TARI EASON NAMED WEEK 9 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
West Coast Elite already has the presumptive favorite for MVP in Deshawndre Washington. But pairing him with Tari Eason turns their high-powered offense into a straight-up wood chipper, as seen on Saturday against The Jedi, with the 6’8” forward scoring 45 points and capturing 10 rebounds on the team’s way to a 104-94 win that was only ever close in the third.
One-on-one, Eason is borderline unstoppable, prompting a “give him the ball and get out the way” offense that someone doesn’t jam up WCE’s usual crisp ball movement (see: Washington and Marquis Moore combining for 8 assists on top of Eason’s 2). He drew attention anytime the ball was in his hands, freeing up his teammates for backdoor cuts, wide-open catch-and-shoot threes, and to focus on the defensive end, tightening the screws on The Jedi when they got too close.
He can also keep up with the blistering pace of West Coast Elite’s offense (intriguingly, this wasn’t even the highest-scoring game of the weekend, with Rex 6 and Task Force combining for 212 total points, which has to be a record, on top of being our season high). West Coast Elite plays among the fastest of the Drew, but with Tari Eason in the lineup, it’s one of the most punishing too.