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.