THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2005 _Summer/Fall AL-Premier (SF/Oakland) |
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 The best of the best is in the wild wild west! Asian, Open, Women's, and Masters divisions available...More info Blue Ballers Repeat NOVEMBER 6, 2005 -- The Blue Ballers won the AL-Premier championship in overtime Sunday to claim their 2nd Dream League championship in a row...Full Story The Blue Ballers showed some resiliency, managing to advance through the playoffs despite a depleted roster at times. However, their roster was probably the most solid from one through eight. Jimmy Ta and Wade Murakami provided the ball handling and timely threes, while Noore Kadri, Collin Wong, and Richard Luk took care of the paint. Finally, there was the versatile Andrew Jaoude who could hit a jumper or take it strong to the hole. The Blue Ballers had few weaknesses and with two consecutive championships, perhaps they are ready for the AL-Elite, although they might be undersized. However, Setai Cossa got to the championship in the NL in much the same way, relying on dependable players without any real size. The Blue Ballers could be the Setai Cossa of the AL.
Below The Rim (BTR) was also hampered by injuries and incomplete rosters. Power forward David Chou suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the first round of the playoffs, while fellow frontcourt stallion Rob Dhat had to juggle a weekend work schedule. Still, BTR found itself in the championship and if everyone is healthy, is a bonafide AL-Elite team with more than adequate height. With Chou out indefinitely, though, it looks like BTR will have to remain in the AL-Premier. Meanwhile, the Rayguns suffered through depletion as well. It got so bad, that they only had 3 players available in the last weekend of the playoffs and had to forfeit the game. Nevertheless, league-leading scorer Frank Song and backcourt teammate Mike Salamin proved they could play at a high level of intensity, despite being only one year removed from high school. Small forward Mike Hicks was perhaps the most versatile player on the team and helped lead the Rayguns to a 9-1 record before departing for UC Santa Cruz's varsity team. Next season, look for Song and Salamin to graduate up to the AL-Elite while the remaining old veterans drop down to the AAA. The triumvirate of the Blue Ballers, BTR, and Rayguns resulted in a Western conference-dominated division. In the East, the East Bay Ballers played the most consistently. Greg Tom was constantly hitting jumpshots and Dante Riley found a home down low in Ira Jinkins' paint. Rich Crisologo shot a disappointing 26.7% from downtown and will need to get back to form for the team to improve. The DrunkenWarriors also suffered through roster meltdown and despite having adequate fill-ins, just never developed the chemistry needed. Ryan Reth was solid at point guard, a wiser but slower version of his past all-star self of the inaugural Dream League in 2002. Billy Haung and Hank Kim formed the nucleus, but the supporting cast was too little too late. Syuhn Fung finally got to .500 this season, but Ed Pan shot a dismal 25% from three-point range and 38% from the free throw line, not being able to carry the team on his back. They will need to find some quicker guards to deliver the ball to the towering frontline. Finally, we have Mix and Kwicksilver. Both teams struggled as they tested the waters of Dream League. Captains Branden Harrell and Vince Morales had a tough enough time of being the glue, and will have to reassess the situation, although Mike Hoang's return to Dream League was solid at 12.5 ppg for Kwicksilver. Both teams would have been better suited for AAA-Elite. The MVP selection was perhaps the most difficult in all of the divisions. With so many good players among the top three teams and no one dominant player standing out for any of the remaining teams, you simply had to choose who was perhaps the best player. You could have picked Kadri or Jaoude from the Blue Ballers, but the team had such balanced scoring, no one really stood out on that team of talented players. You could have picked Chien or Dhat of BTR, but it was the same story on that team. Salamin posted decent numbers, but was inconsistent in his shooting, while Hicks didn't have enough games played or astounding numbers. Tom on the East Bay Ballers stood out, but there wasn't much to show on the non-shooting stats. Song was ultimately selected because he not only had a huge impact on the success of the Rayguns, but also, at the end of the day, basketball is still about putting the ball in the hoop, and boy could Song do that. His 46% from three-point range, with the closest competitor at 39%, was truly dominant and very scary considering how many threes he did take. Despite the deficiencies on defense, he was a solid rebounder and actually finished 9th in assists. If the Rayguns needed a bucket desperately, he could provide that with a hand in his face. At only 19 years of age, look for Song to be a mainstay in the NL in seasons to follow. On defense, no one really had a reputation for being a great defensive player, although Dhat's 1.8 and former Top Defensive Player Vinson Chan of Syuhn Fung's 1.3 bpg were impressive. The non-shot blockers were pretty much reliable defenders, but the AL-P really didn't boast any "gloves". Finally, the consensus pre-season pick would have been Pan with his mobility and wingspan as a 6'4" small forward, but he had a rather sluggish season both offensively and defensively. So no one really stood out, so the winner was Ryan Dang of the DrunkenWarriors, who posted rather surprising numbers for steals and blocked shots. He simply had the numbers to back it up. |