For every expansion team, its inaugural season is a series of highs and lows. There's the exhaustion and enthusiasm that it takes to build a team from scratch and the growing pains that go with it. And it's never an easy task.
To complicate matters, the expansion Miyazaki Shining Suns, have been confronted with an issue that many bj-league teams have faced since the March 11 earthquake in Tohoku, tsunami and the subsequent Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis: the loss of foreign players who were major contributors. (Most teams generally start three imports.)
Forward/center Brandon Cole is now the lone foreigner on Miyazaki's roster. Jackie Manuel and Elijah Palmer, key frontcourt players since the season began, decided to leave Japan after what occurred early last month.