Hell. Yes. That’s what I’m talking about. A huge close out to one of the best 3v3 tournaments the league has ever had, the SLAM had all the fireworks and chaos we hoped for. 2 championship Saturday Game 5s, a bracket reset, a first time tournament champion, it had it all. I usually do 4 or 5 guys, but for the sake of the FInals, let’s go through all 6 guys.

Kaii – *slow clap* A truly trascendent tournament. One that I feel like we have all been asking/waiting for from Kaii since the day he walked into the league. We all knew he could do it, but there was some sort of block in the way, some barrier he couldn’t break through. Well my fellow reader, the new ShiftyKaii is here. Kaii 2.0 is upon us and everyone in the league should be afraid. He’s officially gone up a level and this tournament showed that there is a considerable gap right now between him and the #2 player in the league(whoever that is). He’s setting the new standard, let’s see if anyone else can hit it. 

Krazy – The most exciting part about this Lakers win to me, isn’t how good they all were or how good Kaii was individually. It’s how good they looked with Krazy still looking slightly uncomfortable. That’s how good he and this team are. Krazy can shoot about 50% from the field as a PF (league average around 60%), but he does everything else so damn well, that it barely even matters. Krazy did so much good in this tournament that by the end, I didn’t even care about the shooting. He brings so much else to the table as a 2K player that he doesn’t really need to shoot that well. But…just imagine how good they’ll be when he ticks that 3P% to 55-60%. Scary.

YooVC – I think this past week was the best 2K YooVC has played in the 2KL. He had an amazing stretch back in the season 4 playoffs, but this performance was so much flashier and heavy hitting. The forced turnovers, the transitions 3s, the offensive rebounds, all the little stuff that you have to do as a 3v3 lock, VC had (pun intended) locked down. And yet, just like Krazy, I still think he can be better! A horrifying reality for the league is that the Lakers as a team still have their best basketball to play. 

Jboolin – I racked through the history books on my flight to DC this weekend to see if I could find a rookie comp to what Jboolin pulled off this week. I go back to Crush and his debut with kings Guard Gaming that saw them immediately become one of teh best defenses in the league. I remember Zayy teaming up with Sick One to dominate the Ticket and forced Mavs Gaming into the playoffs. Or even LawRich, who’s rise to the top of the lock leaderboards saw NBL not miss a single on-stage tournament. Honestly, I think Jboolin might have had a better start than all those guys. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a rookie defender like this. I’m jumping to conclusions of course but…wouldn’t be the first time a rookie has won DPOY.

LowkeyGodlike – This comparison is exclusively for people who follows international soccer. LowkeyGodlike is Rodri from Manchester City. Huge, towering force in the middle of the field who can dominate a game on or off the ball and is constantly making you pull your hair out with his incredible clutch gene. Godlike and Connor are the standard at 3v3 big right now, it’s really a race for 3rd at this point.

Unguardable – The title of best PG in the league is one that I think has been up for grabs over the past couple of seasons. We’ve had guys wear the crown for a few weeks at a time, but I think the last player to truly wear the crown for a longer period of time was JBM for most of Season 4. Since then, the last 2 seasons has seen guys like Ant, AntoineLove, Greens, and of course, Unguardable, hold the title. But for me, the award is Unguardable’s to win. He has it all, but I think he saw this week that there is another level, like Kaii, that he has to hit to truly hang with the legends of the game. He’ll see his name up in lights very soon, probably this year, but it’s time to see what Super Saiyan II Unguardable looks like.

Rankings

Contenders

1. Lakers Gaming
2. Magic Gaming
3. Nets Gaming Crew
4. Pistons GT
5. Gen.G Tigers
6. Heat Check Gaming

I had a rule coming into the year that I wanted to keep this list at 5, but I think heat Check demonstrated that they can hang with the teams in this group. I’m still unsure if the Inside Big is a fluke or if it’s real enough to win them real games in the playoffs, but it’s been so much fun watching Dtrick try it out that I almost don’t care. Anyway, these 6 teams showed that they are just on a different level coming out of the Slam. Whether they can maintain that level, well, we don’t have a weekly power rankings article for nothing!

On The Bubble 

7. Pacers Gaming
8. Hawks Talon GC
9. T-Wolves Gaming
10. CLTX Gaming
11. 76ers GC
12. Knicks Gaming
13. Grizz Gaming
14. Hornet Venom GT

Probably the toughest group to rank. All of these teams feel very close in talent and execution levels. Pacers Gaming feel slightly ahead of the pack, but after two brutal losses including being knocked out Knicks Gaming style by a community team, it’s fair to have questions. Speaking of questions, T-Wolves Gaming? Where is Igymo? I get replacing him and seeing if the lineup you put in is better but…it’s just not? The Tutak-Sub-Bear lineup was pretty iffy and you have a bonified 3v3 talent on your bench that you drafted #5 overall….play him. Cutting bait on a guy you drafted 5th overall after like 3-4 series feels like something else is going on. Maybe there is, we’ll certainly find out.

Just Fine

15. Bucks Gaming
16. Warriors Gaming Squad 
17. Blazer5 Gaming
18. Wizards DG
19. NBL Oz Gaming
20. Cavs Legion GC
21. Raptors Uprising GC

All of these teams frustrate me. Are you good? Are you bad? Are you mid? Pick one. Is B5 actually good or did they just win a couple group play series? Is Bucks Gaming bad or did they just get their lineup randomly changed due to paternity leave? Does Cavs Legion know that they are playing in real games and actually have to hit open 3s? Will AntoineLove ever play another 3v3 game, heck does he even want to? All these questions and more will be answered next tournament, but SHEESH, figure it out.

Quadrant of Woe
22. Jazz Gaming

23. Mavs Gaming

24. Dux Infinitos

25. Kings Guard Gaming

A brutal descent for an exciting Jazz Gaming team. After opening with 2 wins, they went 1-4 in their next 5 and now sit in the Quadrant of Woe. I’m not sure what the answer is. You bench Justin, you kill his confidence. You start Feen and he’s not up to level, you’re in even bigger trouble. I guess the answer is try keep trying Ria? I didn’t love how they played with him on the Inside, but I’m not sure what would’ve saved this team. The reset heading into the Switch could be just what they need, but something has to give. For the other 3…yea…not great. Mavs looked a little bit better with the new lineup, not too convincing however.

That’s it for this week, be sure to check out Dirk and I’s podcast, Virtual Courtside, available on iTunes, YouTube, Spotify for more analysis! I’ll be back later this week to preview the Switch Open!