By Joe Catapano
Build. Your. Legacy. Those three words have been the motto of Legacy Leagues since its inception earlier this year. While players may have forgotten the slogan through the hype of the season, the ultimate goal remains the same – to build your own legacy.
Whether it was an incredible triple-double, a clutch 3-pointer to send the game to overtime, a block pinned to the backboard, a jaw-dropping dunk or even a record-breaking 51-point game, many different legacies have been built over the past three months.
Sixteen of the leagues best athletes will play to add to their legacies Tuesday night at 8 p.m. in the inaugural Legacy Leagues All-Star Game.
The Brotherhood’s Tyrhon Coward and The Land’s Brett Cody will serve as team captains, as voted upon by the committee. Cody and Coward were both selected to the Legacy Leagues All-First Team, while Cody was additionally selected to the All-Defensive Team.
A live All-Star draft was held just over a week ago, but several selected players have since withdrawn from the game. Those players, who still deserve recognition as an all-star, include ZewCrew’s Mark Harrison, The Brotherhood’s Russell Payton and The Pandas’ Jelan Mason. All three players received All-Second Team honors.
Team Coward will feature his teammate Kevin Rivera, Sportslook’s Bryan Acevedo, The Pandas’ Chris Dias, The Hateful 8’s Steven Petrahai, Run TMC’s Shaq Holman, ZewCrew’s Ty Alston and Blood, Sweat and Beers’ John Brolet.
Team Cody includes Legacy Leagues MVP and Defensive Player of the Year Michael Davis of The Brotherhood, Wake and Blake’s Aaron Samuel, Run TMC’s Will Hudson, Sportslook’s Andrew Cavanagh, ZewCrew’s Chris Rosario and BS&B teammates, Cody Dileonardo and 5th Man of the Year, John Lutters.
Watching teammates play on opposing sides will make this game special. Both The Brotherhood and Sportslook, the two teams who will play in the championship game at 9 p.m., have players competing against each other in the All-Star Game. Coward and Rivera will face off against Davis, and Acevedo will be up against Cavanagh. Three additional pairs of teammates will be on opposite benches for this game.
If you think one team looks more stacked than the other, the numbers would beg to differ. Team Coward averages 16.8 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 2.1 APG, while Team Cody averages 16.7 PPG, 6.3 RPG and 2.5 APG. It doesn’t get much more even than that.
Team Coward’s roster includes most of the available height, like Coward himself, Dias and Petrahai, while Team Cody’s only true big man is Will Hudson. Team Coward’s centers will protect the rim on defense, grab their rebounds and leave the scoring to Acevedo, Alston and Holman. And don’t forget, Kevin Rivera will surely have some dunk contest worthy dunks ready for the show.
That being said, Team Cody’s players can combat the opposition simply by playing their specific role. Their team’s roster includes the league’s MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Fifth Man of the Year, the scoring champ and the league leaders in blocks, rebounds and steals. Nobody on this team needs to do anything outside of their comfort zone to win; they have players fit to control every area of the game.
16 All-Stars have competed all season long, building their own, unique legacies. These elite players will battle it out amongst each other on the same court at the same time. With so many stars competing for the spotlight, whose legacy will reign supreme?
We’ll find out tomorrow night at 8 p.m.
