[Antoine Broxsie]
Taiwan Mobile has decided to release former NBA draft pick Marcus Fizer for his bad attitude, local media reported.
Fizer, who played for TM in only one game, told the team his injury flared up and did not practice with the team since then. He asked not to play this week.
Pure Youth will have to find a replacement for Terence Dials, who had to leave Taiwan after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, and it has locked up 6-9 forward Quincy Davis, local media reported Thursday.
Davis, who played in China in 2010 and Turkey this year, averaged 10.4 points, 5.3 rebounds during his four years at Tulane University.
Import players are making their impact felt in the opening week as the 2011-12 SBL season tipped off in the central city of Miaoli on Saturday.
6-7 Kevin Johnson had double-doubles on consecutive games and led Yulon to a 2-0 start, beating Pure Youth and KKL respectively. Johnson had 22 points, 23 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals against PY and 28 and 22 against KKL.
A pair of former NBA players also turned in solid performances. Marcus Fizer had 23 points and 13 rebounds in his debut and led Taiwan Mobile to a comeback win against Bank of Taiwan, 66-62.
Defending champion Taiwan Beer has run into problems in recent weeks with finding the import it needed, releasing two players before testing 6-7 forward Dennis Carr.
TB released DeAngelo Collins and Antoine Broxsie. Broxsie went on to be tested by KKL, which released Rashad Jones-Jennings.
Jones-Jennings played last season with Pure Youth and captured the SBL rebounding title.
Current SBL imports are:
Yulon: Kevin Johnson, Humboldt St.
Dacin: Noel Felix, Fresno St.
TB: Dennis Carr, Embry Riddle (NAIA)
KKL: Antoine Broxsie, Oklahoma St.
BOT: John Vaudreuil, Minnesota-Duluth
PY: Terence Dials, Ohio St.
TM: Marcus Fizer, Iowa St.
Taiwan Mobile signed 6-8 forward Marcus Fizer, the second former NBA player in the SBL following Noel Felix of Dacin Tiger, local media reported.
Fizer, out of Iowa State, was the No. 4 pick selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 2000 NBA Draft and went on to play for the Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets between 2000-2006. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2001 and won the NBDL MVP in 2006.
He appeared in 289 career NBA games, making 35 starts and averaging 9.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 1.2 apg, shooting .435 from the floor and .691 from the free throw line in 20.9 mpg
Dacin Tigers and Taiwan Beer will meet in the opening game of the 2011-12 SBL season on Dec. 17 at Miaoli Dome in the central city of Miaoli, the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association announced.
For the first time, SBL games will be scheduled to play in the southern city of Greater Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second largest city. The regular season games from Jan.6-8 will be played at Kaohsiung Dome with a capacity of over 10,000.
Taiwan Beer is testing DeAngelo Collins and is expected to sign the American forward with baggage during his basketball career, the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported.
In related news, Taiwan Mobile has released Lorenzo Davis and is the only team among seven SBL teams without an import now.
Current SBL imports are:
Yulon: Kevin Johnson, Humboldt St.
Dacin: Noel Felix, Fresno St.
TB: DeAngelo Collins, HS
KKL: Rashad Jones-Jennings, UALR
BOT: John Vaudreuil, Minnesota-Duluth
PY: Terence Davis, Ohio St.
TM: None
Dacin Tigers and Taiwan Mobile signed their import players for the 2011-12 SBL season last week, Apple Daily reported.
Dacin signed 6-9 forward Noel Felix, the first SBL import with NBA experiences. Felix, who played for Seattle Sonics in 2005-06 season and averaged 1.5 points and 1.2 rebounds in 12 games, was quoted as saying that he had wanted to try out with several NBA teams but decided to stop waiting for those opportunities because of the extended NBA lockout.
Taiwan Mobile signed 6-10 forward Lorenzo Davis, who was quoted as saying that his priority is to help TM to make the playoffs.
Doug Creighton's offensive rebound and putback helped Pure Youth beat Elite Talent Exchange 89-86 to win the 2011 Probation Cup Invitational in Taiwan's eastern city of Hualien on Sunday.
Zuo Tsun-kai missed consecutive free-throws but Creighton, who joined PY this summer, grabbed the offensive rebound for the winning basket as PY, which led by as many as 18 points, held off ETE's furious rally in the last period.
The 2011 Probation Cup Invitational Tournament will be held from Oct. 12-16 in the eastern Taiwan city of Hualien with nine teams in contention for the tourney, which is in its tenth year.
Malaysian national team, Elite Talent Exchange and seven SBL teams will be divided into two groups in the preliminary round with top four teams in each group advancing to the knock-out second round, where top two teams in each group will meet in a cross-over semifinals and the third- and fourth-ranked teams meet in 5-8 place classification games.
Chen Hsin-an, arguably Taiwan's best player, would play in his home country Taiwan next season after signing with Pure Youth Construction on Friday, local media reported.
Chen, who spent the last two years with Dongguan in the Chinese league CBA, decided to play closer to his family as he now have two daughters.
The 1.96-meter forward sign with Pure Youth for two years with the maximum monthly salary of NT$120,000 (US$3,936) allowed under SBL regulation. Signing bonuses and incentives were not disclosed. (However, I suspect that PY would pay Chen more than that.)
[Liu Cheng]
Liu Cheng was named the top pick in the 2011 SBL local players draft on Oct. 7 as 13 of 17 applicants were selected by six SBL teams.
Liu, a 1.90-meter forward from Min Dao University, was selected by KKL at No. 1 as expected while Chen Hsiao-jung went No. 2 to Taiwan Mobile and Lai Po-lin was picked up by Bank of Taiwan at No. 3.
Former Dacin head coach Liu Jia-fa will join Taiwan Beer's coaching staff as an assistant coach, local media reported last week.
Liu twice led Dacin to advance to the SBL Finals but lost to Yulon and Taiwan Beer respectively. He coached Chunghwa Telecom of the women's league WSBL for two years after leaving Dacin.
Sixteen players have completed registration for the 2011-12 SBL local players draft, which will be held on Oct. 7 in Taipei, the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) said.
Seven of the 16 players came from Ming Dao University, runner-up in the university league UBA this past season, including notable players Liu Cheng and Peng Chun-yen, according to the CTBA.
Taiwan NT center Tseng Wen-ting signed a four-year contract with Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).
Terms of the agreement -- a three-year contract with Shanghai could exercise a team option for the fourth year -- were not disclosed, but it is believed that Tseng will be paid between one million to two million Chinese yuan annually.
The CTBA plans to hold a national conference to discuss the future direction of Taiwanese basketball after Taiwan NT finishing for a somewhat disappointing eighth place in the 2011 Asian Championship. The CNA report is as follows:
Taiwan was down to six available players due to injury and lost to Japan 81-72 to finish for the eighth place in the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Men in Wuhan, China.
Taiwan, which had already lost four players -- point guards Lee Hsueh-lin, Su Yi-chieh and forwards James Mao and Chien Chia-hung to injury -- trailed 28-9 in the first quarter, when it again lost injured Wu Tai-hao after three minutes.
Some quotes taken from Taiwanese media is the past few days after the quarterfinal loss to the Philippines:
A couple of photos taken from Taiwanese newspapers today.
(Photos: UDN.com, Apple Daily)
Philippine center Marcus Douthit was unstoppable. The naturalized center had 37 points and 10 rebounds as Philippines rallied in the second half to beat Taiwan 95-78 in the quarterfinal of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Men and advanced to the semifinals.
Philippines advanced to Asian semifinals for the first time since 1987 while Taiwan failed to make the final four for the first time since 1999.
Taiwan lost to the Philippines 95-78 in the quarterfinal round of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Men.
Taiwan vs. PhilippinesLed by Jet Chang's 25 points and Lin Chih-chieh's 21 points, Taiwan beat Malaysia 109-62 in its last game of the second round. It is scheduled to meet the Philippines in the quarterfinal round.
Taiwan vs. Malaysia
Two steals in the last 18 seconds saved the day for Taiwan NT, which edged Lebanon 60-58 in the second round of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Men Monday in Wuhan, China.
In the chaotic last 60 seconds, Lebanon committed a 24-second violation while Taiwan returned the favor with a backcourt violation before Wu Tai-hao picked the pocket of a slashing Jean Abdel Nour to regain possession.
Jet Chang scored a game-high 35 points in Taiwan's 94-78 victory over Qatar Saturday in the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Men and helped Taiwan advance to the 12-team second round.
Taiwan made the second round as second place of the Group B with a 2-1 record, behind the undefeated Iran (3-0).
Qatar, which was plagued by naturalization issues with FIBA Asia and saw six of its players suspended, used five players for the entire game. In protest of the shocking development, Qatar basically gave up its previous two games by fouling out players before deciding to play today.
Chang made 10-of-18 shots, including 6-of-10 from three. He was not proud of his 35 points though, telling the media after the game that the game was not competitive.
"We were a little bit hesitant in the beginning because we didn't know how Qatar would play this game, " said Lee Hsueh-lin, who had 15 points and seven assists.
Tseng Wen-ting, who seemed to be not in his best condition in the preliminary round, had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Head coach Chou Jun-san said it was not an easy game for Taiwan NT, because Qatar had been stripped of several players and could not play the game with its full squad.
Chou was not happy with Taiwan NT's rebounding effort in the first three games, saying that it would be an important factor in the next round.
Omar Salem led Qatar with 30 points and 12 rebounds. Erfan Ali Saeed had 19 and 13 while Abdulrahman Saad chipped in 18 and 10.
Preliminary round standing: (top three teams advance)
Group A
Korea 3-0
Lebanon 2-1
Malaysia 1-2
India 0-3
Group B
Iran 3-0
Taiwan 2-1
Uzbekistan 1-2
Qatar 0-3
Group C
Japan 3-0
Jordan 2-1
Syria 1-2
Indonesia 0-3
Group D
China 3-0
Philippines 2-1
UAE 1-2
Bahrain 0-3
Second round brackets:
Group E
Korea
Taiwan
Uzbekistan
Lebanon
Malaysia
Iran
Group F
Japan
Philippines
Jordan
Syria
UAE
China
(Photos: FIBA Asia)
For 26 minutes, Taiwan NT played solid defense against Iran and was on the verge of pulling off a big upset in Wuhan. However, Samad Bahrami came to the rescue and Taiwan NT went out of synch in the last 14 minutes, ending up with a 12-point loss.
Taiwan was able to stay with the Iranians early as both sides couldn't seem to find the basket and Taiwan playing aggressive and tenacious defense against its opponents, especially 7-2 center Hamed Haddadi.
Taiwan used speed to its advantage in an 11-1 run in the third quarter to make the score 30-20. With 2:08 left in the quarter, Haddadi, who finished with eight points and 18 rebounds, was out of the game after committing his fourth foul.
Taiwan beat Uzbekistan 81-71 Friday for its first win in the 2011 Asian Championship following a loss to Iran the day before, but head coach Chou Jun-san, who's making his international debut as a coach, was not a happy man.
Leading by as many as 22 points with seven minutes left in the game, Taiwan only came up with a 10-point win at the end. The 12-point differential could cost Taiwan a berth in the second round if it loses to Qatar.
WUHAN, China (26th FIBA Asia Championship): It needed the sparkling skills of Samad Bahrami, playing his first international game for the Iran NT, for Team Melli to start their quest for a FIBA Asia Championship with a 49-37 win against a feisty Ch. Taipei in Group B on Thursday.
A seven-team meeting convened by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association decided that the 2011-12 SBL season -- the ninth year of the semi-pro league -- will tip off on Dec. 17 this year and the player draft will be held on Oct. 7.
More details will be announced next week.
Taiwan women's NT lost to Japan on Sunday for the second straight time by a large margin in the same tournament after a 83-56 loss kicked them out of the podium finish in the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Women and the qualifying tournament of the 2012 London Olympics.
Losing to Japan by 27 in the preliminary round, Taiwan still couldn't keep up with the Japanese in the bronze medal game, scoring only 10 points in the first quarter and 9 in the second.
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls finished his two-day trip to Taiwan today.
Take a look at the following videos. The first one was Rose's interview with Videoland TV. The English efficiency of the host was less than desired and the questions he posed were…urghh…You know.
But I like the second video in which you can see Rose played with hand puppets, one of Taiwan's best known traditional folk arts.
Forward Chang Jung-hsuan, who was listed on the 24-man roster of the Taiwan NT this year before being cut, has been released by Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor (KKL), the team said in a press release.
Local media reported that the 1.90-meter forward, who won the SBL's Most Improved Player award last season, will sign with Taiwan Mobile.
Well, OK, this is not new. It happened last week. But I didn't have time blogging. Taiwan women's NT lost to the US 101-66 in the gold medal game of the 2011 World University Game in Shenzhen, China. However, it was the best finish and the first medal ever for Taiwan in the games.
The medal is also Taiwan's first medal at major international competitions on any level, men or women.
Taiwan (2-3) is scheduled to meet top seed Korea (5-0) in the semifinal of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Women tonight at Omura, Japan.
Taiwan lost 69-67 to Korea in the final game of the preliminary round.
China will meet Japan in the other semifinal game.
Chen Hsin-an to sign with PY?
Chen Hsin-an, 31, reportedly will return to Taiwan and sign with Pure Youth after spending the last two years in China with Dongguan.
Chen has finished his two-year contract with Dongguan, where his playing time was limited due to injury and other reasons. According to the United Daily News, Dacin Tigers is also trying to sign Chen, but Chen has not reached a final decision on his future, saying that he wants to focus on the upcoming FIBA Asia Championship for Men right now.
Taiwan head coach Chou Jun-san made the final cut right after the conclusion of the 2011 William Jones Cup with the 15-man roster for the upcoming FIBA Asia Championship for Men set, local newspaper Liberty Times reported.
Little-used point guard Hung Chih-shan of Pure Youth and young and inexperienced Chou Yi-hsiang were cut as well as Doug Creighton, who was reportedly unable to participate in the Asian Championship due to family business, the report quoted Chou as saying.
Title game: Iran 66-59 Korea
Iran defeated Korea 66-59 in the title game of the 2011 William Jones Cup tournament Sunday to win its third straight title at the annual invitational tournament.
Iranian center Hamed Haddadi of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies followed his semifinal outburst of 36 points, 8 rebounds and five blocks against the Philippines with another brilliant outing, collecting 35 points, 18 rebounds and seven blocks against the Koreans in the title game.
Haddadi outplayed former NBA center Ha Seung-jin, who had four points and 8 boards before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Haddadi's strong showing quickly forced Korean center Kim Joo-sung to another disqualification.
I'm sorry for not writing reports about the Jones Cup for the past couple of days. I was to busy with my day job.
People asked me about the boxscores of the tournament. Here they are. You should be able to tell which team is which and the names of the players.
By the way, Iran just completed the three-peat, beating South Korea 66-59 in the title game.
Playoff round boxscores
http://wjc.basketball-tpe.org/files/13-1004-1554.php
Preliminary round boxscores
http://wjc.basketball-tpe.org/files/600-1004-71.php
1. Korea 6-1
2. Philippines 5-2
3. Iran 5-2
4. Taiwan 4-3
5. Jordan 4-3
6. Japan 3-4
7. Malaysia 1-6
8. UAE 0-7
Taiwan 92-87 UAE (32-40)
TWN: Jet Chang 24, Chen Shun-hsiang 15, Lu Cheng-ju 14, Tseng Wen-ting 5+5+5blk
UAE: I. Ahmad 21+4s, R.A. Zaabi 20, M. Al Braiki 15
Standings:
Korea 4-0
Jordan 3-1
Philippines 3-1
Taiwan 3-1
Iran 2-2
Japan 1-3
Malaysia 0-4
UAE 0-4
Standings:
Jordan 3-0
Korea 3-0
Philippines 2-1
Taiwan 2-1
Iran 1-2
Japan 1-2
Malaysia 0-3
UAE 0-3
[Tseng Wen-ting vs. Marcus Douthit]
If this tournament is the Asian Championship, Taiwan is in deep trouble. Fortunately, it's not.
The Philippines outplayed host Taiwan on both ends of the court from start to finish, scoring a 90-78 convincing victory on Taiwan's home turf behind support of hundreds of passionate Filipino fans -- as usual -- Sunday night.
Taiwan's closest neighbor to the south is now tied 2-0 with Jordan and Korea after two days.
Jordan 93-63 Malaysia
JOR: Z.A. Abbas 21+7, O. Daghles 17+4a+5s
MY: Li Wei Chee 13, Shee Fai Loh 12
O. Daghles, Jordan
Led by naturalized Marcus Douthit, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Philippines upset two-time defending champion Iran Saturday in the opening day of the 2011 William Jones Cup invitational tournament in Taipei.
Philippines NT was more prepared against Iran, who came to Taipei without one of its key players Samad Nikkhah. According to Iranian head coach Veselin Matic, Hamed Ehadadi did not practice much with the team before arriving in Taiwan.
Former Dacin Tigers assistant coach Hsu Chih-chao has been named head coach of the Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor, the team announced.
Hsu, 37, spent his entire career as a player or a coach in Dacin.
The young coach said that he will make KKL a "balanced" team on both ends of the court. KKL averaged 82.6 points per game last season but also surrender 88.6 points per game, highest among seven SBL teams.
The announcement, however, contradicts a previous report saying that Huang Bao-tse will be the team's new head coach next year. A local media reported that Huang was hired as an assistant rather a head coach.
2011 SBL coaches
Name Team DOB W-L (Year)
Chiu Chi-yi Yulon 1975.10.6 0-0 (2011-)
Yen Chia-hua TB 1954.6.26 143-91 (2003-2011)
Chia Fan TM 1975.2.3 0-0 (2011-)
Hsu Chin-tse PY 1973.4.27 72-78 (2006-2011)
Lai Liang-chung BOT 1960.8.13 26-93 (2007-2011)
Hsu Chih-chao KKL 1974.5.1 0-0 (2011-)
Chiu Ta-tsun Dacin 1964.7.1 87-63 (2006-2011)
Taiwan defeated Korea's Samsung club team 73-50 Thursday in the final game to win the 2011 William Jones Cup tournament women's competition with an undefeated record (4-0).
The title was Taiwan's seventh in tourney history.
In the other game of the night, Japan routed India 98-62 to finish as runner-up with 3-1.
South Africa national team has withdrawn from the 2011 William Jones Cup tournament due to funding problems, the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association announced Thursday.
After the withdrawal, the entire tourney has been re-scheduled. A playoff round will be added after the eight-team single round robin preliminary round. The schedule is listed as follows:
[Liu Chun-yi, Taiwan NT]
Taiwan women's NT defeated the other home team, the World University Games national team, 77-59 Wednesday night to clinch the 2011 William Jones Cup tournament with one game left to play.
Led by Lin Yu-ting's 15, Taiwan placed five scorers in double-digit and defeated host Chile for the second time in the tournament to finish 11th place in the 2011 FIBA World U19 Championship for Women.
While the 11th place is not something to brag about, it is already Taiwan's best finish in the tourney. Taiwan was winless in its first appearance in 1993. This year it had a 3-5 record in Chile.
For those who want to download complete rosters and schedule of the 2011 William Jones Cup Invitational Tournament, please visit this link:
The official website of the 2011 William Jones Cup invitational tournament has been launched at http://wjc.basketball-tpe.org/bin/home.php
AS USUAL, it's only in mandarin Chinese.
