After five days of action we have passed the half-way point of the tournament. I have been able to see all the teams play more than once now, so I feel comfortable talking about the squads beyond a recitation of box scores (way to go Asia-basket). If you are interested in box score numbers you can find those on this link.

In years past the William Jones Cup has been a mixed bag of teams in terms of talent level, usually including some ‘B’ teams and some club teams from Australia or the US. While there is still a disparity in talent level between the teams this year, almost all of the teams have brought their ‘A’ squad in preparation for the FIBA Asia Championship coming up at the end of September (Japan being the notable exception). There have been some great games and some strong performances by teams and players alike. This is by far the best collection of teams I have seen in my five years of watching this event.

After five days the standings are as follow:

1) South Korea 5-0
2) Taiwan 4-1
3) Jordan 3-2
3) Philippines (Smart Gilas) 3-2
3) Iran 3-2
4) Japan 2-3
5) UAE 0-5
5) Malaysia 0-5

While South Korea sits at the top of the leaderboard at this time with a perfect record, I cannot say unequivocally that they are the best squad here. And that is not necessarily a knock on South Korea. What South Korea has shown is that they play with a consistency that is rare among Asian national teams.

Perhaps because life is busy I will take the easy way out and throw out a few observations that I have made during the tournament so far.

1)      Marcus Douthit is the best big man playing for an Asian national team. This statement probably will anger some other fans. Koreans will argue that Ha Seung-Jin is the best, but seeing his flat-footed performance against Iran showed how glaring a weakness his lack of athleticism is. Hamed Haddadi from Iran is usually discussed as the best big man from Asia. Haddadi is massive, and a force inside, but Douthit showed in their match-up how much of a liability Haddadi’s lack of quickness is. When Haddadi is on the floor, he gets points in the paint, but in turn clogs up his team’s offensive movements. While I am a fan of Taiwan’s Tseng Wen-ting, he just do not have the strength to handle a player of Douthit or Haddadi’s size in the post. For the teams that are not here, Lebanon has added Loren Woods, and China has Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi. Woods is solid, but is not an intimidating factor on the offensive end. Wang is getting old, and Yi struggles to guard stronger players (well-documented during his NBA career). If Douthit plays to the level he has shown against Taiwan and Iran, the competition better take notice.

2)      Japanese basketball is going through a period of uncertainty and transition that extends beyond the JBL and bj league debacle. While there are many big name players not on the Jones Cup squad, it is hard to rationalize why you would be testing out young players one month before the FIBA Asia Championships. Every other team in this event is playing as close to full strength as they possibly can.

3)      Asia Basketball Update favorite Jet Chang can score at the international level. I have heard people mention that they are unsure how his skills translate outside of the DII world. Jet has received increasing in each game, culminating in his performance last night against the UAE. Taiwan was extremely sluggish after their emotional victory over Jordan the night before, but Jet poured in 20 points in the second half to spark the Taiwanese squad. In 21 minutes of action per game he is averaging 13.8 points.

4)      Of the nine best teams in the region only China, Lebanon, and Qatar are not here. Unfortunately for Iran, Taiwan, and Qatar, their grouping at the Asia Championship will prevent one of the teams from progressing to the Quarterfinal round. I predict the only drama over the first few days of that tournament will be in Group B.

5)      It may not be a real FIBA event, but after watching the drama in Jordan-Taiwan game it is clear that the regional rivalries are really heating up. Watching Zaid Abbas kick a chair 20 feet and the look of fear in the Taiwanese referee’s eyes was the highlight of the tournament for me so far!

Four more days of action coming up. Hopefully over the weekend I can take some time to edit some video clips to share some of the action with you.

Final Random Thought: There are three BYU-Hawaii alum playing in this tournament (Jet Chang, Wu Tai-hao, and Asi Taulava). If Yuta Tabuse was here it would be four. Pretty amazing the connections the Seasiders have developed in the region.

Sorry that I am a little slow to finish off my coverage of the event in Nanjing. So here is a super post covering Days 4 and 5.

Day 4

Mongolia vs. Hong Kong

The 5/6 game is interesting only because it matched up the two teams who really had no chance in this tournament. While the results from earlier in the week would have suggested the Mongolian squad was more competitive, the Hong Kong squad showed that they do have some talent (something a -148 point differential for the first two games did not imply). Going into the half Mongolia was up by 2 points, but Hong Kong came out hot in the third and went up by ten. In the end Hong Kong was able to hold on for the 87-83 victory.

South Korea vs. Taiwan

Taiwan started the game slowly for the third time in three games. Unfortunately for them the South Koreans are a veteran squad and knew how to hold on to the lead. South Korea ended the game on top with a 69-61 victory. For Taiwan, Yulon’s Lu Cheng-ju was the high point man with 15 points.

China vs. Japan

Does beating China’s B team really matter? The feeling among fans and followers of Asian basketball is that the Chinese obviously cared very little about the result of the tournament, as they are assured a spot in the September tournament, and have home court advantage no matter what. Japan played a great game, and were able to make the Chinese turn the ball over much more than they usually do. In a somewhat surprising ending the Japanese came out on top with a 72-62 win.

Day 5

China vs. Taiwan

While China may have cared very little about the outcome of the previous game, any match between these two political foes will lead to a passionate game and a full effort from both squads. Chinese guard Meng Duo ended up being the difference maker in this game as his lights out shooting in the 3rd sparked a devastating 30-11 third quarter. The Taiwanese squad were unable to mount a comeback and the scored ended up a lopsided 87-53. Both teams are missing key players, but it looks like when the Chinese players are out to win they are going to be extremely difficult to beat.

South Korea vs. Japan

Old rivals Japan and South Korea met for the gold, and the right for top seed coming out of the East Asia region. It was a game of runs as South Korea stormed ahead to a double digit lead in the first quarter, only to let Japan come right back with a big second period. Korea finally blew open the game in the final period, finishing with an 89-73 victory for the gold.

In the end the tournament left me with more questions than answers as to the quality of the four teams that will be advancing. South Korea and Japan brought pretty complete rosters to the event, so we have a good sense of what they are capable of. It has been widely discussed by me and others that the Chinese team was their ‘B’ unit. Which of these players will get a chance to play in the September tournament? Taiwan remains the biggest wild card though. They played this tournament without their best center (Tseng Wen-ting), one of their top forwards (Tien Lei), their premier point guard (Lin Chih-chieh), and without their best young player (Jet Chang). It looks like the first three will be available to play, but with his commitments in the US it is unlikely Jet will be able to play in the September tournament. This is truly a shame as he showed in last year’s Stankovic Cup that he could score against top tier international competition.

Next up for all you Asia basketball fans is the SEABA Championship next week in Jakarta. Three more teams will ultimately gain entrance to the September tournament in China.

Sunday saw the end of round robin play. China defeated South Korea 61-54 in the less meaningful of the two games as both teams had already qualified for the next round.

The other match-up was more important though as the winner of the Japan-Mongolia game would not only advance to the semi-finals, but also would qualify for the FIBA Asia Championship in September. Japan came out strong in the 1st quarter and built an 11 point lead. While Mongolia fought hard throughout the game they were unable to crack Japan's lead. The end score was 94-73 in favor of Japan.

While the four teams that were supposed to advance all did, to me the biggest news of this tournament has been the competitiveness of the Mongolian squad. While the four "big boys" of this tournament all played at less than full strength, the fact that Mongolia was not blown out in their two matches is noteworthy in my opinion. It should be interesting to see if they treat their coming game against Hong Kong with as much pride and passion as they have the last two.

On Tuesday Japan will face China and Taiwan will go up against South Korea. China should handle Japan while the Taiwan-South Korea match-up should be a great game. In the end though, I think the winner of this tournament will end up being the team that places the most value on winning it all. Will the teams keep focusing on giving young players experience, or will they choose to play the veterans to ensure a higher seed in the Asia Championships?

Day 2 of this “tournament” unfolded as predicted. In the first game of the day the Mongolian squad came out strong and actually had a lead at half-time. But today was not a day for upsets as Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) took control in the 3rd and cruised to a 14 point victory 85-71.

In the second game Hong Kong was once again overmatched and overpowered. China had a 28-5 lead after the first quarter and never looked back, winning 104-43 in the end.

Of the three spots open for the FIBA Asia Championship two were secured today. Tomorrow’s match-up between Japan and Mongolia will determine who the fourth representative from the region will be in September (China has an automatic entry). The Semi-Finals and Finals will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday. Winning the tournament could have positive implications for seeding in the September tournament, so we should hopefully see some continued effort in the final two rounds.

In what will perhaps be the least suspenseful tournament ever, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, and Hong Kong are meeting in Nanjing over the next three days in the East Asia Basketball Championship. This tournament is a qualifying tournament for the FIBA Asia Championship in September. As the host, China has already qualified. Thus, the top three finishers besides China will get an invite to play in September. It is pretty easy to tell which two teams will not be going further. In the first game of the tournament South Korea defeated Hong Kong 134-47. Hong Kong will need to defeat China by 88 points tomorrow in order to advance . . . not happening.

The second game of the day was actually a great game with Taiwan pulling out a narrow 75-74 victory over Japan on last second free throws. Now Mongolia stands in the way of these two teams.

But my favorite ridiculous subplot of the whole tournament is that China filled their team with some suspended players so that they could get their suspension out of the way before the Asia Championship. http://www.niubball.com/2011/05/cba-announces-12-man-roster-for-fiba-east-asia-championship/ Trust China to find a bureaucratic loophole in a FIBA suspension.  

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. 

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.