In search of the next Jeremy Lin

Like other Asian countries, Taiwan has never stopped searching Taiwanese-born players or players with Taiwanese descent who were trained or are playing in the US to boost its basketball strength.

With the unexpected emergence and the global popularity of New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin, it has been even more so.

The Central News Agency, Taiwan's semi-governmental new agency, has recently reported on a new case that the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association may want to take a look at.

The story reported on Joy Burke and TJ Burke, who hailed from Arizona and are playing at Arizona State and UC Riverside, respectively.

Yang wins SBL All-Star Game MVP

Taiwan Beer backup shooting guard Yang Yu-ming had 21 points, including five three-pointers, to win the 2012 SBL All-Star Game after leading the White Team to a 114-87 win over the Blue Team in his hometown of Kaohsiung.

Dacin import Noel Felix led the Blue Team with a game-high 28 points and six rebounds. Lu Cheng-ju of Yulon had 11 points on three three-pointers.

Wright wins SBL dunk title

Taiwan Mobile's Ryan Wright won the 2012 SBL slam-dunk title Saturday with a pair of powerful and windmill dunks in front of 9,600 fans in the southern port city of Kaohsiung.

Doug Creighton of Pure Youth edged Yulon's Lu Cheng-ju with 19 points to win the title in the three-point shootout finals.

KKL guard Chou Tzu-hua won the skill challenge.

2012 SBL All-Star Weekend in Kaohsiung

The SBL All-Star Weekend will be held in the southern port city of Greater Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second largest city, for the first time from Feb. 25-26.

Due to various reasons, the All-Star Game was not held during the past two years.

Former NBA player Noel Felix led all players in the All-Star voting. The results are listed as follows:

SBL news - Feb. 22, 2012

[Kibwe Trim, TB]

- SBL imports
Import players have been putting up impressive numbers this season. And Taiwan Beer finally settled with Kibwe Trim as its import after testing three or four guys since the start of the season.

According to the SBL regulation, import players could not be replaced after the deadline of Feb. 12.

The league raised the maximum height of import players from 6-7 to 6-9 this year, which I think was the primary reason the imports have been blocking more shots.

However, as I stated before, some people have started to question the true height of some imports, such as Elbert Fuqua and Kibwe Trim. They were both listed taller than 6-9 in the past.

Cathay Life leads first round WSBL

[Left: Huang Fan-shan, Cathay Life; Right: Tsai Pei-chen, Taiyuan]

Cathay Life routed Taiyuan 83-65 and Chunghwa Telecom beat Taipower 60-54 Wednesday as Cathay Life leads the first round of the six-round WSBL regular season 3-0 and Chunghwa Telecom followed with 2-1.

Cathay was led by Lan Hao-yu's 19 points. Chiang Feng-chun, who re-signed with Cathay Life after leaving the team for one year, had 14 points. Huang Fan-shan had 10 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Chan Chi-fang led Taiyuan with 19 points. Ma Yi-hung did not play due to injury.

FIBA Asia calendar 2012

Beirut to host Champions Cup; Tokyo to host re-christened FIBA Asia Cup

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: The FIBA Asia calendar of events for 2012 has been announced.

The calendar will tip off with the 23rd FIBA Asia Champions Cup, FIBA Asia’s premier event for club teams, to be hosted by Lebanon at Beirut from Jun 2 – 10, 2012.

Brilliant week for BOT guard Chen Shun-hsiang

Bank of Taiwan shooting guard Chen Shun-hsiang came out of injury and turned in a pair of brilliant games this past week after the lunar new year break.

Chen made his season debut on Friday against Taiwan Beer after breaking his collar bone in a pre-season game and did not disappoint, chipping in 29 points, including five three-pointers, and lead BOT to a 90-80 win.

KKL, TM bring in new imports

[Wright vs. Fuqua]

Taiwan Mobile and Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor brought in new imports as the SBL regular season resumed after a three-week lunar new year break.

Taiwan Mobile signed 206cm Canadian forward Ryan Wright and KKL signed Anthony Fuqua.

One interesting thing to note though. Fuqua has been listed as 6-11 (211cm), two inches taller than the SBL import height limit of 206cm. I'm not sure how KKL was able to sign him.

Both players had suited up and played for their respective teams this week and played well.