Just wanted to throw out a quick post to update everyone on the action from this past weekend in the SBL.

1) Rashad Jones-Jennings served a one game suspension on Sunday after getting into a fight with Wu Tai-hao on Saturday. While I would never condone fighting, it was fun to watch a game between the two top teams in the league where both teams really cared about the outcome of the game. Too often the games in the SBL seem to be decided by the 2nd quarter. On a related note, Marcus Dove dominated Pure Youth on Sunday racking up a stat line of 25 points, 10 rebounds, 6 steals,and 6 blocks.

2) The Dacin Tigers replaced Keith Gayden quite unexpectedly. Taiwan Hoops reports that there are rumors that Gayden never got along with his teammates. Gayden was replaced by Alexus Foyle, familiar to SBL fans from his strong play last season with Taiwan Mobile. Gayden should be employed very soon, as his performance on the court in the SBL was pretty impressive at times.

3) Yulon is finally going to hire a foreign player! They will bring in Jason McCoy and Jermaine Dailey for tryouts this week. Time to go do some more research on these guys . . .

Taiwan - Wednesday and Friday night double-headers this week taught us quite a bit about how the rest of the season is shaping up. The most interesting game was the Yulon vs. Bank of Taiwan match-up on Wednesday. This marked our first chance to see Yulon in action without Tseng Wen-ting manning the middle. The results were not pretty, as BoT easily handled Yulon.

Despite losing to Taiwan Beer Wednesday night, KKL was competitive the whole game. Shawn Hawkins seems to be finding his footing (and his jumpshot) and they are falling into a nice rhythm. The positive results continued on Friday night as KKL beat Taiwan Mobile to move out of the cellar.

In the other game on Friday Pure Youth pulled out a close game against Dacin in a battle between 2nd and 3rd place teams. Jones-Jennings had another massive game with 22 points and 25 rebounds. This guy really deserves a bigger contract in the future.

Japan - In JBL news, Aishin came away with the Emperor's Cup title. Regularly season action now finally resumes this week. In less positive news, the JBL has taken over the Hokkaido-based Rera Kamuy franchise after the team's ownership failed to pay multiple league fees and broke numerous league policies. They have fired coach Joe Bryant as part of the restructuring as well (aka cost cutting measures). In my opinion, this opens the door for the bj-league to enter into the Hokkaido market. As Niigata has shown, a team that struggled financially in the JBL can operate successfully in the bj-league.

The bj-league All-Star Game is this weekend. Hopefully I can put up highlights from the game soon.

Korea - As I predicted a few weeks back the the Samsung Thunder are making a push to join the group of teams at the top of the league standings. After a tough overtime loss to KCC Egis, Samsung has pulled off three wins a row, including a 15 point victory over 1st place Sonic Boom KT. With Aaron Haynes' continued all-around superb play, Samsung looks to make the league a four team race.

Philippines - Game one of the PBA Philippines Cup is tonight as the Beermen take on the Texters for the title. The teams split their two meetings earlier this year. The teams both field a balanced attack with multiple players capable of exploding for big games. Should be a fun series to watch!

ASEAN - Semi-Finals action this weekend. I am excited to watch the Patriots (and one of my favorites Gabe Freeman) take on the Dragons. The Dragons have an interior-focused offense now while the Patriots play a fast-paced style. It should be an interesting contrast.

CHINA - Is it weird that I was more excited to watch Lester Hudson play in China than I am to watch Rafer Alston? Hudson is averaging 23.3 ppg in his first three games, and Guangdong has won two of those games. Looks like Chinese teams are starting to figure out which kind of import is successful in their league.

Series IV of the NBL season wrapped up yesterday in Denpasar, Bali. The series started out with a last minute change of venue due to an unsafe playing surface at the original site, but in the end the games went off without a hitch. There were plenty of close games and lots of action, but in the end the overall standings changed very little. Pelita Jaya sits on top of the leader board, followed by Satria Muda, ASPAC, and CLS. Despite beating both ASPAC and CLS, Garuda stills finds themselves in fifth place, unable to break into the top tier of teams.

Pelita Jaya is the clear team to beat now. While Satria Muda has been strong ever since Series I, with PJE coming out victorious in the head-to-head matchup they are the clear cut #1. With the fantastic duo of Kelly Purwanto and Ary Chandra leading the way, and the strong supporting cast, PJE are one of the few teams in the league that can beat you with more than one guy.

Series V will decide the final season standings. The action begins on February 5th in Jakarta.

Tseng Wen Ting: The best player in the league (in my opinion at least) and one of the few recognizable faces in Taiwanese basketball has presumably played his last game in the SBL for the foreseeable future. Tseng has anchored the middle for perennial powerhouse Yulon for the past seven years, and is the reason why Yulon has been able to play without an import all those years. He leaves a team in the midst of a four game slide.

As I have mentioned many times, the SBL lacks any real identity and loyal fan base here in Taiwan. Tseng is one of the few players who people know. His trademark long hair, tough interior defense, and deadly mid-range jumpshot make him stand out (not to mention there are not too many 204 cm Taiwanese wandering around). When I was chatting with a formal American player in the SBL and mentioned Tseng the former player said, "Oh 'Long Hair', that guy can play, can't he?" It was the only time this former player mentioned a specific Taiwanese player in the SBL. Tseng is player #4 to jump to the CBA, but his presence will be missed the most.

The crazy thing is that there is a chance he will not be able to suit up for the Shanghai Sharks this season as we are already passed the deadline for CBA teams to add domestic players. I hope they make an exception, as it would be a shame for Tseng to lose a season when he is only 26.

Rashad Jones-Jennings: On the first day of the season this guy looked slow, 'offensively-challenged', and like he was two knees past his prime. Fast-forward 10 games and he is putting up historic numbers while leading Pure Youth to a surprising 2nd place in the standings. He is by no stretch the fastest or 'springiest' athlete on the floor but he seems to be in the right place at the right time every trip down the court. He also seems to truly love to play the game, and his enthusiasm carries over to his teammates.

Jason Faulknor: Just as it seemed Faulknor was figuring out how to be successful in the SBL his season was cut short by a serious injury to his back against Dacin. Taiwan Hoops reports that he will be out for six months. This is really too bad, I will miss watching his 1 man swarming defense. Bank of Taiwan has already brought in a replacement, former University of Minnesota-Duluth star John Vaudreuil. Vaudreuil has most recently been playing in another SBL, the State Basketball League in Western Australia, for the Goldfields Giants. He averaged a little over 19 ppg and 9 rpg there last season. In his debut with BoT on Sunday he scored 20 points.

Standings: Through Sunday January 16th.
1) Taiwan Beer 9-1
2) Pure Youth 8-2
3) Dacin Tigers 5-4
4) Yulon 5-5
5) Bank of Taiwan 2-7
6) Taiwan Mobile 2-7
7) KKL 2-7

Ranking the Imports: I will start doing this every other week I think. I will rank every import who plays in the SBL this season. There is no science behind the ranking, just observation as I watch 80% of the games.

1) Rashad Jones-Jennings - For all the reasons stated above.
2) Emmanuel Jones - He has stepped up in the games he has been needed and played 20 minutes or less in blowouts. Hard to say how good he really can be because there have been a lot of blowouts.
3) Marcus Dove - On the first day of the season I would have predicted Dove to be #1 on this list, and there is a chance in the end he will. Dove leads his team in every major statistical category. He just happens to be surrounded by mediocre players.
4) Keith Gayden - Consistency is not his thing, neither is free throw shooting. But when Gayden has been on, he has shown the ability to dominate. Unfortunately Dacin as a team shows as much inconsistency as Gayden.
5) Shawn Hawkins - He is slowly finding his groove again. KKL has gone 2-3 since he has rejoined them, and has been competitive in two of the loses. Hawkins still has not found his shooting stroke, once that happens he and KKL can shoot up the charts.
6) Jason Faulknor - He played hard every game. He has no offensive skill set to speak of, but he kept BoT in some games with his hustle alone. Here's hoping he gets his back sorted out and signs in the bj-league next year. Players like Faulknor seem to thrive in the role of 3rd or 4th import on a team in that league.
7) John Vaudreuil - He looked fine in his first game. We'll see if his skill set complements his teammates more than Faulknor.
8) Sheldon Bailey - There was a reason KKL didn't seem to care when he took off after one game . . .

I am slowly catching up on all the player updates. One thing I am trying to do is add video when possible. So make sure to check out those pages when you have a second.

Most people will be most interested in this: https://www.asiabasketballupdate.com/jeremy-tyler.html.

Philippines - We'll start out the update with a quick look at the action in the PBA. We are currently midway through the semi-finals of the Philippine Cup. The San Miguel Beermen took a 2-0 series lead over the Ginebra Kings with a 108-102 victory last night. The Beermen were led by Jay Washington and Dondon Hontiveros who both scored 29 points.

In the other game Talk N Text jumped out to an early lead and never looked back to defeat B-MEG Derby Ace 92-78. Talk N Text  held big-time scorer James Yap to only 9 points, a key to the lopsided final score.


China - Last night saw the battle of the league-leading teams as Xinjiang and Dongguan went head to head. Xinjiang destroyed Dongguan 103-68 behind a combined 50 point effort by the duo of former NBA players James Singleton and Quincy Douby.

The best performance of the night came from everyone's favorite entertainer Starbury. Marbury exploded for 51 points in a losing effort to Beijing on the road. After watching so many poor performances from import players this season, it was fun to see Marbury put on a show.

ASEAN League - Tonight is make or break for Satria Muda Britama as they face the Chang Thailand Slammers at home. With a win SM will technically remain in the running for the playoffs, with a loss they are out. These last two games will determine the playoff seeding, as no team has secured their year end ranking yet.

Last week the KL Dragons new import Justin Leigh exploded for 31 points in his debut, but only 6 of those came after halftime. The Dragons let a big lead slip away and lost . . . karma for messing with your roster so late in the season?

Korea - The KBL is humming along. As I may have mentioned before I really enjoy watching the KBL because the Korean players can generally shoot the lights out and play a fun fast-paced style. The Elephants, Dongu Promy, and Sonic Boom are all fighting for top position, separated by only 1/2 a game. We are just a little over halfway through the season, so it should be an exciting finish. The Samsung Thunder are currently in 4th place only 3 games back of the pack. With league-leading scorer Aaron Haynes (Boise State) leading the way, they are more than capable of making the league a 4 team race.

Japan - Biggest news of the week is that the Tokyo Apache's home arena is finally ready for use, so three months into the season the Apache had their home opener. They split the series with the Oita Heat Devils to maintain their .500 record. Hamamatsu and Osaka lead the two conferences as we approach the All-Star break.

The JBL is on hiatus until late January as the teams are participating in the JBA Emperor's Cup, a tournament involving the JBL teams and university squads. Not surprisingly, the JBL squads have all advanced to the next round.

The CBA may have former NBA All-Stars, lottery picks, and college phenoms, but that is nothing compared to the SBL where we witnessed the return of Connie Hawkins' grandson, Shawn Hawkins, to the KKL lineup last night. Beat that claim to fame CBA! All joking aside, Hawkins was a successful contributor for most of the season last year, tailing off slightly at the end. He is the most versatile offensive player among the imports, the only true swingman in the bunch. He was fun to watch last

Dacin 67 - Bank of Taiwan 52
Despite the fact that both teams came into this game with only one win apiece Dacin was the clear favorite to win. It was not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination. Bank of Taiwan shot an abysmal 28% from the field, including 2/24 from behind the arc. That is a bad shooting game for a high school team, let alone a professional squad. With a 1-3 record (they beat import-less KKL) Bank of Taiwan is going to have trouble winning any game this season. They are a scrappy bunch, but that s may be a direct result of a lack of talent more than the natural character of the team. Dacin did not look particularly impressive themselves, only really cracking the game wide open in the 4th Quarter. Lin Yi-Hui was the high scorer for Dacin with 14 points.

Both imports had decent outings. Gayden only took 7 shots, scoring 10 points total while grabbing 14 rebounds. He is a terrible free-throw shooter though, making only 2 of his 9 free throw attempts. The big worry for Dacin is if outside of Gayden and Tien if they will have a consistent scorer in their lineup. Faulknor had his best game of the season, scoring 15 points and hauling in 21 rebounds amidst rumors his team is thinking about replacing him (discussed further below). As noted above, Bank of Taiwan has an greater worry than Faulknor's output right now, and that is the fact that they shoot below 30% from the field!

KKL 76 - Taiwan Mobile 72
The match-up of the two worst teams in the league should not necessarily make for a compelling game, but against all odds the second match of the night was both competitive and extremely entertaining to watch. The game marked the season debut for Shawn Hawkins who returned to KKL after the early season departure of Sheldon Bailey. It was easy to tell that Hawkins did not have his legs completely under him, and that he had not had a chance to practice with his team much. He was still able to contribute 16 points and 16 rebounds in the winning effort. KKL gelled in the final quarter and were able to take advantage of Taiwan Mobile's lack of depth to steal the win.

Marcus Dove was the only reason Taiwan Mobile was in the game in the first place. After showing flashes of athleticism and ability, he finally put it together for a break-out 39 point ,16 rebound, 6 block performance. With a bench only 8 men deep, it will stellar play from Dove every night for the Leopards to have a chance at success.

Is Faulknor Out?
Yahoo Sport Taiwan ran an article yesterday talking about the likelihood of Faulknor's departure from the Bank of Taiwan squad. Frankly this is not surprising as Faulknor has failed to put up big numbers until last night's game. I really enjoy watching Faulknor play, but am not sure he is the right kind of player to be a team's single import. He is not a natural scorer or good shooter, and the hustle plays he makes every game can not hide the fact that he is not helping his team score points. Bank of Taiwan desperately needs someone who can put points on the board. I think Faulknor would be better suited for a two imports per team league where he could shine in a complimentary role. It will be interesting to see what Bank of Taiwan does after his strong showing on Wednesday night.

Six games in total over the past two days, triple-headers are a nice benefit of the SBL's cost-cutting managerial style. So first a recap of the individual games, and then some random thoughts and analysis. This gets a little long . . . be warned.

Pure Youth 84 - Dacin 73
This was an interesting match-up of imports as both Jones-Jennings and Gayden are physically imposing compared to the Taiwanese players. With a 200 cm height restriction teams either go for the long athlete, or the brick wall. While Gayden is a great athelete, both of these players have some brick-wallishness about them.

This was a lot closer of a game then the final outcome suggests. Frankly, the teams were evenly matched in almost every statistical category. In the end it came down to Pure Youth hitting a couple more shots and then sinking their free throws at the end of the game. The imports had a nice little battle, showing a difference in their style of play. Jones-Jennings finished with 16 and 15 largely by moving people inside, while Gayden showed some versatility by stepping out for jump shots, he found the most success on inside moves and put backs, ending the night with 22 and 14. The best Taiwanese performance came by way of PY's Chien Chia-Hung who finished with 26.

Taiwan Beer 93 - KKL 72
Not too much to comment on this game, Taiwan Beer is just a lot better team. KKL is still without an import player since the departure of Bailey. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this game is that all twelve players on Taiwan Beer saw at least 8 minutes of action. Phenomenal substituting by the coaching staff!

KKL's Chang Jung-hsuan leads the league in scoring at this point, but is really going to benefit from the presence of Shawn Hawkins on the opposite wing.

Taiwan Mobile 78 - Bank of Taiwan 72
Mobile jumped out to a 25-10 lead at the end of the 1st and appeared to be on their way to an easy victory. Not so. Bank of Taiwan slowly chipped away at the margin over the next two periods, starting the 4th only down by 2. While Mobile did hold on, it was an unimpressive victory to say the least. Dove continues to confuse me. He looks good out there, and is by far the best athlete on the court at all times. It does not seem to be translating to a huge impact on the court though. One problem Mobile faces is their lack of depth. They only went 8 deep in this game and it showed. Faulknor had another average performance. He plays with a ton of energy and makes good things happen, but does not seem to have the ability to create his own shots. This would not be a problem if his teammates could create shots . . .

Dacin 86 - KKL 72
The only good news coming out of this game was that one team would finally get a 'W'. Dacin, riding on the physical interior play of Gayden and Tien Lei pulled ahead in the 2nd Quarter and never looked back. Gayden has looked better each game after an ugly performance in the opener against Tseng and his Yulon teammates.

Yulon 76 - Pure Youth 74 (OT)
By far the game of the night, and the game of the season far was this battle between two of the top teams in the league. I saw this as a match-up to determine who is the #2 team in the league at this point, as Taiwan Beer looks to be in a class of their own. Anyway, after taking a commanding lead early, Yulon let Pure Youth back into the game in the 4th. Pure Youth's charge was really a team effort, with big contributions from a number of players.

In the end there were some awful calls down the stretch that all went Yulon's way. As a result they were able to force overtime and come out with the victory. One thing I can't figure out is where was James Mao? I did not notice him get injured against Dacin the night before. Pure Youth needs his scoring, and this would have been a completely different game with him in the lineup.

Taiwan Beer 73 - Taiwan Mobile 59
Once again, at the end of this game I was not sure I knew how good Taiwan Beer is as a team. By this I mean, until they are challenged regularly I do not think we will have an accurate read on their team personality. Dove had an ugly game for Mobile, scoring 7 points on 3/12 shooting. He at least grabbed 12 rebounds.


Thoughts

• We know that Taiwan Beer, Yulon, and Pure Youth are good. We know that Taiwan Mobile, Bank of Taiwan, and KKL in their current state are weak. Dacin is the only team I do not think we have a real read on yet. They play Bank of Taiwan on Wednesday.
• I am tempted to rate the imports today, but am going to wait until next week and I have seen them all play one more time.
• Last night I had SBL running on one computer and the CBA running on the other, and could not help but think about the awkward relationship the two leagues have. If I were a CBA team I would be recruiting Taiwanese players aggressively. The fan support, sponsorship, and facilities of the SBL can in no way compete with the CBA. I understand a CBA team would have to think about the political message they were sending by bringing over a handful of Taiwanese players, but the basketball rewards would be worth it. There are at least a 10-15 players with the skill level to play in the CBA playing in the SBL right now, if not more. Taiwanese teams lack the size of Chinese teams, but at point and wing positions are as good, if not better. In my opinion of course . . .  It will be interesting to see what rumors about player movement start swirling at the end of this season.