2017 NYC National Tournament MVP Carlos Valdez makes long-awaited return to Garden City

Carlos Valdez

Before picking up a 67-63 win last night in Garden City, Carlos Valdez hadn’t played in an Ultimate Hoops game since August 26, 2018, when his Thundercats lost to the DMV Ballers 66-55 in the semifinals of the New York National Tournament. That was a 415-day hiatus between UH games.

His last game in the Garden City Draft League before last night came in a 78-67 quarterfinal loss on March 15, 2018, which was a 579-day hiatus. In that playoff loss, Valdez put up 25/20/6 on 9-12 shooting.

In his first game in Garden City in over 500 days, he could not replicate those kind of individual stats, as he scored four points on 1-5 shooting, adding eight rebounds and three assists. There is some rust to be expected when it’s been five seasons since Valdez played in UH, and despite his disappointing output, his teammates were able to pick him up to get the season-opening win.

“It’s great. It’s always fun to play here in Ultimate Hoops, the leagues are amazing - the league is much better this year, it’s great competition - glad that we got a win,” Valdez said in a post-game interview with Anthony Leo.

The increased competition may slow Valdez down in the first few weeks this season, but there’s no doubt that it’s only a matter of time before he asserts himself as one of the top players in the league. He has averages of 15.6/15.8/5.4 while shooting 59% from the field in 19 career games in the Garden City Draft League.

The pinnacle of his UH career came in the summer of 2017, when he averaged 10.6/6/6.2 in the New York National Tournament, earning Tournament MVP honors while helping the Thundercats win the national title.

Pairing him up with a player as talented as Donte Howell will create problems for the rest of Garden City. This is especially true if Valdez can play like he did last night and Scott’s Tots can still pick up a win. Valdez is only going to get better as the season goes on, and that’s a scary proposition for the rest of the league.