Before the hectic pace of the playoffs grabs the spotlight and all attention centers on the end of an era, it's an appropriate time to recognize Masashi Joho's significant place in league history.
The current Toyama Grouses star helped elevate his team to one of the Eastern Conference's elite clubs over the past few seasons. He's always been a hard-nosed competitor, a player determined to make his teammates better.
Joho made his bj-league debut in the first season, 2005-06, and over the years he's also risen in prominence, from a role player to a go-to scorer for his teams, moving from the Osaka Evessa (two titles) to the Tokyo Apache (two championship finishes) to the Shiga Lakestars (two postseason berths) to the Grouses, who sit atop the 12-team Eastern Conference with a 28-10 record and will move on to the postseason for a fifth time during Joho's distinguished tenure there.