our universe, Spock.

2006 WNBA FINALS MVP: Deanna Nolan, G/F, Detroit (original); Cheryl Ford, F, Detroit (revised)

For the second time in four years, the Detroit Shock won the WNBA Finals: they went 7-3 in beating the Fever, the Connecticut Sun, and the Sacramento Monarchs. The 2003 ROTY pick, F Cheryl Ford (2.1 WS), was easily the most valuable player for the Shock during this postseason. While four players on the team produced at least 1.0 WS in the 10 games played for the title, Ford was the only one to surpass 2.0 WS, too.

G/F Deanna Nolan (1.7 WS), who was our pick for this award in 2003, was the voter’s choice this time. We respect it, but we didn’t agree with it.