THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2010 Summer AAA (NYC) |
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Mid Season Recap |
| Wow, the summer is going by quick, although with the recent stretch of extremely crappy weather, I guess we can’t wait for the fall to be here already. Even with our July 4th break, the season is half way over. And while DL is usually crowded with games for all 3 divisions, many players decided to take a summer break (can’t make Sunday games fellas? True ballers never give up ball for the beach!). So we started the season with 5 teams and some new faces unfamiliar to DL (and its NBA rules). At the halfway point, it’s evident some of the veteran teams are leading the pack. Here’s a quick rundown of the teams and where they rank in this summer’s super short version of the AAA. 1. Tri-State War Dog (4-0) Tri-State War Dog (we like the new name by the way) were a formidable team coming into the season with former AAA MVP Dave Wong, lights out shooter Chris Kwan and the leadership of the elders – Felix Shen, Andre Liu and Mr. Ansari but adding Kash Miah and Nazar Kahn easily put them at the top to win it all. And they have not disappointed, leading the league in scoring (76 ppg), points allowed (43.3/g) and a 4-0 record. They’re blowing out teams with an average of almost 33 points per game. That’s just insane! 2. Moneyball (2-1) While Moneyball has played a great season with awesome pieces on their team – Ray Huang, John Lee, Sol Choe, and Victor Lin, they’re going to be short handed the rest of the season as their gun slinger, Ray Ray will be departing permanently for the west coast soon. Moneyball is still a solid team without Ray but it’ll require the rest of team to pick each other up. Their loss against War Dog was a sign of their ability to come back from any deficit and showed they can easily keep up with the big dogs. 3. BK Hustlas (2-2) The Hustlas have bounced back really well after finally getting their team together. After losses to War Dog and Moneyball, they’ve trounced the Bad Boys and Good News Bears to get to .500. Alex Wong has been solid from outside, while Phivan Quach continues to attack the rack but new addition Lewis Leung has become the go to guy for the Hustlas. If they can get Joe Yen (who claims his on and off play is due to old age) and Danny Luk to step up their play, the Hustlas can be a dark horse to win it all. 4. Bad Boys (1-2) Bad Boys remind us of those movies where a coach has to take a team of misfits and turn them into amazing team players (there have been hundreds of these, just pick one and Bad Boys can relate). I’m sure that’s how Rob Schopen felt in the beginning of the season but looks like they’re finally getting things together. They have a solid big man in Albert Chen, a shooter in Evan Leong, and of course Rob’s gritty play. If some of the other guys can find their roles (and stop turning the ball over), the Bad Boys can get to the .500 record and make a good run in the playoffs. It’s all about gelling and it seems like they’re gelling at the right time. We still think Albert Chen needs to touch the ball more often. The mild mannered big man needs to demand the ball more and go to work instead of just going with the flow. Get angry, AC! 5. Good News Bears (0-4) Where do we start with the Bears? They’ve been extremely disappointing this season but more importantly they can’t get some of their star players to show up to games (what’s up with that!). Rich and Yohan Lee have missed half of their team’s games, they’re a big part of the offensive attack. Sung Im has been solid in the two games he’s played in but Bears need to find a way to get it together. Their 60+ point loss to War Dog was a really down moment for them, but losing to Bad Boys last week just shot them to the bottom without the possibility of recovering. They need to find a way to make it work quick, the playoffs are right around the corner. Sung-Mo: time for that annual pep talk of yours. |