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.

There is a new update on Jeremy Tyler in the Player Update section.

Player Update - Jeremy Tyler

4 straight games coming up 1/6-1/9, the lazy pace of the early season is over for the Apache.

Tyler had his toughest weekend of games so far this season when the Apache went up north to play the Niigata Albirex. The stats line is brutal:

10.5 mpg
1.5 ppg
0/7 fg
3/6 ft
4.5 rpg
0 spg
0 apg
0.5 bpg
3 pf per game
4 TO per game . . .

Yikes. As I stated in the first post about Jeremy Tyler, I am an optomist about his decision to play in Japan this year. So I went looking for what could explain this dismal performance, highlighted (or should I say 'low lighted') by the shocking fouls and turnover numbers. I came up with two possibilities:

1) Niigata has the strongest frontcourt he has seen all season. Julius Ashby and Zachary Andrews are both seasoned pros who don't mind banging inside. These two are the exact kind of player that Tyler is going to learn the most playing against. Hopefully next time he sees them the result is different.
2) Kendall Dartez is out injured. Dartez is the "glue guy" of the Apache. While his average of 12/7 is solid, he also helps facilitate the offense and anchors the defense. He is also a good three-point shooter and extends the defense with his range. Team members are having to adjust to different roles as a result of his absence, most notably Eaton stepping up with a huge scoring output in the series. Tyler will have to adjust his play accordingly if Dartez going to be out for a while.

There was one piece of good news on the Tyler front this week. Tyler will compete in the annual Slam Dunk contest during the bj-league All-Star weekend coming up in Osaka. Should be fun to see the highlights!

Over the past week there have been a handful of great Japanese basketball-related articles in both the local Japanese and international press. Ironically, none of the articles have to do with the Japanese National Team's  strong showing at the Asian Games. A four point loss in the semi-finals to Korea is a result that may seem frustrating now, but in the long run  I believe the Japanese will be fine with.

It seems that the Tokyo Apache ownership have done a great job letting the world know that they are serious about making basketball a legitimate sport in Japan. The fact that the Wall Street Journal is publishing an article, and a follow-up blog post, about the bj-league is on one hand shocking, and on the other really exciting. My favorite quote from the whole article is the league commissioner commenting on the Apache ownership’s approach. "We have tried to explain to the new Apache owners that basketball is still minor here compared to the NBA, but they are determined to challenge things . . . We welcome that spirit." Essentially, “we think they are crazy but it is their money.” The Tokyo Apache have put together a strong team and are doing exactly what they need to do to make themselves relevant in a city that has more than enough entertainment options already.

While the WSJ articles were interesting, the more important articles from this past week were in the Daily Yomiuri, a newspaper that rarely discusses either JBL or bj-league happenings. This two part special report (Part I and Part II) focuses on the overall state of the game in Japan, and also looks at the inevitable merger of the two leagues. Instead of rehashing everything out here I will just say everyone should read these articles. The idea I do want to talk about is the comparison between the JBL and bj-league situation and the historic merger of the NBA and ABA. There are certainly similarities, but the differences between these two situations are significant.

The similarity in the situation is the fact that in both instances there is a clash of cultures, a young upstart challenging the entrenched traditional league. The leagues fight over the best young talent coming out of the university leagues, and fight to retain players in their respective league. This is actually a recent development, as it was only a few months ago that the first Japanese National Team player, Takumi Ishizaki, jumped from the JBL to the bj-league, previously it was only role players making the move. While player movement and leveraging offers from both leagues was one of the hallmarks of the ABA era, it seems to have only just begun in Japan. A main reason for this is that the JBL teams for the most part have greater resources than the bj-league, and the salary cap in the JBL is friendlier towards paying Japanese players.

The biggest difference that I see though in the current state of Japanese basketball and the NBA/ABA conflict of the 1970s is the fact that the bj-league is still in a state of growth. The key force behind the NBA and ABA merger was the ABA was on the verge of folding. At its height the league had eleven teams, but in the final season only seven teams finished the full schedule. At this point the bj-league is looking to expand from sixteen to twenty teams next season, and has not seen any contraction yet. While the popularity of the teams is not consistent, and attendance can be a problem, it has not stopped the league from gaining new footholds across Japan.

To me the ball is in the JBL’s court at this time. While they have the superior local talent, their marketing and culture are outdated. The fact that games are sporadically broadcast within Japan only further emphasizes this point. As long as the companies that own the JBL franchises are happy to use their teams as advertising pieces and not viable businesses on their own basketball will remain an afterthought in Japan. The leagues need to take a look at the history and current set up of the J. League to see how a league can grow from obscurity to popularity in a short time. 

The Tokyo Apache played two games this past weekend against the Akita Northern Happinets (my vote for best team name in the league). Tyler continued his strong play in both contests, going for 18 and 6 in 24 minutes of play on Saturday night and 11 and 3 in 12 minutes on Sunday. He continues to score at an impressive rate, and his high FG % shows he is taking quality shots.

The area that still concerns me is his fouls. He is currently averaging 8 fouls per 40 minutes, or 9.6 fouls per 48 minutes. This is astronomical! To put it into context, if he was in the NBA this year he would be #2 in the league in this statistical category. I want to know where he is picking up all of these fouls. Alas, the bj-league is near impossible to find anywhere on the internet to watch.

Next up is Niigata on Dec. 11 & 12. These should be an interesting match-up for Tyler as Niigata's front line includes solid players and good size in Julius Ashby, Zachary Andrews, and Issa Konare.

We are 6 games in to Tyler’s second year of professional basketball. While I think everyone agrees that last year’s experience in Israel was a disaster, the jury is still out on how this year will turn out for Tyler. As I discussed in an earlier post, I see reason for optimism and because of that I will start off talking about the good developments of the first three weekends of action. Unfortunately my observations have been limited to game reports and box scores as I can not find a place to watch bj-league games this season yet.

The Good

Week 3 – He exploded in the two games against the Saitama Broncos this past weekend including a 27/11 output in the second match. Probably of greater note was the fact he was able to stay on the court for 26 minutes. It is reported that five of his field goals were dunks. At least we know he is playing aggressively.

The Bad (there is a little more of this than the ‘good’)

Foul Trouble – In five of the six games he has committed four fouls. Like all young players, the key to his development is experience/playing time. By getting in to foul trouble he is limiting his own ability to develop, let alone give NBA scouts time to analyze his game.

Free Throws – Only Shaq can get away with shooting 11/23 on free throws. How fundamentally sound is a player who shoots below 50% on free throws?

Turnovers - On the same line as free throws, one has to question the fundamentals of a player who is averaging 2.9 turnovers per game while on playing an average of 16 minutes per game. Is lack of high quality game experience the issue, or is he lacking court vision and game understanding?

Competition – Tyler’s explosion against Saitama came against the weakest frontline he has faced so far. Not coincidentally, Saitama signed a center the day after his big game. We will not know if this is an aberration or a sign of true development until he can repeat the performance a few more times.

Overall, I still think the four other imports on the Apache and coach Bob Hill are going to make this a good environment for Tyler. Is it as good a place to develop as a DI school? We have to wait and see.

This is a great blog post describing the path a few players have taken from the CBA to the NBA. The question of whether or not this is a viable path or not is one that I think needs to start to be discussed. One high profile player is currently using an Asian league to prepare himself for the NBA . . . smart or not?

Jeremy Tyler played his first regular season games as a member of the bj-league’s Tokyo Apache this past weekend (analysis of his play will come in a later post). Tyler’s decision to go to Japan has been panned by many after his well-publicized failures in Israel last year. The attacks on his decision have mostly been because he has decided to play in the relatively unknown bj-league in Japan. Frankly, while I am not a fan of Tyler’s decision to leave high school early (for social/emotional reasons more than anything) I think the bj-league may be the exact kind of league where a young player can gain valuable experience and improve their game. Because I am lazy I will bullet point my argument below.

• The competition. Calling the league a “Mickey Mouse” league as some observers have in the past is not accurate. While the level of ability of the Japanese players in the league is somewhat questionable, the league set up allows for three imports on the court at one time. The quality of imports in the bj-league is second in Asia to only the CBA. I did some quick research on where the foreign players in the league played their college ball and overwhelmingly the answer is D1 programs. Of the 77 of the 88 foreign players in the league listed on www.asia-basket.com, or 88%, played their collegiate ball at a D1 school (about a dozen of these players also have NBA or NBDL experience). You have to figure then that of the ten players on the court at any one time six of them are D1 level ball players. Add in a few quality Japanese players and the league looks a lot better than the image sportswriters depicted a few months back. 
• Practice. Every day in practice Tyler goes up against three experienced big men. His teammates Robert Swift, Kendall Dartez, and Michael Chappell are all quality basketball players. Robert Swift of course is the most famous after playing a few years in the NBA. He was slowed by multiple knee injuries, but looks to be making his way back into shape. Kendall Dartez played at University of Louisville and has had two separate stints in the D-League. Mike Chappell was a well-known college player who split his career between Duke and Michigan State, and has played professionally in Australia, Europe, and Japan since 2001. Not only will Tyler be able to work out against these guys every day, he can also learn from their experience.
• The Coach. There was a great article in Sports Illustrated last month that discussed why Bob Hill will be so good for Tyler’s development. Anything is going to be better than the situation in Israel last year where it sounds like he received very little instruction.
• The Culture. This is the most intangible of the arguments, but one that I feel cannot be overlooked. For a young man who has just spent the past year and a half having his life and decisions analyzed and debated, slipping away to a place where basketball is not the most popular sport could provide the mental break Tyler needs. Perhaps without a camera in his face, and overzealous fans he can spend some time actually learning how to play the game.

I understand that this is an optimistic argument, but I think we need to remember we are talking about a 19 year old KID who is learning how to be an adult, along with learning how to play a game he seems to have been built to play. I will be providing updates and analysis every two or three weeks on Tyler’s progression throughout the season.

 

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The bj-league is underway again. The first weekend’s games saw some familiar faces in action. Kenny Satterfield and Jackie Manuel are probably the two most recognizable names as they both played big time college ball and had a taste of the NBA. Two time MVP Lynn Washington (Indiana University) and last-year’s MVP Wendell White (UNLV) also took the court for the first time this year.

I found this article on the opening of Indonesia’s NBL to be really interesting. I can see the struggle that the league has trying to define itself as a viable league with one team that continues to dominate. But I do not think that the answer is removing some of the best players from the NBL competition because they are concurrently competing in the ASEAN Basketball League. It is counterproductive to the growth and development of the NBL as you are removing the most internationally visible players from the domestic competition. Can you imagine if European teams were not allowed to field same players in the domestic leagues as they do in the Euroleague? Time to get creative and think of a better solution NBL!