More quotes from the archives.
-In November 2006, then-Tokyo Apache guard Jun Nakanishi, speaking at Shinonome Elementary School on a day the team had a clinic and ate lunch with students, said: As a pro, your main job is to play basketball . . . but you've got to do something with the community, (too)."
-In October 2009, former Saitama Broncos and Toyama Grouses head coach Charles Johnson said, "There's no time for slacking off. Every day you have got to do something to improve your game."
-In December 2008, former Tokyo Apache coach Joe Bryant: "After yesterday's game, I didn't sleep at all," Bryant admitted moments after his team closed the books on its 13th victory in 20 games. "I laid down for about 10 minutes and then jumped back up. My wife kept telling me, 'Come on, go to bed. Don't worry about it. Figure it out tomorrow.' I said OK and then jumped up again thinking about today's game, so I didn't get any sleep at all."
-In December 2008, then-Takamatsu Five Arrows guard Yu Okada (now with the Shiga Lakestars) said, I have bad days and good days as a shooter. That's why I've chosen to pass when I've had a bad day."
-In December 2008, Bryant on then-Tokyo guard Cohey Aoki: "He has the pure free-throw motion," Bryant said of Aoki, "and his concentration and focus is just like no other I've seen. You can look at some players in the NBA, there have been some great free-throw shooters — Rick Barry, shooting underhand — but anytime you are shooting in the high-90s (percentage) in free throws that is just amazing."
My report stated: On Sunday, Bryant witnessed his All-Star guard's super skills from courtside, and what occurred in the game's most critical juncture didn't surprise him at all.
Bryant said: "You know I was sitting there and I knew he hasn't missed a free throw all year and I said, 'Oh (expletive), is it time for him to miss one now?' . . . But he knocks them down."
-On Oct. 18, 2008, after his first game in a Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix uniform, 7-foot-9 center Sun Ming Ming told me: "I don't care about statistics — points, rebounds, assists — as long as we win. I just try to do the best I can."
Sun played 21 minutes and scored 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting in a 93-77 victory over the Sendai 89ers at Hamamatsu Arena.
-In 2008, here's how then-Osaka Evessa star Jeff Newton, the only four-time title winner in league history, described his play to me: I'm a solid defender. I gravitate to the ball. I've got a nose for the ball. . . . I'm not a great rebounder, I'm not a great shot-blocker, so the key is just being in the right place at the right time."
He added these remarks days before the Evessa completed their quest to win a third straight championship: "Um, we've got an expression that you are only as good as your last game. I guess it's the last one then, but it's over now. We are not even thinking about last year anymore."
-In March 2010, Oita HeatDevils guard Matt Lottich, who had won three rings with the Osaka Evessa, spoke about ex-teammate Masashi Joho. He told me: "At Shiga, Coach Bob Pierce has done a good job of saying, 'Look, I want you to be a scorer,' and Joho's taken that (challenge). He shoots shots that when I played with him (2005-07) he wouldn't have shot.
"He's much more aggressive (now) and he definitely has the ability, so you can combine confidence with aggressiveness and ability and you are going to have a good player."
-In March 2010, Bob Pierce gave his analysis of Masashi Joho's role with the Lakestars. Pierce told me:
"The big key for us all year has been getting Joho to recognize the difference between good shots and bad shots," Pierce said. "For example, shooting a 3-point shot on the fast break when we have a big guy underneath for the rebound is a good shot. Shooting it one-on-three with no one under the basket is a bad shot. Earlier in the year his defense would be almost non-existent if he wasn't scoring, or he would get caught up in a personal battle if his man was scoring on him.
"But now he has been showing much more maturity."
-in May 2010, Bob Pirerce dished out his insight about the bj-league's wacky playoff system.
Here's my brief description first, then Pierce's analysis:
The league's use of a 10-minute tiebreaker, if necessary, after Game 2 of the opening round of the playoffs to determine which team advances to the Final Four — that is, if those teams happen to both have one win apiece.
The Niigata Albirex BB reached the Final Four after losing Game 2 against the Sendai 89ers but winning the subsequent tiebreaker on Sunday.
Yes, saving money is important — the cost of renting a venue in Japan is outrageously high — but a true playoff format is a wiser investment. The Final Four is a single-elimination format, so it makes more sense to have the first round feature the same format, right?
Players talk, agents talk, coaches talk, and people form quick opinions about a league's leadership, the quality of its competition and the intelligence of its administration based on a few quick observations, including things as baffling as a 10-minute gimmick.
"It's been very frustrating the last few days hearing the reported comments as our five (foreign) players tell about the reaction of their friends and former teammates now playing in leagues around the world," Pierce said. ""I just felt like we lost five years of striving for respect.
"Players like (Shiga forward) Luke Zeller — who played college ball at Notre Dame — came here because he heard such good things about the bj-league from Ryukyu's George Leach (Indiana), who was working out at the same place in Indianapolis as Luke.
"Negative comments about our league can have the opposite effect, which is why I don't see why the league would want to continue this format."
He added: "Stories about this crazy playoff system may make the next guy who has to choose between a mid-level European team or the bj-league go to where they play 'real basketball,' in Europe rather than a league that will be seen as amateurish and gimmicky if this continues."
-A league with legitimate attendance problems, when it's not that uncommon for a game to have attendance in triple digits...Or as one astute observer has told me on a few occasions, "It seems like the league's basic approach is this: 'All we need to do is open the doors and the fans will show up.' "
-In October 2009, former Saitama Broncos and Toyama Grouses head coach Charles Johnson said, "There's no time for slacking off. Every day you have got to do something to improve your game."
-In December 2008, former Tokyo Apache coach Joe Bryant: "After yesterday's game, I didn't sleep at all," Bryant admitted moments after his team closed the books on its 13th victory in 20 games. "I laid down for about 10 minutes and then jumped back up. My wife kept telling me, 'Come on, go to bed. Don't worry about it. Figure it out tomorrow.' I said OK and then jumped up again thinking about today's game, so I didn't get any sleep at all."
-In December 2008, then-Takamatsu Five Arrows guard Yu Okada (now with the Shiga Lakestars) said, I have bad days and good days as a shooter. That's why I've chosen to pass when I've had a bad day."
-In December 2008, Bryant on then-Tokyo guard Cohey Aoki: "He has the pure free-throw motion," Bryant said of Aoki, "and his concentration and focus is just like no other I've seen. You can look at some players in the NBA, there have been some great free-throw shooters — Rick Barry, shooting underhand — but anytime you are shooting in the high-90s (percentage) in free throws that is just amazing."
My report stated: On Sunday, Bryant witnessed his All-Star guard's super skills from courtside, and what occurred in the game's most critical juncture didn't surprise him at all.
Bryant said: "You know I was sitting there and I knew he hasn't missed a free throw all year and I said, 'Oh (expletive), is it time for him to miss one now?' . . . But he knocks them down."
-On Oct. 18, 2008, after his first game in a Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix uniform, 7-foot-9 center Sun Ming Ming told me: "I don't care about statistics — points, rebounds, assists — as long as we win. I just try to do the best I can."
Sun played 21 minutes and scored 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting in a 93-77 victory over the Sendai 89ers at Hamamatsu Arena.
-In 2008, here's how then-Osaka Evessa star Jeff Newton, the only four-time title winner in league history, described his play to me: I'm a solid defender. I gravitate to the ball. I've got a nose for the ball. . . . I'm not a great rebounder, I'm not a great shot-blocker, so the key is just being in the right place at the right time."
He added these remarks days before the Evessa completed their quest to win a third straight championship: "Um, we've got an expression that you are only as good as your last game. I guess it's the last one then, but it's over now. We are not even thinking about last year anymore."
-In March 2010, Oita HeatDevils guard Matt Lottich, who had won three rings with the Osaka Evessa, spoke about ex-teammate Masashi Joho. He told me: "At Shiga, Coach Bob Pierce has done a good job of saying, 'Look, I want you to be a scorer,' and Joho's taken that (challenge). He shoots shots that when I played with him (2005-07) he wouldn't have shot.
"He's much more aggressive (now) and he definitely has the ability, so you can combine confidence with aggressiveness and ability and you are going to have a good player."
-In March 2010, Bob Pierce gave his analysis of Masashi Joho's role with the Lakestars. Pierce told me:
"The big key for us all year has been getting Joho to recognize the difference between good shots and bad shots," Pierce said. "For example, shooting a 3-point shot on the fast break when we have a big guy underneath for the rebound is a good shot. Shooting it one-on-three with no one under the basket is a bad shot. Earlier in the year his defense would be almost non-existent if he wasn't scoring, or he would get caught up in a personal battle if his man was scoring on him.
"But now he has been showing much more maturity."
-in May 2010, Bob Pirerce dished out his insight about the bj-league's wacky playoff system.
Here's my brief description first, then Pierce's analysis:
The league's use of a 10-minute tiebreaker, if necessary, after Game 2 of the opening round of the playoffs to determine which team advances to the Final Four — that is, if those teams happen to both have one win apiece.
The Niigata Albirex BB reached the Final Four after losing Game 2 against the Sendai 89ers but winning the subsequent tiebreaker on Sunday.
Yes, saving money is important — the cost of renting a venue in Japan is outrageously high — but a true playoff format is a wiser investment. The Final Four is a single-elimination format, so it makes more sense to have the first round feature the same format, right?
Players talk, agents talk, coaches talk, and people form quick opinions about a league's leadership, the quality of its competition and the intelligence of its administration based on a few quick observations, including things as baffling as a 10-minute gimmick.
"It's been very frustrating the last few days hearing the reported comments as our five (foreign) players tell about the reaction of their friends and former teammates now playing in leagues around the world," Pierce said. ""I just felt like we lost five years of striving for respect.
"Players like (Shiga forward) Luke Zeller — who played college ball at Notre Dame — came here because he heard such good things about the bj-league from Ryukyu's George Leach (Indiana), who was working out at the same place in Indianapolis as Luke.
"Negative comments about our league can have the opposite effect, which is why I don't see why the league would want to continue this format."
He added: "Stories about this crazy playoff system may make the next guy who has to choose between a mid-level European team or the bj-league go to where they play 'real basketball,' in Europe rather than a league that will be seen as amateurish and gimmicky if this continues."
-A league with legitimate attendance problems, when it's not that uncommon for a game to have attendance in triple digits...Or as one astute observer has told me on a few occasions, "It seems like the league's basic approach is this: 'All we need to do is open the doors and the fans will show up.' "