REAL SPORTS 2015 Sportsperson of the Year

Winner

2015 WNBA champion Maya Moore has won three titles, an MVP award, a Rookie of the Year award, and an Olympic Gold Medal in her first five seasons in the WNBA league. No NHL, NBA, NFL, or MLB player has ever done that. She’s also excelled overseas. In 2012, she won both the Spanish league title and EuroLeague title playing for Ros Casares Valencia. From 2013 to 2015, Moore also won the Chinese league title every year.

Maya Moore at the 2015 WNBA All-Star game held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville CT
Photo credit: Danny Karwoski (Karwoski Facebook) CC BY-SA 3.0 

As for 2015, the Minnesota Lynx were the best team in the Western Conference through the regular season on their way to their third championship.

In 2006 and 2007, Moore was named the Naismith Prep Player of the Year. She was the John Wooden Award winner in 2009 after leading UConn to an undefeated season and a national title. The following season, Moore led Connecticut to its second straight and in the 2010–11 season, she led the Huskies to an NCAA record (all divisions) of 90 wins. On May 18, 2011, Moore became the first female basketball player to sign with Jordan Brand.

Here career exemplifies a sports person of the year and her accomplishments this year led REAL SPORTS to selecting her as the 2015 Sportsperson of the Year.

Follow Maya Moore at http://mooremaya.com  

Most Important Moments in Sports

# 1 Calling It As He Sees It

It takes guts to say the emperor has no clothes.  Adam Silver, who took over as NBA commissioner in February 2014, said the equivalent regarding the WNBA just prior to the 2015 WNBA Playoffs, when he called into question the fans, the media and the foundation upon which the league is based. 

Brittney Griner dunking at the 2015 WNBA All-Star game held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville CT
By Danny Karwoski (Karwoski Facebook) CC BY-SA 3.0 

His comments were direct, honest and reflective. He said the league has not lived up to its potential, criticized the lack of press coverage and pointed to poor profitability. The things he said did not sit well with some in the media, some of the fan base and were seen by many as a lack of endorsement for then-WNBA President Laurel Richie.  It was no surprise when Richie stepped down later in the year. 

Ex-commissioner David Stern had propped up and kept the league alive, but now Sliver can raise questions without the challenges of being the founding father, as it were. An added element of credibility for Silver is he one of the league’s behind-the-scenes architects.  But the WNBA needs to a new wardrobe!

WNBA Average Game Attendance

2015: 7,318

2014: 7,578

1998: 10,864

1997: 9,662

Read more about Adam Silver's comments: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/adam-silver-on-wnba-we-thought-it-would-have-broken-through-by-now

#10 Taurasi the Tsunami — WNBA Finals

REAL SPORTS Most Important Moments in Sports 2014 edition

Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi’s play during the 2014 WNBA Championship, in particular the fourth period of decisive Game Three, likely left the Chicago Sky feeling as if they had just been hit by a tsunami.  

(c) 2014 WNBA
Watch Diana Taurasi hit the go ahead bucket to lead
her team to victory in the WNBA Finals

The Mercury capped a season in which it won a record 29 games by sweeping the Sky in the best-of-five game series, earning Taurasi and Phoenix their third league championship in eight years.

The Sky, which was 15-19 in the regular season, had caught fire in the early rounds of the playoffs to make it to the championship series, but those early playoff heroics didn’t carry over into the finals. Even though Phoenix lost Brittney Griner, its starting center and defensive player of the year, to an eye injury during Game Two, the Sky, led by injury-plagued Elena Delle Donne, could not escape the inevitable.

In Game Three, Taurasi demonstrated why, at age 32, she remains one of the greatest scorers and playmakers in league history by scoring 14 of her 24 points in the fourth period to lead the Mercury to an 87-82 win. In the end, she was the championship MVP for the second time in her career.

(c) 2014 WNBA

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