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.
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.
SBL regular season games will resume on February 3 after a three-week long break of the Lunar New Year and Taiwan’s presidential election.
The last game was played on January 8, approximately one week before the January 14 presidential election and later the nine-day Lunar New Year vacation.
A couple of things worth mentions:
Yulon
Kevin Johnson 18p+17.2rb+3.1a+2b
Lu cheng-ju 16.3p
Chou Po-chen 10.7p+7.1rb
Chen Chih-chung 9.6p+3.3rb+4.4a
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
