JT's WNBA All-Decade Team:

It's the 10th Anniversary of the Women's National Basketball Association... cause for celebration, reflection and trying to see if you can pick the "WNBA All-Decade Team"! Below are my picks. Not an easy task - and I really wanted to pick 11 or 12 players - as it doesn't seem right not to have Diana Taurasi or Lisa Leslie on my list - but the 10 I did chose are "must-keep" picks for me ...

Teresa Weatherspoon, Guard
Sheryl Swoopes, Forward
Ruthie Bolton, Guard
Cynthia Cooper, Guard
Ticha Penicheiro, Guard
Dawn Staley, Guard
Andrea Stinson, Guard
Tina Thompson, Forward
Vickie Johnson, Guard/Forward
Rebecca Lobo, Center

Losing Teresa Weatherspoon from active play was a real disappointment - but she made the right decision. T-Spoon is my "inner basketball player" - she is the player I imagine myself to be. I admire her heart, her toughness and her love of the game. One of my best memories of going to CT Sun games is getting the chance to see T-Spoon play when NY came North to play the Sun. The only downside was - my dilemma of -- who to root for !! T-Spoon's my #1 choice for the top 10 list.

Then there's Lady Swoopes. Class act, elegant play, articulate and dedicated. Sheryl Swoopes is a team player who knows when to take the lead and when to assist her teammates. I was privileged to see her play the Sun several times. Swoopes was a member of three consecutive Olympic good medal teams in 1996, 2000 and 2004.

Long-time player, Ruthie Bolton (Holifield)- a combination of strength, toughness and tenacity. In her position as guard, Ruthie was to be reckoned with ... a loyal, consistent and gutsy player. Playing for the Sacramento Monarchs until 2005, she was the WNBA's fourth all-time leader in 3-pointers, scored over 2,000 career-points and was a two-time WNBA All-Star and on the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team.

After graduating USC in 1986, Cynthia Cooper, played professional basketball in Italy until the WNBA was formed in 1997. Already 34 years old when she joined the WNBA, Cooper was chosen MVP in 1997 & 1998. She and her teammates, Swoopes and Thompson took the Houston Comets to four national championships. Cooper was the first player in WNBA history to score 1,000 and 2,000 career points. She was also part of the 1988 gold medal Olympic team.

Sacramento Monarch guard, Ticha Penicheiro is fun to watch. She loves the game and it shows. She's got speed and grace and passion. Ticha holds the WNBA record for most steals (10) in a game and led WNBA in assists per game in every year from 1998 through 2003 - for 6 years in a row! She's a four-time WNBA All-Star.

Three-time gold medal winning Olympian, two-time World Championship gold medalist, head coach of Temple University, and member of 4 time championship winner WNBA Houston Comets and assistant coach for the 2006 USA Women's World Championship Team is just the beginning of an introduction for Dawn Staley. Dawn Staley runs the floor - wherever she plays. Her intelligence and passion are evident - as is her skill with the ball. Dawn is another player who makes the game fun to watch. She's dead serious and having fun - all at once.

Starting her career in Charlotte, Andrea Stinson was one of the original WNBA players. She was the fourth player in league history to score 2,000 career points (2001). She's also a three-time Italian League All-Star. Andrea didn't miss a game for anything... leading the league in minutes played -- with her performance reliably good every game. Stinson played from 1997 to 2005 with Charlotte and 2005 with the Detroit Shock. Stinson returned to the Sting in 2006 as the team's community relations ambassador. As an honor to her, the Sting retired her jersey (#32) in their opener today against the new team, the Chicago Sky.

Tina Thompson, forward for the Houston Comets became the second player in WNBA history (Lisa Leslie was the first) to surpass the 3,000-point plateau on 8/1/03. She and her teammates, Swoopes and Cooper formed a deadly trio that few opponents could best. A member of the 4 championship Comet teams and the 2004 Olympic gold medal winning team, Thompson is the kind of player you want beside you - making plays and watching your back!

My next to last pick is Vickie Johnson, who, up until 2006, played either the guard or forward spot for the NY Liberty -- since 1997. A versatile, reliable, tenacious team player - Vickie may not be an obvious choice for this top ten list... but I believe her kind of play and dedication is fundamental to the character of the WNBA. Vickie was a two-time WNBA All-Star and the first New York Liberty player to reach 2,000 career points (2002). Vickie began playing for the Silver Spurs in 2006.

Last spot is saved for sentimental choice, Rebecca Lobo. Rebecca is a home-town (or home state) favorite. An integral part of the '95 championship UCONN Huskies. She was a member of the 1996 Olympic gold-medal team, a member of the first-ever WNBA Eastern Conference All-Star Team. One of the founding WNBA players, Lobo was assigned to the New York Liberty, along with Teresa Weatherspoon, in the WNBA's first player allocations in January 1997. But more than all her accomplishments on the court, Lobo has had a significant role off-the-court. Her poise and graciousness brought positive attention to women's basketball in Connecticut. Along with Jen Rizzotti, Lobo represented all that might be... the future of women's basketball. She helped bring the level of involvement in the sport up where it'd been in Tennessee for years. Connecticut suddenly discovered women's basketball -- and Lobo embodied our ideal of what women in basketball should be.