CHANHASSEN, Minn. — The org won its fifth ring. The star won his fourth. But what some might consider "old" felt very fresh as the clock ran out on Game 3 at Paisley Park. Shorewood, winners of four titles in the 2010s, had waited 5 years to climb the mountaintop again. And LeBron James, who had been a secondary piece on three other championship teams, finally got his flowers as COMO Finals MVP. The honor, along with his record sixth All-COMO Playoffs selection, cements his case as a first-ballot COMO Hall of Famer in what's sure to be a crowded first class later this decade. "LeBron is one of the most important characters in this league's story," Shorewood GM Alex Smith said following his team's 3-0 sweep. "He's helped win it for us before. He's beat us in the Finals. We've beat him. And to have a chance to work with The King again this year feels like a full-circle moment." Way back in 2015, the Show traded for James at the trade deadline, and he helped them upset Chaska in the Finals for a second consecutive year. Then, he was gone to free agency, never to return... until this January. A balanced, veteran Shorewood squad used James' presence to finally find some chemistry in what had been an up-and-down season. They surged late, earning the No. 5 seed and peaking against Scranton and Hamburg BSV in the quarterfinals, and semifinals, respectively. While the Show cooled off in the Finals, they had the good fortune of squaring up against a Paisley Park team that was completely out of gas after a magical playoff run from the No. 7 spot. Paisley GM Brendan Halleron thanked his first-year coach, Ted Lasso, for "injecting a new level of belief" in a mostly downtrodden franchise, and cited an inspiring speech about adversity and potatoes. "If you can do it once," Halleron said, "you can do it again." That certainly rings true for Shorewood, which won titles in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2019 before a half-decade championship drought that ended Thursday night. As the champagne flowed in the visitors' locker room, James had his arm around legendary coach Bobby Finstock, who finally had "one for the thumb." "There are three rules that I live by," Finstock told reporters as James shook his head and smiled. "Never get less than twelve hours sleep, never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city, and never stand between this man and a trophy. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese." 2024 All-COMO Playoffs team
List of COMO Finals MVPs
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Reprinted with permission from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. ST. PAUL, Minn. — Giannis Antetokounmpo has been here before. The Minnesnowta Chill have not. After the final buzzer sounded in a bizarre, subs-laden Game 5 of the COMO Finals between the Chill and the visiting Cream City Bricks, one could sense the difference between Antetokounmpo (business-as-usual as he accepted his second career Finals MVP trophy) and owner/GM Matthew Taylor, who yelled out in triumph as he skipped around the court and took selfies with fans. "It feels absolutely incredible, man," Taylor told the Pioneer Press. "We knew this day would come when we formed this franchise 10 years ago, but with all the heartbreak that this team has faced over the past decade, even we started wondering if we were cursed ... COMO CHAMPS, BABYYYYYYYYYY!" This was the perfect ending to a wild, unpredictable playoff season. The Chill, No. 3 in the regular season, entered the Finals as major underdogs to the No. 8-seeded Bricks, who had miraculously overcome several serious obstacles to reach the ultimate series. Cream City's historic run was an all-timer For starters, Cream City only had $79 million on the payroll, by far the lowest of any playoff team ('Snowta had $124 million, by comparison). Bricks GM Jack Hughes, in his first season without a co-GM, had been a seller at the deadline. But in return, he collected key pieces that led the most improbable playoff run in league history. Both Kristaps Porzingis and Mikal Bridges made the All-Playoffs team after getting shipped to Milwaukee, while Immanuel Quickley came up with a season-saving, career-best performance (50 bones) to steal Game 3 of a first-round series against No. 1 seed Scranton. All of that after the Bricks needed some help to even make the playoff field on the final day of the regular season. They insisted on drama at every step of the way, following the Scranton series with a 5-game, back-and-forth triumph over Sunnyvale, and then a 5-game Finals that went down to the wire. "Some people thought moving on from [Julius] Randle and [John] Collins was me giving up on the season," Hughes said. "But I felt getting Porzingis, Bridges, and Quickley back was not only going to set me up for the future, but also for the rest of the season. Once everyone got healthy, we showed what we could do." Overnight superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is set for a new contract this summer (likely $30 million), which will likely prevent the Bricks from making another "Moneyball" run in 2024. For his part, Hughes was non-committal when it came to the topic of locking up his first-team All-COMO guard. "The goal is to keep as much of the squad together as possible," he said, adding that the team will take a "cheap" approach in free agency. Greek Freak's journey a fateful one But the best player on the floor wasn't SGA. It was Giannis. The future COMO Hall of Famer added a fifth ring to his trophy case (his previous four were with Shorewood), and a second Finals MVP to match former teammate Stephen Curry for the most in league history. "This win cemented Giannis's status as the undisputed COMO GOAT," Taylor said. "Having the Freak on your team automatically makes you a COMO Finals threat. We'd be fools to not do all we can do to bring him back." Antetokounmpo only ended up in St. Paul after Taylor overslept during the COMO auction. The commissioner's office placed an auto-bid to bring the Greek Freak to 'Snowta after nine seasons with the Shorewood Show. With his one-year, $43 million deal now up, he figures to be one of the most sought-after free agents once again. 2023 All-COMO Playoffs team
List of COMO Finals MVPs
Re-printed with permission from the April 4, 2022 version of the Daily Bugle®. NEW YORK — A lost season in Manhattan turned into the best stretch of professional basketball the Big Apple has ever seen. Led by midseason addition Joel Embiid, the Manhattan Spiders went on a 30-2 tear down the stretch, including a near-sweep of powerhouse Hamburg BSV in the COMO Finals, to capture the city's first hardwood championship since 1973. The Spiders started the season 3-11 and 11-17 before getting healthy and climbing up the North Star standings. They overwhelmed Shorewood and Sunnyvale in January and February to claim the top seed in the conference, a run that coincided with a trade for Embiid on Jan. 13. Billy Sunday's team earned a first-round bye, swept Sunnyvale 3-0 in the North Star finals, and then defeated Hamburg (the league's regular-season champion) 3-1 in what would've been another 3-0 sweep had Manhattan's Montrezl Harrell not laid a rare "zero" at the end of Game 2. The Spiders didn't blink, winning two straight to close it out, and had perhaps their best performance of the season in the clincher. "It feels even better than we thought it would!" co-general manager Alex Krause yelled in the locker room. Krause, who officially added co-GMs Jack and Abbey Fink this season, has fielded a few good teams since founding the expansion Spiders in 2015. But they've never come close to winning a ring before this year; perhaps their best shot was in 2020, when key players were kept out of the COMO Bubble that provided a somewhat unsatisfactory ending to an endangered season. After missing the playoffs last year and starting very slow this past October and November, fans began to call for Krause's job. Sunday night, he was suddenly a champion, and was already talking about becoming the first back-to-back champ since Shorewood in 2016 (three straight). "Our blend of organizational teamwork was the key to our success," Krause said. "We are grateful for what we were able to accomplish this season. But one championship isn't enough for any of us. We'll see you all again this fall." Notes
List of COMO Finals MVPs
COMO Finals: Cleveland Outlaws climb the mountain, outlast Chaska Moose for first championship5/7/2021 Reprinted with permission from the May 7, 2021 edition of The Plain Dealer. CLEVELAND — Less than two years ago, the Cleveland Outlaws were a moribund, small-town franchise located in the foothills of the western United States. Then known as the Colorado Hilltoppers, the franchise had failed to make the playoffs in all five seasons of its existence. The owner abandoned ship late in the offseason. And the league needed a fix, fast. By some stroke of fate, a two-man group—who had no clue there was an opening—faxed the league office indicating interest in owning a team, should such an opportunity arise. Within hours of the original owner's departure, Nate Atkins and Wade Rupard took control of the organization. They soon moved to Atkins' hometown region and rebranded as the Cleveland Outlaws. In Year 1, they smashed expectations and finished 43-39 to earn the team's first-ever playoff berth. This year, they beat up an extremely competitive conference to earn the Empire's No. 1 seed. Thursday night, they clinched the league championship on their home floor. "It’s crazy to have turned the franchise around as quickly as we did," Rupard said. "But we were built for this. We’re building a dynasty here in Cleveland. This won’t be the first banner we hang." Indeed, the Outlaws have a few stars under contract for next season. COMO Finals MVP Kyrie Irving (who clinched the series with a 46.00 average in Game 4), Jimmy Butler and Clint Capela all have multi-year deals, while a group of younger players—including late-season surprises Jae'Sean Tate and Moses Brown—figure to extend their stays. The front office swung pre-draft deals for Damian Lillard (Kansas City) and Donovan Mitchell (Memphis), then added Butler from Scranton in February. They completely mortaged their draft future, but that's unlikely to affect them much over the next couple seasons. Atkins pointed out that the team got sufficient bulletin-board material in January from Minnesnowta Chill GM Matthew Taylor, who insinuated that the Outlaws had built their team without much of a plan. "Ever since a rival Empire GM said we had poor roster construction, we took it upon ourselves to build the most complete team possible," Atkins said. "Thank you to Matthew Taylor for inspiring the trade for Jimmy Butler, who became a horse for another Finals run." Butler was one of three Outlaws to make the All-COMO Playoffs team (Irving and Capela were the others). They needed every last ounce of help to squeak by Cream City in the semifinals—league miscommunication on a Bricks substitute extended the series and caused no small amount of controversy in the Rust Belt—and then put a halt to Chaska's momentum when it mattered most. In signature fashion, the post-game celebration was soaked in vitriol. "We know the league will never vote for us for executives of the year or for any of our players to be first-team All-COMO," Atkins said. "We’ll have wins changed to losses after the fact and our rule-change proposals denied, but we will always persevere because that’s what Cleveland does. It’s a city of champions." On the other side of the scoreboard, Chaska was a particularly despondent runner-up. The Moose are now 0-4 all-time in the Finals, including the past two. Their roster is set for a near-complete implosion this offseason, and they've traded away their next two first-round picks. However, they do have an amazing silver lining to build around: second-year star Zion Williamson averaged 30.68 bones over 19 playoff appearances to earn a spot on the All-COMO Playoffs squad. Speaking of which, here's the 2021 team: 2021 All-COMO Playoffs selections
List of COMO Finals MVPs
Re-printed with permission from the Chronicle Herald
ORLANDO, Fla. — James Harden's swift path to redemption met its terminus on Friday as the Sunnyvale Slayers star put the finishing touches on his COMO Finals MVP performance. It was a year ago when—following an ugly playoff exit—general manager Matthew Quammen dangled Harden in several trade offers and coach Lavar Ball trashed the perennial All-COMO player in the media. Harden and the team were unable to find a buyer, and they eventually put those events behind them. Following a 4-2 Finals win over Chaska, Harden (44.5 bones) now has two rings, his first Finals MVP, and a Hall of Fame legacy carved in stone. Still, as the champagne flowed in the bubble, the front office was not quite ready to admit any fault for nearly sabotaging their championship team. "We did put Harden on the block (last year) as he'd failed us in the playoffs," Ball said in the locker room. "James understood that. What I think surprised him was that the rest of the league showed limited interest. That disrespect pushed James to another level this year, as if he dumped a Kardashian again." Salt aside, this is a team that performed at its peak at the perfect time. The bubble restart hamstrung certain teams (cough, Manhattan, cough) and gave Sunnyvale a major opportunity. It capitalized. Harden got help from fellow All-COMO star Kawhi Leonard, acquired in a midseason trade from Cleveland. Leonard posted a 35.00 average over two starts, and was the only other Slayer to join The Beard on the All-COMO Playoffs team. "Kawhi is a champion and he was huge," Ball said. "I'm told no other ownership group would give up a first (-round pick in a trade), which is crazy to me. You play to win the damn thing." He added: "Star power conquers all. Matt Quammen and Trent Johnson taught us that a long time ago." The championship party extended into the wee hours of the morning. The folks of Sunnyvale and the greater Dartmouth also held a notable celebration. Ball said he heard that local celebrities Julian, Ricky, and Mr. Lahey were on the prowl, saying, "COVID isn't the virus we're worried about tonight!" Ball also made sure to let the world know that the Slayers would be back for more in the winter. "I appreciate the haters," he said. "We could've won three or four by now, but we were getting BBB off the ground, taking over Australia, building the JBL. So this championship feels good but it mainly feels like the start of a dynasty." 2020 All-COMO Playoffs team
SHOREWOOD — Number four was different; the locals were here. The Shorewood Show clinched their fourth title in six seasons on Thursday night. In their three previous conquests, they'd won on the road. Last year, the Show had two opportunities to clinch in front of the Shorewood faithful, but failed both times (including a heartbreaking Game 7 loss to Newport Beach). Finally, they broke through as a sellout crowd at Big Reggie's Danceland soaked it in. "This makes it special," general manager Alex Smith said. "There's no plane to catch. There's no bus to hop on. It's just us and the community that has embraced great basketball for six years." Shorewood's run is among the greatest in professional sports history. After winning three straight titles, they've remained among the league's elite; a fact that was once again obvious Thursday. Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo — who was named Finals MVP after posting 42 bones per game, including 67 in Game 1 — is COMO's unquestionable alpha dog. He has an important offseason of contract negotiations ahead, and maximized his value as the Show finished the playoffs on a 7-game winning streak against the league's two best regular-season teams. Shorewood came into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed with a strong lineup but seemingly little chance of running the table. Sunnyvale (65 wins) and Minnesnowta (67 wins) were major roadblocks ... at least, on paper. Smith had even reportedly tried to ship star guard Ben Simmons to St. Louis at the trade deadline. After the Show breezed past the Slayers in the semifinals (a surprisingly easy 4-1 victory), they advanced to play the Chill, a team that had gone 6-1 against the Show during the regular season. What followed was a set of dramatic games, sure, but all of them swung Shorewood's way. In particular, Game 3 looked to be Minnesnowta's for the taking, but point guard Kyrie Irving missed key shots down the stretch and Shorewood small forward Rudy Gay came through with the winning bucket. 'Snowta GM Matthew Taylor was particularly disappointed with Chill center Hassan Whiteside. "How do I explain the 4-0 sweep? Hassan Whiteside is how," Taylor said. "The dude choked when the lights were brightest and he won't be missed in St. Paul next season, that's for sure. Hats off to (Shorewood), though. Giannis is a helluva player." Up until the Finals, it was a dream season for 'Snowta, which posted the second-highest win total in COMO history (67). Taylor made the tough offseason decision to dump two-time COMO MVP Anthony Davis, opting instead for a more balanced lineup. The gamble paid off. "Didn't expect (67 wins)," Taylor said. "Kyrie, (Bradley) Beal, (Nikola) Vuc and (Rudy) Gobert stepped up and we look forward to bringing them back next year to compete for a 'chip again." For now, the trophy is back where it started: in Shorewood. "A run like this is once-in-a-lifetime stuff," Smith said, fighting back tears. "If you look at the résumé we've put together, it's untouchable. This is the best basketball team in the world. The best franchise. And we're sure as hell not taking this for granted. I might go crack a Grain Belt and give out some aggressive high-fives, but mostly I just plan on letting this sink in. God bless, guys." All-COMO Playoffs 2019 PG Bradley Beal, Minnesnowta (30.20 / 15 starts) SG Devin Booker, Shorewood (29.13 / 15 starts) SF Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shorewood (37.86 / 14 starts) PF Nikola Jokic, Shorewood (29.25 / 16 starts) C Rudy Gobert, Minnesnowta (32.07 / 15 starts) 6th Nikola Vucevic, Minnesnowta (31.21 / 14 starts) Honorable mentions: Clint Capela, Shorewood (26.50 / 18 starts), Andre Drummond, Duval United (32.42 / 12), James Harden, Sunnyvale (32.45 / 11), Ben Simmons, Shorewood (27.80 / 15), Kyrie Irving, Minnesnowta (29.50 / 12) ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Entering this year's playoffs, the Minnesnowta Chill had stood on the doorstep of the COMO Finals four times. Much like the residents of the Twin Cities, this team had grown accustomed to slipping and falling on its ass. Saturday night, that officially changed. The Chill — coming off a dominant 67-win regular season — put the finishing touches on a demolition of rival Duval United. Point guard Kyrie Irving poured in 40 bones. Shooting guard Bradley Beal topped that with 41.5. All-COMO post Rudy Gobert had 37. And so on. 'Snowta is now 7-1 this postseason, but now must slay an annual bogeyman. The Shorewood Show have made a habit of reaching peak efficiency this time of year. Three times, they have won the COMO Finals without winning the regular season title. Saturday, they completed a surprising 4-1 takedown of No. 2 seed Sunnyvale with the help from newly announced 2018-2019 league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (more on him below). But Shorewood has not captured a league title since 2016. The Show fell to St. Louis in the semis in '17, and then blew a 3-1 Finals lead against Newport Beach last April. They've played extremely well in the playoffs this year, but they don't quite have the depth to be considered favorites against 'Snowta. The Chill owned the Show in the regular season — a 6-1 mark — so it's not a stretch to think Irving, Beal and co., will be able to bring St. Paul its first professional basketball title. Minnesnowta has exhibited the sort of balance that helped St. Louis blow through the 2016-2017 season. In fact, the Chill were the first regular season champions in COMO history to not place a single player on the All-COMO first or second teams. Irving, Gobert and fellow post Nikola Vucevic were all named to the third team. Other notables include breakout star Montrezl Harrell and former All-COMO standouts DeAndre Jordan and Hassan Whiteside. Both squads are, more or less, in great health, which means fans in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area should expect an impressive Finals clash. Greek Freak named MVP (again) James Harden and his Sunnyvale Slayers earned a higher playoff seed, but Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Shorewood Show stole it away with a 4-1 semifinals win. As it turns out, Antetokounmpo stole the regular season MVP award, too. League general managers slightly favored the Greek Freak over Harden, giving Antetokounmpo his second consecutive MVP award. The two players had an epic battle over the weekend, as Harden notched 57 bones against Antetokounmpo's 52 (the Show prevailed to clinch the series). Those numbers, of course, had no bearing on this particular vote, which was conducted at the same time as the All-COMO voting. Harden and Antetokounmpo were the only players to receive unanimous first-team consideration. Here's a closer look at the MVP results:
COMO Finals schedule Game 1 @ Minnesnowta (Sunday-Monday) Game 2 @ Minnesnowta (Tuesday-Thursday) Game 3 @ Shorewood (Friday-March 24) Game 4 @ Shorewood (March 25-28) Game 5 @ Minnesnowta* (March 29-31) Game 6 @ Shorewood* (April 1-3) Game 7 @ Minnesnowta* (April 4-7) *if necessary NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Hours after St. Louis smacked around Newport Beach to complete an impressive COMO Finals sweep, general manager Aaron Connolly took a private jet to Washington, D.C., consumed several beverages at the Trump Hotel ("Don't judge ... Didn't vote for the guy ... Great bar, though") and reflected on a dream season. Under the guidance of Connolly and second-year coach Jimmy Chitwood, the Hornets won 64 regular-season games (a record 45-win improvement over last year), beat down three-time defending champion Shorewood in the semifinals, then raced past Newport Beach, 4-0, to capture the city of St. Louis' first basketball title since 1958. All of this after moving operations from Hollywood to the Show-Me State in late September. "The city has hope again," he said. "The riots will end, and it will be a big step in bringing everyone together ... Holy s---, my team scored out of its mind." Holy s---, indeed. All eight players who saw COMO Finals action for St. Louis averaged 20 bones or more. Longtime Hornet Jimmy Butler secured Finals MVP honors after averaging 37.71 (29.4/6.4/8.7), while Paul George completed a red-hot playoff run with a 31.12 Finals average (29.3/7.3/4.4/2.4stl) and John Wall (30.00, 25.4/4.1/9.5/2.4stl) put the finishing touches on the best season of his career. On the other side, Newport Beach got a trio of elite Finals performances from Russell Westbrook (40.14), LeBron James (33.43) and James Harden (30.67), but did not have the firepower to stick with St. Louis. This is the second straight Finals disappointment for coach Jesus Shuttlesworth and GM Peter Mayer, and it had to hurt more than last year's "happy to be here!" moment against Shorewood. In hindsight, the Grizzlies' decision to retire John Wall's uniform number before Game 3 was a poor one; Wall exploded for 45.5 bones in a blowout win for St. Louis. "L-O-L," Connolly said. "Yeah, Peter brought that one on himself. He didn't #TrustTheProcess. Also, RIP Craig Sager." Mayer had a simple message for Connolly: a middle-finger emoji. He'll likely be forced to let Harden go in free agency, and will need to figure out how to build a title-worthy roster around Westbrook and James. St. Louis also faces plenty of attrition this offseason, including Butler's potential departure. The Finals MVP has now played four full seasons for the franchise, and he shares an alma mater — Marquette — with his GM. "Stayed through it all with last year's 19-win team," Connolly said. "Biggest turnaround in COMO history, and it's all because of him. Makin' Marquette Great Again." 2017 All-COMO Playoffs team
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — This season's COMO Finals matchup shows the importance of building through the draft. Well, sort of. St. Louis and Newport Beach aren't leaning on homegrown talent; Instead, they swung a league-changing draft-night deal last June that made them the league's two biggest favorites. Now one of them will win its first championship. A quick recap: Newport Beach sent John Wall and Nikola Vucevic — both expected to be cap casualties — to St. Louis in exchange for No. 2 overall pick Brandon Ingram and Gorgui Dieng. Wall and Vucevic joined an excellent Hornets core that also included Hassan Whiteside (traded the season before for Anthony Davis' ballooning contract) and Jimmy Butler. Then, GM Aaron Connolly made a pair of savvy additions in free agency (Mike Conley and Kevin Love). Before the calendar year was over, Newport Beach GM Peter Mayer sent Ingram to Colorado as part of a package for superstar guard James Harden. That move turned the Grizzlies into a three-headed monster featuring Harden, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook. The draft-night move was the rare trade that helped both teams reach the mountaintop in Year 1. "Well, we really both armed each other considering I used the cap space and assets he sent back to go get Harden, so in a way, this championship is a product of that trade," Mayer said. "I don't think it's as league-changing as the Newport/Shorewood trade in the inaugural season, but it may be the second-most important trade in league history." He's referring, of course, to the Steph Curry-Russell Westbrook move that was directly responsible for a trio of Shorewood Show championships. And without St. Louis' move to get Whiteside and clear cap space in early 2016, the Hornets would not have been in a position to pick up Wall et al. "Last we tallied, teams that criticized St. Louis for the Davis trade = every other team," Connolly said. "Teams that finished behind St. Louis in the standings: every other team. Sad!" Regular-season champion St. Louis — fully healthy for the first time in a long time — looks like the favorite to win the series, especially if Newport Beach's Big 3 aren't outstanding. The Hornets had a first-round bye, then slayed Shorewood, 3-1, in the semifinals. The Grizzlies escaped a three-game series with Minneapolis, then swept Minnesnowta to punch its second straight ticket to the championship. "The Finals will be a clash of GM strategies," Connolly said. "Newport led by the three-headed beast and St. Louis, which has a more balanced and deep lineup, without the knockout punch. Good trade overall. Everyone should take notes." Shorewood wins third straight COMO championship, Steph Curry earns second straight Finals MVP award4/12/2016 NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Stephen Curry, Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge helped carry the Shorewood Show to their third straight title on Monday night. Those three have been the consistent faces of Shorewood's championship monopoly. Every year, various other stars have made significant efforts — James Harden, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo among them — but Curry, Gasol and Aldridge are now the only players in the league with three rings. Shorewood swept Minneapolis, 2-0, and Minnesnowta, 3-0, before getting up 2-0 on Newport Beach in the Finals. But Curry and Co. had to fight hard to keep their perch, as Newport Beach's superstar lineup ripped off two straight victories to even the Finals at 2-2. "They really surprised us," Shorewood general manager Alex Smith said. "Our guys didn't know what postseason defeat felt like until those two games in Newport. I think it woke them up." The Show rebounded to win two straight and clinch another trophy. Curry won his second straight Finals MVP, officially sandwiching his 2015-2016 regular season COMO MVP. He finished with a 31.80 average in 10 Finals starts, helping coach Bobby Finstock reach the pinnacle once again. "There are three rules that I live by," Finstock told reporters in the bowels of Cohen Arena. "Never get less than twelve hours sleep, never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city, and never doubt the willpower of Wardell Stephen Curry, Jr. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese. James, who helped Shorewood win it all last season, was a beast in the playoffs (33.05 average over 20 starts) after signing with Newport Beach in October. He, Russell Westbrook and John Wall earned All-COMO playoff nods, alongside Shorewood's Curry, Antetokounmpo and Aldridge. "Nothing but respect for Steph, Pau, Giannis and the Show," Grizzlies general manager Peter Mayer said. "We'll be back soon." Neither team will look the same in 2016-2017. Shorewood will likely be forced to cut both Gasol and Aldridge — among others — for cap reasons, while Newport Beach faces a juggling act between Westbrook, James and Wall. "We know we can't keep everyone," Mayer said. "Russ is the face of the franchise, so he is the only guarantee going into '16-'17. In all likelihood, either LeBron or Wall will be moving on." Both Shorewood and Newport have exciting talent on the bench, but the former will need a masterful offseason plan to reach the Finals... again. At the moment, that's not a pressing matter. There's a third straight championship parade to plan. "If we never win another game," Smith said, "we still have this." 2016 All-COMO Playoffs team
Honorable mentions: Pau Gasol, Shorewood (24.92 / 13), Khris Middleton, Shorewood (24.00 / 15), Nikola Vucevic, Newport Beach (25.89 / 9), Anthony Davis, Minnesnowta (28.40 / 10), Carmelo Anthony, Minnesnowta (27.00 / 9), DeMarcus Cousins, Chaska (31.17 / 6), Kevin Durant, Duval United (38.40 / 5), Kawhi Leonard, Rio (29.17 / 6), Paul George, Rio (29.00 / 5), Brook Lopez, Kansas City (26.60 / 10), Damian Lillard, Kansas City (24.08 / 13), Nicolas Batum, Kansas City (23.31 / 13) |
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