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Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 21, 2016

Rookie sensation Nash raising profile with Firebonds

Fukushima Firebonds forward Le'Bryan Nash has been the league's premier scorer this season.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Apr 7, 2016

Third-division assignment could spell trouble for Kanazawa Samuraiz

The Kanazawa Samuraiz are a solid team in the final year of the bj-league's 11-season existence. They also happen to be a brand new team.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 10, 2016

Softbank named top B. League partner

The B. League officially revealed on Thursday that Softbank Group Corp. has become the circuit's top partner, starting with the inaugural 2016-17 season.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 11, 2016

Aoki looking to set B-Corsairs on even keel

As the season marches closer to the finish line, the Yokohama B-Corsairs are striving to develop consistency and climb in the Eastern Conference standings.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jan 29, 2016

Tochigi's Brenton a multitalented player

In Japanese basketball, teams usually ask import players to provide size and scoring ability. But what Tommy Brenton supplies is much more than that.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA
Sep 5, 2015

NBA star Curry wows Japanese fans on flying visit

Stephen Curry, who led the Golden State Warriors to their first NBA championship in 40 years last season, made his first visit to Japan on Friday — even though he was only here for around 24 hours — and greeted enthusiastic local hoop fans.
BASKETBALL
Aug 21, 2015

Broncos signee Uhle, 22, dies in Atlanta

A prospective Saitama Broncos player for the upcoming season has died before his professional career began.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jul 31, 2015

First wave of teams allocated for new hoop league

The Japan Professional Basketball League announced which divisions 20 of the teams that will make up the new men's top circuit will play in on Thursday, following a meeting of the FIBA-led Japan 2024 Task Force.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 14, 2015

Guards Yoshida, Machida aiming high with national team

Looking to retain its title at August's FIBA Asia Championship for Women, the latest Japan national basketball team plans to play with more vigor and speed, partly to make up for its lack of height on the international stage.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 2, 2015

JBA chief Kawabuchi says task force on track for ban to be lifted

Saburo Kawabuchi told reporters on Tuesday that the Japan Basketball Association is close to securing that its ban will be lifted by FIBA this summer.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBL NOTEBOOK
May 7, 2015

NBL playoffs set to tip off

With the regular season wrapping up last weekend, the NBL is set for more heated battles when the playoffs begin on Friday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 26, 2015

Nash has Toyama eyeing Final Four again

Due to one of the quirks of the league schedule, the Toyama Grouses won't face the reigning champion Ryukyu Golden Kings during the regular season. But they've fared quite well against other elite clubs.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Mar 3, 2015

Moving 2020 hoops to Saitama latest blow for game

The IOC's decision last week to allow the organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to move the basketball competition out to Saitama Super Arena puts an end to any hope the sport ever had of becoming high profile in Japan.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 12, 2015

Shimane showing surprising improvement

Despite a disastrous start this season, the Shimane Susanoo Magic won't challenge the Takamatsu Five Arrows' league record of 50 losses.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jan 7, 2015

Financial woes force Trians to quit NBL

The Wakayama Trians finished runnerup last year in the NBL, but they were able to enjoy that success for only a short time.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 27, 2014

Former Arizona State coach Evans provided enduring lessons for Oketani, Hamaguchi

What do the Iwate Big Bulls and Kyoto Hannaryz have in common besides being first-place teams?
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 21, 2014

Kyoto forward Warren dedicates play to those battling cancer

It's not every day that you see a 202-cm forward wearing a pink headband during a men's pro basketball game.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 2, 2014

Key questions entering 10th season

Japan's first men's pro basketball circuit tips off its 10th season with 10 games on Saturday.
BASKETBALL
Sep 5, 2014

FIBA may arbitrate Pavlicevic-Wakayama dispute

The Wakayama Trians gave Zeljko Pavlicevic a guaranteed two-year contract when he was hired in 2013 to lead the team, formerly based in Osaka, as it made the transition from the Japan Basketball League to its successor, the National Basketball League.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBL NOTEBOOK
Jul 31, 2014

New challenges for Takeuchi, Okada

Because of the disparity in the talent pool, the National Basketball League ended up with enormous gaps between the elite teams and weaker teams during its inaugural 2013-14 season.
BASKETBALL
Jul 11, 2014

Retired Shiga Lakestars big man Gomez begins new career in coaching

Veteran forward Dionisio Gomez announced his retirement last week, ending a pro basketball career that began in 2003 in the USBL.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 24, 2014

Spurs set example for rest of league with consistency

The great American sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote a poem, "Alumnus Football," that ended like this:
BASKETBALL
Apr 28, 2014

Levanga coach Perez airs NBL frustrations

As their season came to an end having missed a playoff berth on Sunday, Levanga Hokkaido's Spanish bench boss Juan Manuel Hurtado Perez poured out his thoughts in an almost furious fashion.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Apr 2, 2014

Big Bull Peppers proud to be underdog

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Josh Peppers of the Iwate Big Bulls is the subject of this week's profile.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBL NOTEBOOK
Mar 14, 2014

Hall looks on bright side during trying season

A year after he was on a team that had its hands on a possible NCAA men's national championship, American Carl Hall is on a club that struggles to get even a single victory in Japan.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Nov 14, 2013

Funding gap puts NBL on unequal footing in drive to attract fans

This fall, the National Basketball League proudly launched as Japan's new top hoop circuit. But it has also been ridiculed by naysayers as simply a rebranding of its predecessor — the Japan Basketball League — with its content practically the same.
BASKETBALL
Jul 12, 2013

Boettcher named Shiga's new coach

Chris Boettcher, a longtime women's college basketball assistant coach, has been hired as the Shiga Lakestars' new bench boss, the bj-league team announced on Friday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 13, 2013

Japan's 'chosen one' has big dreams

He grabs rebounds and blocks shots inside, he sprints as fast as anyone else and he hits jumpers with a silky shooting touch.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 12, 2013

Gunma making progress under Blackwell's leadership

The Gunma Crane Thunders' entire history consists of 46 regular-season games — 12 wins, 34 defeats. A standard of excellence and habits, good or bad, generally take longer to form.
EDITORIALS
Feb 24, 2013

Sportsmanship gone awry

Details of the brutal physical and verbal abuse by the basketball coach of an Osaka high school boy who committed suicide have finally been released. The external independent panel found that coach Hajime Komura repeatedly and consistently used corporal punishment and verbal abuse on the boy before the...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear