It only took two games for Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix bench boss Tomoya "Coach Crusher" Higashino to decide that personnel changes needed to be made.
He admitted as much recently, reflecting on back-to-back road losses to open the season against the Akita Northern Happinets, who are led by former Phoenix sideline supervisor Kazuo Nakamura.
That prompted Higashino and team management to pursue guard Jermaine Dixon and forward Ray Nixon, both of whom had played for the club during its last championship season, 2010-11.