Unlike the J. League in the early 1990s, the Japan Professional Basketball League will not be an immediate success story when it tips off in the fall of 2016.
The stars were aligned for the J. League to shine brightly, including the obvious appetite for another team sport to vie with the stagnant Nippon Professional Baseball for public interest.
There are deep-rooted problems that plague Japanese basketball. And it's unrealistic to believe that everything will neatly fall into place in 14 months.