With the National Basketball League getting under way in a couple of weeks' time, league officials, coaches and players expressed their excitement at a news conference in Tokyo on Sunday evening.
"We're finally opening our NBL at the end of this month," league president Mitsuru Maruo said. "We've reached this point with the support of the fans, the media, the clubs and a lot of others."
The NBL will tip off its first campaign with 12 clubs, including the Chiba Jets, who moved from the bj-league over the summer. The teams are divided into the Eastern and Western Leagues and each club plays 54 games in the regular season. The top four teams of the entire league will advance to the playoffs in May.