The Bill Cartwright era brings a pleasant jolt of great interest to the Osaka Evessa's tumultuous season.
The Evessa, losers of all but five of their 24 games this season, make their debut under Cartwright on Saturday night in the opener of a two-game series against the lowly Miyazaki Shining Suns (4-22) in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. Tipoff is 6 p.m.
It's not the weekend's marquee matchup by any stretch of the imagination, what with Osaka and Miyazaki sitting ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 10-team Western Conference standings, but it's a start for Cartwright.