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More updated stats leaders

12/28/2012

Through games of Christmas Day.
Steals
1. Draelon Burns (Yokohama) - 2.5 (per game)
2. Anthony McHenry (Ryukyu) - 2.3
3. Masato Tsukino (Iwate) - 2.3
4. Ira Brown (Toyama) - 2.0
4. Michael Parker (Shimane) - 2.0
6. Takehiko Shimura (Sendai) - 1.9
7. D'Andre Bell (Chiba) - 1.9
8. Narito Namizato (Ryukyu) - 1.8
9. Takeshi Mito (Toyama) - 1.7
10. Takuma Yamashiro (Saitama) - 1.7
10. Kevin Galloway (Hamamatsu) - 1.7

Blocked shots
1. Jeral Davis (Shimane) - 3.5
2. Lawrence Blackledge (Iwate) - 2.8
3. Wayne Marshall (Shinshu) - 2.1
4. Thomas Fairley (Miyazaki) - 1.9
5. Jared Carter (Tokyo) - 1.8
5. Paul Williams (Takamatsu) - 1.8
7. Jeff Newton (Ryukyu) - 1.6
8. Ira Brown (Toyama) - 1.6
9. Michael Parker (Shimane) - 1.5
10. Anthony Kent (Akita) - 1.3

3-point shooting percentage
1. Kenichi Takahashi (Iwate) - 50.0
2. Kazuhiro Shoji (Akita) - 46.8
3. Shinya Ogawa (Shiga) - 45.1
4. Masayuki Kabaya (Yokohama) - 44.2
5. D'Andre Bell (Chiba) - 43.4
6. Yasuaki Arai (Sendai) - 43.2
7. Draelon Burns (Yokohama) - 43.1
8. Adrian Thomas (Hamamatsu) - 43.1*
9. Hiroki Oshiro (Miyazaki) - 41.1
10. Kimitake Sato (Niigata) - 40.6
*No longer with the team

Free-throw shooting percentage
1. Kohei Mitomo (Oita) - 97.5
2. Cohey Aoki (Tokyo) - 94.5
3. David Palmer (Kyoto) - 92.1
4. Marquin Chandler (Chiba) - 90.4
5. John Humphrey (Saitama) - 87.5
6. Yuichi Ikeda (Niigata) - 87.1
7. Kevin Coble (Sendai) - 86.2
8. Takuma Yamashiro (Saitama) - 86.0
9. Makoto Sawaguchi (Iwate) - 85.7
10. Takato Saito (Shinshu) - 85.4

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Missing more golden opportunities

12/27/2012

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Ryukyu Golden Kings guard Narito Namizato, a 23-year-old Okinawan who'll make his second bj-league All-Star Game appearance next month, drained a deep, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift his club to a thrilling victory on Sunday over the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix, the same team the Kings beat in the championship game in May.

As the league marches on, now in its eighth season, its relevance to the masses remains quite insignificant. Part of the problem is that the extraordinary highlights -- not to forget many routine ones, too -- are not shown on the news, not on regular NHK, Fuji, Asahi, Nippon TV nor TBS, TV Tokyo ... any other big-time broadcast outlets on a regular basis.

Game highlights can be great tools for sparking greater interest in the league and the sport.

"That was one of the most spectacular shots....that almost no one saw...except for the fans in the gym, and the few watching BJTV," one observer commented the other day, thinking about what Namizato had accomplished.

"If this was the U.S., and that buzzer beater was shown on national TV the way a similar play in the States would have been, every boy and girl in Japan who plays basketball would have been in the gym today imitating that shot and dreaming of the day they got the chance to hit a game winner."

So what did he think about the lack of TV coverage for this sensational play?

"Not just sad. Tragic," the source declared.

"Which just shows how tough some of the guys (like Tabuse, KJ and Taishi at Toyota, and Kawamura in the JBL, Cohey, Joho, and Namizato in the bj-league) must be to take non-traditional routes to becoming professional players."

Game highlights on TV are needed to grow the game. The TV networks' news directors must be convinced that this is the case, too. It's worked in Japan for the J.League since Day One.

According to FIBA, here are the relevant numbers related to basketball in this country:

32,939 registered clubs
271,687 licensed female players
326,027 licensed male players
3,000,000 unlicensed players
Source: http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/FIBA/fibaStru/nfLeag/nfProf.asp?nationalFederationNumber=309

So, you see, there is a market out there to showcase the game in the mass media. It'll take visionary leadership to make it happen.

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Updated stats

12/27/2012

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Top bj-league scorers (through Dec. 25)
1. Jonathan Jones (Tokyo) - 22.2 points per game
2. Draelon Burns (Yokohama) - 20.4
3. T.J. Cummings (Akita) - 20.4
4. Michael Parker (Shimane) - 20.1
5. Dominique Keller (Gunma) - 19.4
6. Joe Werner (Chiba) - 19.3
7. Thomas Kennedy (Yokohama) - 18.9
8. Terrance Woodbury (Ryukyu) - 18.7
9. Kevin Galloway (Hamamatsu) - 18.0
10. Wendell White (Hamamatsu) - 17.9

Top rebounders
1. Chris Holm (Niigata) - 13.5
2. Reggie Warren (Fukuoka) - 12.7
3. Sam Willard (Sendai) - 12.5
4. Dennis Carr (Tokyo) - 12.4
5. Wendell White (Hamamatsu) - 12.2
6. Mike Bell (Osaka) - 11.6
7. Rick Rickert (Osaka) - 11.4
8. Joe Werner (Chiba) - 10.7
9. Jonathan Jones (Tokyo) - 10.1
10. Michael Parker (Shimane) - 9.8

Assist leaders
1. Kensuke Tanaka (Chiba) - 6.2
2. Narito Namizato (Ryukyu) - 6.0
3. Kevin Galloway (Hamamatsu) - 6.0
4. Takehiko Shimura (Sendai) - 5.8
5. Draelon Burns (Yokohama) - 5.1
6. Dion Harris (Akita) - 4.7
7. Takuma Yamashiro (Saitama) - 4.6
8. Kenya Tomori (Gunma) - 3.8
9. Takeshi Mito (Toyama) - 3.8
10. Masashi Joho (Toyama) - 3.7

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No legitimate national TV coverage: a huge problem

12/20/2012

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No games on BS Fuji this season, no games on Gaora, no national network with announcers and camera crews to provide coverage from Okinawa to northern Tohoku.

(Sorry, folks, BJTV, online viewing, doesn't cut it. It's a backup plan to watch a few games, not a substitute for a proper sports broadcast with professional announcers and all of the angles and replays of 21st century high-definition television.)

It was a stunning development that has highlighted how incredibly mismanaged the bj-league really is.With the season nearing its midway point in a few weeks, the All-Star Game is a rare opportunity for fans of the league and casual sports fans to enjoy a fun contest and watch popular players from the entire league in action. But not a real TV station this season. It's not happening.

But the beat goes on ... the league continues expanding, only increasing its problems.

Listen to one veteran coach, one who has been in the league a long time, discuss the TV problem:

"Good thing games aren't on TV," he said facetiously. "Or (Toyama center) Ira Brown would be famous across Japan for some of the dunks he threw down against Nagano (Shinshu) two weeks ago. Plays like that should be on Japan's version of 'Sports Center' every night, or at least on some NHK Sunday night sports show.

"Way to go, smart leaders in the basketball world of the JBA/JBL/BJL/JNBL, who keep wondering how to make basketball a major sport in this country."

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More updated stats leaders

Missing more golden opportunities

Updated stats

No legitimate national TV coverage: a huge problem

Ed Odeven

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