The Shinshu Brave Warriors endured back-to-back losing seasons in 2011-12 and 2012-13 as the franchise got established.

There were growing pains, coaching changes (Motofumi Aoki, Takatoshi Ishibashi), injury setbacks (Wayne Marshall) and a lot of ups and downs.

Now, under new coach Ryuji Kawai, the Brave Warriors have made their first major offseason acquisition, signing 2010-11 regular-season and playoff MVP Jeff Parmer, who helped lead the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix to a championship in his awards-winning season and a title runnerup finish the next season. The deal was announced on Wednesday.