Fever's Whitmore putting up All-Star numbers

INDIANAPOLIS -- Tamika Whitmore's favorite player is Dennis Rodman, so it makes sense that she has taken great pride in being a superstar's sidekick for the Indiana Fever.\nWhile Michael Jordan got the glory for the Chicago Bulls, Rodman grabbed rebounds and played lockdown defense while winning NBA titles. And while Tamika Catchings has become an MVP candidate for the Fever, Whitmore has pushed her way into All-Star contention by embracing her role as the ultimate team player. She has averaged a team-best 16.2 points to help the Fever start the WNBA season at 12-6.\nIndiana coach Brian Winters said Whitmore has proven that she deserves to make the first All-Star appearance of her eight-year career, but the final selections won't be made until later this week. The game will be July 12 at New York's Madison Square Garden.\n"I don't think I have to make a case for her, quite frankly," he said. "I think she's made her case on the court. If you compare her statistics to any top forward in the Eastern Conference, her statistics are comparable, and she's on a winning team. We're one of the best teams in the East and we wouldn't be that without her, so she should be an All-Star."\nCatchings said Whitmore, a 6-foot-2 forward, is the best second option she has played with in her five-year career.\n"She has brought a totally different dimension to our team," Catchings said. "Scoring wise, defensive-wise, she just gives so much more to our team. She comes out and brings it every night."\nWhitmore scored a career-high 29 points against Charlotte on June 18, and has set personal best marks in almost every offensive and defensive category.\nShe said she was capable of similar numbers with the Los Angeles Sparks and the New York Liberty, but she has never averaged more than 12.7 points in a season. She has career averages of 9.2 points and 3.7 rebounds a game.\n"It's just a different feeling you have when an organization and a coaching staff believes in you," she said. "I've always been able to score, it's just something teams just never utilized me for. What you're seeing now is not even the tip of the iceberg."\nDetroit coach Bill Laimbeer had no choice but to agree that Whitmore has been a difference-maker for the Fever after she scored 22 points in the Fever's win over the Shock last week, though he fell short of saying she deserved to be an All-Star.\n"I think she's a very confident player this year," he said. "She's making perimeter shots to open up her drive, and she's taking a leadership responsibility. So far, she's got good numbers she's putting up, and her team's in good shape."\nThe key to Whitmore's success has been her willingness to be a secondary option, even though she often is the leading scorer. She wears number 91 as a tribute to Rodman's work ethic and selfless willingness to defer to Jordan.\n"Catch is like my Michael Jordan," Whitmore said. "I just try to do whatever I can to make her load not so heavy to carry."\nWhitmore said Catchings, last season's defensive player-of-the-year, inspires her because of her intensity.\n"To be able to lock somebody down on defense, I like that more than scoring," she said. "And I like to get that assist from a teammate more than I like actually putting the ball in the hole."\nCatchings doesn't mind being the second-leading scorer after four years of leading the team.\n"I've always been that player that people have to focus on," she said. "Now we have two people they have to focus on"