2024-2025: Week 5 Player Reports

Game 1: Team Yellow vs. Team Purple

-The point of a draft league is to spread out the talent and increase parity. However, spreading out talent doesn’t equate to spreading out “types” of talent and has led to some hilarious groupings throughout the years. Small teams. Big teams. Slow teams. Teams that can’t score. Teams that can’t stop anyone. It was clear that Team Yellow’s biggest handicap would be guarding a big wing who could attack the basket. As such, it makes sense that Purple would be a pretty horrendous defensive assignment for them to deal with. For this first skirmish, Mark tried to keep up with Justin, which he’s done before, but clearly he is not currently up to the task. Justin roasted him relentlessly and Finnin did much of the same with big Brad Foster on him. The difficult of dealing with both of those guys simultaneously is not centralized to Team Yellow, as other teams will also have to figure out a way to stop them both, but Yellow seems particularly exposed in this matchup. We just don’t have the length and speed to cut off their relentless attacks. While Mark continues to look like a racehorse who will soon be taken behind the barn and put out of his misery, Yellow still was able to send this game to overtime. In fact, they were ahead with the ball with only about 40 seconds remaining, potentially in a position to win it, before an inexplicable turnover cost them the chance. Yellow will likely continue to be competitive each week based on the skillful ways Konrad leads the offense and the constant threat of Brad’s backdowns on the block. Neither of them score each time, but they consistently get good opportunities. Offensively, it still appears Yellow has another level they can get to. If Mark can magically regain his mobility with a healthy ankle, there are more threats they can take advantage of. It speaks to the quality of this team that the season is still off to a good start, basically playing without a first rounder. Purple is the legitimate contender we thought they would be after acquiring Finnin post-draft. I expect them to continue to impress.

Game 2: Team Orange vs. Team Blue

-This game looked more like a shootout at the park than an actual basketball game. Chris and Carter were throwing in deep pull ups while Rodney and Bob Kelly were doing the same for Blue. Blue had their biggest output of the season, even with Jay and Luke combining for only 5 points total. Carter’s outburst in the second half was the difference maker. He’s not big, or quick, or strong, but he does run the court hard and is shifty with the ball. Orange’s most dangerous weapon is certainly the outlet pass. They force teams to get back and matchup quickly. If you are slow to the punch or don’t identify quickly, they’re likely getting a good look quickly. Bob Kelly did his best Carter impersonation, throwing in some ridiculous shots near the end to keep it close, but they came up just short and Orange escaped with a 2 point victory.

Game 3: - Team Red vs. Team White

-In a game that will likely be remembered as the ambulance game, we also may have witnessed the emergence of Team Red. Colin got his rhythm and made difficult shots all game. TJ showed that he is one of the best rebounders in the league and can force some dynamic finishes near the basket. Declan also got his shot going, somehow improving his accuracy with a dislocated shoulder. Everyone scored on Red, except Steve, which is a good sign and critical for keeping the floor spaced. Team White looked slow to the punch in this one. They were bigger and forced a ton of turnovers on Red, but they often didn’t take advantage of those opportunities. Perhaps an underrated issue with this team is age. Are they the oldest team? The slowest team? Finley is young, but his game isn’t really based on blow-bys. They haven’t played with much pace so far this season and, perhaps, that’s because they can’t. Still, they should have enough matchup flexibility each game to mix things up from game to game. When they play Red again, it could look very different depending on what they learned from this one. Still, they seem to be missing a dynamic spark that can pull more effort out of their squad. Sometimes that’s one player. Sometimes that’s one game. But someone has to do something, or they may end up stuck in the middle of the standings all season.

Standings

Team	Captain	Win	Loss	Record	Win %	Streak	PS	PA	DIFF
YELLOW	MARK KOLL	3	1	3 - 1	0.750	L1	270	230	40
ORANGE	KYLE GARMES	3	1	3 - 1	0.750	W1	273	242	31
PURPLE	MATT VITALIANO	3	1	3 - 1	0.750	W1	256	216	40
BLUE	LUKE A	2	2	2 - 2	0.500	L1	231	231	0
WHITE	ROB KNAPCZYK	2	2	2 - 2	0.500	L1	252	266	-14
RED	STEVE DUDEK	2	2	2 - 2	0.500	W2	241	268	-27
PINK	MATT KOLL	1	3	1 - 3	0.250	L1	285	278	7
GREEN	DAVE TROY	0	4	0 - 4	0.000	L4	238	315	-77