THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2004 Spring/Summer (NYC) |
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Da Bien Takes Title Despite Coup Attempt by Maximum Output | ||
| Champs Da Bien and 3-Point Winner Eric Wang of Max Output | ||
QUICK LINKS: Previous Articles Schedule Updates (as of 7/9 8:00AM) Season Schedule Grid (or scroll down) DLNYC FORUM [NEW -- post your own comments!] PLAYOFF BRACKETS VIVA LAS VEGAS!! -- Only a few spots remain in our epic Las Vegas National Tournament!!! More info... SIGN UP FOR FALL 2004 DREAMLEAGUE NYC: Email brian@dreamleague.org for details. Season starts mid-September... JULY 24, 2004 -- Thank you and congratulations to everyone who participated in the inaugural Dreamleague New York Season. What a fantastic finish to a season filled with some of the best action around in Asian American hoops! Da Bien took home the championship, but not without a fight from a formidable team in Maximum Output. Da Bien was stretched to the end being forced to play two games to eliminate Maximum Output who had their backs against the wall from the outset. Were Maximum Output at maximum strength throughout the season...who knows? Da Bien could have been looking up at the twin towers of All-Dreamleaguers Jiang Yu (2nd Team) and George Chan (1st Team) from the 2nd place spot. But in the end, Shawn de los Reyes, Kevin Park, and Kevin Chin did as they had all season long - and willed their team to victory. Call them the triple headed version of KG. All heart, baby. The dark horse in the league, the 150 Westsiders, never really got a chance to see how far they could go as they could never get a full roster - choosing to run with 5 players most of the season. Though de los Reyes took MVP honors, it was a tight race with Marshall Cho (1st Team), of 150 who led the league in scoring. Man just ran opponents ragged. Sorta like a mini version of Reggie Miller coming off that screen at the 3-point line. His backcourt mate, Chris Mussallem was equally impressive in the scoring column and earned 2nd Team All-Dreamleague. YTMT was like the Lakers of 2004. All the talent in the world and not one idea what to do with it. When they all showed up, free of injury and free of anger, they could do no wrong. They blitzed out to a spiffy 5-0 record only to drop 4 of their last 5 including the playoffs. It was pretty simple after the 5th game why the team collapsed. Players stopped showing up due to injury, laziness, or other commitments (where is the love?). Tempers flared within the team during games. And an overwhelming lack of ball distribution pretty much did the squad in. If you want to just focus on the good stuff though: during that 5-0 run, Young Yu (2nd Team) and Dave Scott (woulda been all league if he showed up to play) played like beasts and showed flashes of being the best damn backcourt around in the NorEast since the days of Mo' Cheeks and Andrew Toney. Oh holla back kids... The team that had the most heart from top to bottom was the Guerillas led by my main man Greg Wong. All-Dreamleague defensive team, Wong fired up his troops each week to compete like the soldiers that they are. 2nd-team Zach Liu is gonna be one to watch as he matures and only gets nothing but better. The kid'z killer crossover and sweet like silk J is like an A.I. - Alex English combo. AAU leagues, watch out! Shout out to the hardest working man in the league off this squad - Manfred Mui, who brings his hard hat and lunchpail and just bangs down low and gets no credit. If Mui had another foot and a fro - I'd be calling him Ben. As in Wallace. Nice. Gen X got off to a precarious start. Everyone was calling them a one man gang led by First Team Dreamleaguer Danny Wang. In the team's first game, Wang scored 26 of his team's 32 points. Come again? Now, we all knew MJ would do stuff like that back in the day when they had Granville Waiters and Brad Sellers, but...dudes, even Waiters would have 8 points and Sellers, 6. No other player on Gen X had more than deuce in that game...this was gonna be an interesting season for them...till week 2 when Rob Schopen woke up and went nuts with 4 treys and proved to be an apt 2nd option on the team for the rest of the season. This team played well and got better as the season wore on. They look to make more strides next season as they come back for the challenge once again. You want to talk about revolving doors...those poor free agents of the NYC Scraps. This is how wacky it was...Rich David Stern Twu, Dreamleague commissioner, played the first game of the season for the squad and by the end, the only two guys who played in the first game and the last game of the season were Frank the Tank Liu and Gin Chao. There were sightings of a Kim, a Kung, a Lee, and a Lieu. Two Hsus, a Hsiao, and a Yoon too. A Cheng, Chen, Chiou, and the aforementioned Chao. Without uniformity, this team was kept at bay. BAY? Why that's another of their 3 heads - Bidol, Allegaert, and Yoshimura. It's enough to make your head spin like Paul Mokeski's after getting posterized on a jam by the Doc in the '84 playoffs...phew! They finished winless, but hey man - ask any of them - they had fun doing it. Right fellas? Because in the end, it isn't about the trophies, the prizes, or the money - it's about the love of the game. Even the pros (or the Washington Generals) will tell you that. You play to compete and you compete to win. And even if you don't win, you go away knowing you played hard and hopefully had some fun along the way. This has, and always will be Dreamleague's goal when it comes to ball: to promote the best in competition for players who want to play with and against the best. We built this league to promote basketball with a flair of fun and to help raise funds and build programs for disadvantaged youth along the way. Your contributions by entering and playing in our league is helping this Dream succeed. Thanks again to everyone that participated in the league this year from players to league administrators and even those lovable refs....hmm... We'll be picking up again in the Fall with even more exciting competition and interesting stuff going on...be on the lookout as we start up in early September and if you can, come get your game on and have some fun while you're at it in Vegas baby, Vegas! Our Labor Day Tournament is looking to pit reps from this Right Coast against those flashy glam boys from the Left. Can you dig it? I'm tired of hearing all the talk about how the West is Best and East is Least. Just like Rip and Chauncey took it to the Lake Show, let's represent and show them that not all Asian ballerz only reside in the 415. Great season guys. Lodda fun. Let's do it again - Joey T. Playoff Madness and Three-Point Shootout JULY 23, 2004 -- Thanks for a great season! Our next season will start in mid-September. Here are the all-star selections... Most Valuable Player: Shawn de los Reyes, Da Bien 3-Point Shootout Champion: Eric Wang, Maximum Output First Team All-Dreamleague: Marshall Cho, 150 Westsiders Danny Wang, Gen X George Chan, Maximum Output Kevin Park, Da Bien Shawn de los Reyes, Da Bien 2nd Team All-Dreamleague: Young Yu, YTMT Jiang Yu, Maximum Output Eric Wang, Maximum Output Chris Mussallem, 150 Westsiders Zach Liu, Guerillas Defensive Player of the Year: Kevin Park, Da Bien All-Defensive Team: Marshall Cho, 150 Westsiders Danny Wang, Gen X Greg Wong, Guerillas Shawn de los Reyes, Da Bien Kevin Park, Da Bien Your Dream League NYC Forum: Questions, comments, concerns, and complaints are welcome, but... Profanity is strictly forbidden. Use common sense, otherwise your post will be deleted. If you get stuck, just refresh your browser to get back to the original message index. Previous Articles Playoff Picture Developing (6/17) Introducing Will Balton... (5/26) Season Starts this Saturday 4/17! (4/16) Registration and FAQ (4/16) Schedule Updates (Last Updated: 7/9 8:00AM) 7/10 - 3-Point Shootout has been scheduled for 7/10 5/5 - All games on 5/15 have been postponed due to Lycee festival 4/28 - Typo made between 5/8 and 5/1 games -- new schedule is below and Da Bien's bye for 5/1 is OK. |