WNBA 2022 Leaders
A little-known fact about me: I was so excited about the news of Brittney Griner coming home, that I got really into the WNBA. Not so much watching games, because the season ended in September. But rather digging deep into the 2022 stats of each player the only way I know how: astrologically. What I found was a similarity between the WNBA and MLB at the very top of the fantasy astrology ladder.
I’ve written a lot about how Virgo was the top-scoring sign in the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League last season… and the same is true in the Fantasy Astrology Women’s Basketball Association (or the FAWBA, let’s see if that catches on better than FABL). This is not necessarily surprising, because among the team’s top five are FOUR 1,000-point scorers, including forward Breanna Stewart (captain of one of the 2022 All-Star teams) and guard Jackie Young (the league’s Most Improved Player). HOWEVER, Virgo only takes the top spot if we ignore positional eligibility rules: of the 11 Virgo players who managed at least 200 minutes on the court in 2022, not ONE is listed as a center on basketball-reference.com.
Even with 0 (zero) fantasy points from the 5-spot, Virgo still handily wins the Negative Conference title, but they would cede the number one overall spot to Leo. Incredibly, Virgo’s next-sign neighbor is led by A’ja Wilson, the captain of the OTHER 2022 All-Star team, not to mention the League MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. And while this doesn’t matter for how I calculate the league standings, it’s worth noting that Leo had a player pool of 16, largest in the league (leading Taurus by one), including not one, but TWO backup centers available off the bench.
Speaking of positions, BBREF’s listings helped me clarify how I would define positional eligibility in fantasy basketball. I’m used to baseball, where there are nine distinct positions on the diamond. At first, I thought basketball was the same way, based on how Basketball Reference does detailed Position Estimate breakdowns of all five positions for NBA players. However, the WNBA page is broken down into only three positions: guard, forward, and center. So it makes sense that you really don’t NEED to get more specific than that. And what’s more, there are ways to effectively play a game of basketball with fewer than even these set positions – which is why I don’t feel too bad about considering Virgo the top-scoring sign, even without a dedicated center.
Speaking of center, that’s Brittney Griner’s position, a spot that she will hopefully occupy for Libra moving forward. (In a truly twisted observation, given the circumstances, the Scales did have All-Star center Sylvia Fowles able to fill in for Griner during her absence.) And in some personal news, the front page of Sunday’s WNBA website announced that Cancer Crab All-Star Nneka Ogwumike will remain the president of the Executive Committee, with Virgo Kelsey Plum joining as vice president. I’m always happy to see my home-sign represented in positions of leadership, even though I always thought of Cancers as more introverted.