Indiana's Ebony Hoffman Named 2008 WNBA Most Improved Player Of The Year

By the WNBA
Posted Friday, September 19, 2008

File photo of Ebony Hoffman by Sue Wilden.

NEW YORK – Indiana Fever forward Ebony Hoffman has been named the 2008 WNBA Most Improved Player, the league announced today. Hoffman received 31 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Chicago Sky guard Jia Perkins finished second with five votes and New York Liberty forward Shameka Christon placed third with two votes.

In her fifth season in the league, Hoffman made a significant improvement over her previous years, setting career highs in points (10.4 ppg), rebounds (7.8 rpg), assists (1.8 apg), steals (1.4 spg), field goal percentage (46.5) and three-point percentage (45.6). Her scoring average was four points greater than her previous high in 2006 (6.4 ppg) while she collected nearly three rebounds per game more than she did two seasons ago (5.7 rpg). Her 2008 statistics placed her fifth in the league in rebounding and second among league leaders in three-point field goal percentage.

Hoffman, who has consistently been one of the team’s leading rebounders since being drafted, wrapped up the season as the only player in the league to pull down 90 offensive rebounds, finishing with 94 to rank second in franchise history for a single season (109, Natalie Williams, 2003).

She displayed her versatility this season by expanding her game from beyond the three-point arc. Against Phoenix in her final game of the season, Hoffman finished 4-for-4 on three-pointers to become the sixth player in team history to make at least four threes without a miss. Her three-point field goal percentage also ranked as the best single-season percentage in team history.

Heading into the season, Hoffman had never scored more than 16 points in a game. In 2008, she scored 20 or more points three times, including a career-high 26 in triple overtime at New York. She led the team in scoring on four occasions and finished the season fourth on the Fever in scoring after ranking eighth in 2007.

Hoffman becomes the second Indiana player to win the Most Improved Player award. Then a member of the Fever, Kelly Miller won the award in 2004 when she was named co-Most Improved Player with Wendy Palmer.

A native of Harbor City, Calif., Hoffman was drafted by the Fever with the ninth overall pick of the 2004 WNBA Draft. She played her college basketball at USC where she was a three-time All-Pac-10 honoree and earned her degree in international relations.

As the WNBA Most Improved Player of the Year, Hoffman will receive a specially designed trophy from Tiffany & Co. and $5,000.

Below are the complete results of the 2008 WNBA Most Improved Player voting and past recipients.

2008 MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE YEAR RESULTS

31 Ebony Hoffman Indiana Fever
5 Jia Perkins Chicago Sky
2 Shameka Christon New York Liberty
1 Ivory Latta Atlanta Dream
1 Camille Little Seattle Storm
1 Sancho Lyttle Houston Comets
1 Janel McCarville New York Liberty
1 Barbara Turner Connecticut Sun
1 Sophia Young San Antonio Silver Stars

PAST MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE YEAR WINNERS

2008 Ebony Hoffman Indiana Fever
2007 Janel McCarville New York Liberty
2006 Erin Buescher Sacramento Monarchs
2005 Nicole Powell Sacramento Monarchs
2004 Wendy Palmer/Kelly Miller Connecticut Sun/Indiana Fever
2003 Michelle Snow Houston Comets
2002 Coco Miller Washington Mystics
2001 Janeth Arcain Houston Comets
2000 Tari Phillips New York Liberty

About the WNBA
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