The Japan Basketball Association has changed its alleged goal so many times, it's difficult to remember the original target.

Nearly a decade ago, there was real talk about a JBA-backed pro league.

Here's what bj-league commissioner Toshimitsu Kawachi told the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan in October 2005 before the renegade upstart circuit began its first season: "In 2007, the JBL will also become a pro league. What I am thinking now is, 'Can we collaborate?' "