Aoki continues All-Star streak with seventh selection

Before the Ryukyu Golden Kings ever played a game and before Okinawa proved to be a terrific location for a Japanese professional basketball team, Cohey Aoki had already established himself as a fan favorite in the bj-league.

Lucky seven: Tokyo guard Cohey Aoki has been chosen for his seventh bj-league All-Star Game. YOSHIAKI MIURA

The league's first-ever All-Star Game, held in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, in January 2007, included then-Tokyo Apache guard Aoki. Since then, he's been the only player in league history to appear in each of the next five showcase games in Niigata; Beppu, Oita Prefecture; Rifu, Miyagi Prefecture; Osaka; and Saitama.

Aoki, now the cornerstone player for the expansion Tokyo Cinq Reves, will make his seventh All-Star assignment — all starts — on Jan. 20 at Ariake Colosseum. He is the highest-scoring Japanese player in the league this season, averaging 14.5 points per game.

And despite his small stature, the 167-cm Aoki's shooting skills have stood tall. He's shooting 50.4 percent from inside the 3-point arc and better than 93 percent at the free-throw line. His clutch 3-point shooting remains the stuff of legends, too.

Tokyo coach Motofumi Aoki, who has kept the new club (7-11 through Sunday) within shooting distance of playoff contention, will direct the Eastern Conference club, with Yokohama B-Corsairs coach Reggie Geary serving as his bench assistant.

The rest of the East's starting five includes three-time All-Star guard Takanori Goya (Shinshu Brave Warriors, 10.5 ppg) and first-timers Marquin Chandler (Chiba Jets, 19.4 ppg), Jonathan Jones (Tokyo, 21.3 ppg) and Dillion Sneed (Iwate Big Bulls, 17.5 ppg).

The East's All-Star backups are guards Shigehiro Taguchi (Akita), Kimitake Sato (Niigata), Masashi Joho (Toyama, a five-time selection), Shingo Okada (Gunma), Takuma Yamashiro (Saitama) and Draelon Burns (Yokohama) and forward Takuya Komoda (Sendai).

For the Western Conference, the starting backcourt features Tsubasa Yonamine (4.9 ppg, 4-to-1 assist/turnover ratio) and Narito Namizato (13.1 ppg) of the Ryukyu Golden Kings and Kings forward Anthony McHenry (15.1 ppg), and Kyoto Hannaryz forward David Palmer (14.9 ppg) and Shimane Susanoo Magic forward Kazuya "J." Hatano (8.0 ppg and 5.6 rpg in 18 appearances with Oita before joining Shimane recently). The West's head coach is Ryukyu's Koto Toyama and Atsushi Kanazawa of the Rizing Fukuoka is his assistant.

The West's reserves are guards Shinya Ogawa (Shiga), Hiroyuki Kikuchi (Takamatsu), Akitomo Takeno (Fukuoka), Taishiro Shimizu (Oita) and forwards/centers Atsuya Ota (Hamamatsu Higashimikawa), Nathan Walkup (Osaka) and Michael Parker (Shimane).

For the 3-Point Shootout, the contestants are Aoki, Toyama's Angel Garcia, Iwate's Kenichi Takahashi, Ogawa, Kyoto's Yu Okada and Palmer. Aoki is the defending champion.

In the Slam Dunk Contest, the participants are Toyama's Ira Brown, Tokyo's Akihito Inoue, Tokyo's Dennis Carr, Shiga's Ray Nixon, Osaka's Yoshihiro Tachibana, a two-time champion, and Miyazaki's Larriques Cunningham. (Defending champion John "Helicopter" Humphrey of Saitama is sidelined with a back injury.)

Five Arrows talk: Takamatsu (7-11) has already won more than three times as many games as last season, and coach Kenzo Maeda's club still has 34 contests remaining on its 2012-13 schedule.

Stranger things have happened than a team recovering from a 2-50 season to rebound to respectable form the next campaign, and swingman Dexter Lyons, the Five Arrows' leading scorer (15.0 ppg) is confident his team is just getting started.

"To me, it is vital and pivotal for everyone to understand their role as a player on this particular team," Lyons told The Japan Times. "We are a 'defensive team,' but with offensive weapons too, and I think that we have to understand we have to be the team to initiate the aggressiveness from the start, or we will continue to fight against ourselves."

In 18 games, Takamatsu has put 1,346 points on the board and yielded 1,400.

"As this team continues to understand our identity, we have shown to be a good team base unit," Lyons continued. "No one on this team thinks they are the only star on the team, including me.

"We share the basketball on offense, but some players lack the confidence it takes on an every-game basis. I think that we have to improve on boxing out and rebounding. Too many times I can recall us as a team giving up too many second-chance points causing the other team to push their lead further."

Despite the fact that Takamatsu has made big strides since last season, Lyons, who's in his first season with the Shikoku-based club after playing for Miyazaki in 2011-12, realizes the Five Arrows are far from a finished product.

At this point in the season, I am not happy," he admitted, "but I think we are shocking many clubs with the personnel that we have, being we have some first-timers in the bj-league and that we are inexperienced with our Japanese players.

"We are getting better every day and I see us becoming a talented ball club with the smarts of coach Kenzo."

To a man, Lyons has a chip on his shoulder as he reflects on the team's status and its image.

"I don't like that the league still thinks this is last year's team that only won two games," he said bluntly. "And I think the refs are carrying this into this season. Just saying . . . I respect them, but they need to get better or this may cause major problems around this league."

"I firmly believe that we have not played our best basketball yet, but I will make sure to lead these guys," the Central Florida product declared.

89ers update: Taking stock of their season to date, Sendai 89ers bench boss Bob Pierce said his team, in a rebuilding mode with seven new players on its opening day roster, needs to employ more physicality on the court, especially in the closing minutes of games.

Speaking after the 89ers' 79-68 defeat last Friday against the host B-Corsairs, Pierce said his club did not match Yokohama's physical intensity and strength in the two-game series (both losses for the guests).

"I thought the biggest difference down the stretch was as the game got physical and there were bumps and pushes on every play, we were the ones going like this (backing off) and looking to the referees," said Pierce after his team dropped its fifth straight game and fell to 5-12.

"And when the game gets physical, if you're not physical back, you are going to lose and the biggest difference in the last six minutes or so is that we were little kids out there complaining to our mommy to come help us because someone was pushing us around."

In order to climb in the standings and enter the playoff conversation in the East, the ninth-place 89ers need to become better rebounders, Pierce said, especially "when you are playing to get the key rebounds at the end of the defensive possession." He added that the team is giving up too many second-chance points.

Furthermore, Sendai's in-game time management has been inadequate.

Case in point: the series finale against Yokohama.

"We used all of our timeouts, just trying to control the game and avoid turnovers with 4 minutes to go, and I always try to save two or three to the end," Pierce said. "So the fact that we had to use seven timeouts before the 4-minute mark was a sign that not just the guards but our team is not taking care of the ball and controlling what's going on, on the court."

Newcomer T.J. Cummings played his first two games in an 89ers uniform last weekend, and working him into the mix and getting adjusted to his new teammates is a work in progress.

"With T.J. coming on, obviously sometimes the defensive and offensive rotations were off . . . especially when they had to make quick decisions on pick-and-rolls with Draelon (Burns) and Thomas Kennedy," Pierce said. "Those things in particular are things we have to work on, making sure we are physical on rebounding."

Burns and Kennedy combined for 36 points in the series opener, followed by 41 a day later.

B-Corsairs banter: Under the steady leadership of second-year sideline supervisor Reggie Geary, the bj-league's 2011-12 Coach of the Year, Yokohama is among the league's hottest teams as the year winds down.

Yokohama (12-6) has won four straight, six of its last seven and seven of its last 10.

Strong defense and 3-point shootings are keys to the team's success.

"I've been saying from day one that's how this team was built," Geary said last week. "We want to be an up-tempo team. We felt that we had a good core of shooters coming back, and we added some new scorers to the equation. And so we want to spread the floor and do exactly what we are doing right now.

The B-Corsairs are 160-for-419 from beyond the 3-point arc, with Masayuki Kabaya (44-for-96) and Burns (46-for-110) their top two options.

Returning to the Final Four after accomplishing that feat as a first-year franchise remains the top target for Geary's club.

"I'm excited about where we're at, but I'm more excited about where we are going because we can play so much better and still have a long way to go in terms of where we eventually want to be," Geary said.

Pressed for more details, he responded by saying, "What has been the most pleasant revelation has been how this team has found a way to be very, very good defensively, and I think that we're playing defense at the right time. And for me, as the head coach, the most encouraging thing is defensively we're really doing some good things."

To illustrate his point, Geary noted that in the team's last 16 quarters, or four games, including the Sendai series, his team had only allowed 20 or more points in three quarters.

In related news, the B-Corsairs have added big man Shawn Malloy, a University of New Orleans product, to their roster. The announcement was made on Wednesday.

The 209-cm veteran played for the Iwate Big Bulls last season and averaged 10.5 rebounds (sixth-best total in the league) and 11.2 points per game.

Upcoming games: Weekend action features Akita vs. Saitama, Niigata vs. Gunma, Chiba vs. Yokohama, Tokyo vs. Iwate, Shiga vs. Takamatsu, Osaka vs. Kyoto, Miyazaki vs. Fukuoka, Shimane vs. Oita and Ryukyu vs. Hamamatsu.

Sendai and Shinshu, meanwhile, will renew their rivalry in a series that tips off on Christmas Eve.

Around the league: The Golden Kings (15-3) have lost three straight games. Star forward Anthony McHenry (knee) did not play last weekend, giving his body a chance to rest. . . . The blockbuster Golden Kings-Phoenix matchup this weekend features the teams that have captured the past four league titles. This series marks their first regular-season meeting as Western Conference rivals. Hamamatsu, winners of seven straight, left the Eastern Conference after finishing runnerup to Ryukyu in May's championship match at Ariake Colosseum. . . .

Gunma opened the season with 12 straight defeats, but has climbed out of the cellar with four wins in its past eight games. Credit coach Ryan Blackwell, who was left to pick up the pieces after original bench boss Tadashi Hayashi, 0-8 in his brief stint in charge, was shown the door in early November following the team's disastrous start. Floor leader Jermaine Dixon has played an instrumental role in giving the team a better grasp of how to compete in this league. The same can be said for guards Shingo Okada and Kenya Tomori, who, along with Dixon, previously starred for the Phoenix, including on last season's championship runnerup team.

Weekly accolade: Shimane center Jeral Davis, a 216-cm Talladega State (Alabama) product, had a major influence on the Susanoo Magic's back-to-back wins over Ryukyu last weekend in Okinawa.

Davis, the Lawson/Ponta Weekly MVP, blocked 12 shots in the series, including eight on Saturday. He also had 22 points and 12 rebounds in the series opener. A day later, Davis scored 20 points, grabbed eight boards and handed out three assists. He is the league's top shot blocker (3.6 per game) and is on pace to finish atop that category for the third straight season.

On Tuesday, Shimane coach Zeljko Pavlicevic wrote in an email that he's very pleased with the combined efforts of Davis and Parker in leading the team to a pair of big victories and their role as tone-setters for the squad.

New addition: The Saitama Broncos announced the signing of veteran post player Wayne Oliver on Tuesday.

The 201-cm Oliver, 31, attended Cameron University in Oklahoma before embarking on a career that has included stops in the IBL, ABA, Syria, China and Mexico.

Struggling Akita: The Northern Happinets have dropped six of their last 10 games. They were 7-1 to begin the season, and are now 11-7 and in sixth place — the final playoff spot — in the East, after being in first place a few weeks ago.

Akita brought in 199-cm forward Marshall Brown this week, the latest acquisition by Kazuo Nakamura's team, which employs a revolving-door policy for import players more so than any other club in the 21-team circuit.

Brown, a Missouri product, began the season with Miyazaki.

The 27-year-old played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the NBA Development League last season, averaging 10.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 41 games (12 starts).

Got a story idea about the bj-league? Send an email to edward.odeven@japantimes.co.jp

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Mets to host 2013 All-Star Game

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball's 84th All-Star Game will be hosted in 2013 by the New York Mets at their three-year-old ballpark, $600 million Citi Field, commissioner Bud Selig announced on Wednesday.

The Mets previously hosted the mid-season event once before, in 1964 at Shea Stadium in the year that the Mets' prior home park was opened.

Their new 42,000-seat stadium was built at the same location near the site of the U.S. Open tennis championship.

New York has hosted the All-Star Game nine times, most recently in 2008 when the event was staged at Yankee Stadium.

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Ovechkin skipping All-Star game

Arlington, Virginia — Alex Ovechkin is skipping the NHL All-Star game, a decision he announced a day after getting a three-game suspension from the league for a hit on an opponent.

"My heart is not there. I got suspended, so why (do) I have to go there?" the Washington Capitals' captain and a two-time league MVP said Tuesday. "I love the (All-Star) game. It's a great event. I love to be there."

But Ovechkin added: "I feel I'm not deserving to be there right now. If I'm suspended, I have to be suspended."

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Athletics trade All-Star closer Bailey, Sweeney to Red Sox

BOSTON — For Andrew Bailey, coming in from the bullpen at Fenway Park is a special feeling.

New gun in town: All-Star closer Andrew Bailey is leaving the Oakland A's for the Boston Red Sox. AP PHOTO

He'll experience that a lot more next season.

New manager Bobby Valentine found his new man for the back end of the Boston bullpen on Wednesday when the Red Sox obtained the All-Star closer and outfielder Ryan Sweeney from the Oakland Athletics for outfielder Josh Reddick, infield prospect Miles Head and minor league pitcher Raul Alcantara.

In the deal, first reported by ESPN, Bailey gives the Red Sox a reliable ninth-inning guy to replace the departed Jonathan Papelbon, who signed a $50 million, four-year contract as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies in November.

The 27-year-old Bailey has three saves in four appearances at Fenway Park in his three major-league seasons.

"The one that sticks out the most was my first save opportunity this year was against the Red Sox," Bailey said in a conference call. "I actually blew that save. From what I remember, there's nothing like the atmosphere of running into the game from the bullpen at Fenway Park."

A New Jersey native and offseason resident of Connecticut, Bailey is excited about coming back east.

He already knows Valentine, who lives in Stamford, Connecticut, and hosted several events for the pediatric cancer foundation of Bailey and former teammate Craig Breslow.

"Bobby and I are good friends," Bailey said. "It just kind of helps knowing someone going in."

Bailey — the 2009 AL Rookie of the Year, who made the All-Star team that season and again in 2010 — had been the subject of trade talk this offseason.

The right-hander went 0-4 with a 3.24 ERA and 24 saves in 41? innings and 42 appearances this year. He spent time on the disabled list for the second straight season, pitching for the first time in 2011 on May 29 after being sidelined with a strained right forearm.

"I'm feeling good," he said. "This is my first healthy offseason I've had since I've been in the big leagues."

In his career, he is 7-10 with a 2.07 ERA and 75 saves in 84 opportunities.

Bailey becomes the fourth key pitcher traded this month for the rebuilding A's, who dealt starter Trevor Cahill and reliever Breslow to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Dec. 9 and then sent left-handed starter Gio Gonzalez to Washington last Thursday.

"That organization is heading down a different road where they're trying to get younger and build for a future in San Jose," Bailey said.

Oakland general manager Billy Beane is retooling his roster for the future in hopes of the franchise getting the go ahead to build a new ballpark some 65 km south in San Jose despite the San Francisco Giants owning the territorial rights to technology-rich Santa Clara County.

Beane and owner Lew Wolff have said they expect to hear soon from commissioner Bud Selig, and Beane said the unsettled stadium situation would affect him being able to sign his own free agents this winter.

The A's (74-88) haven't posted a winning record or earned a playoff berth since being swept in the 2006 AL Championship Series by Detroit.

The Red Sox missed the playoffs the past two years, but won the World Series in 2004 and 2007.

"I think every kid playing T-ball out there strives to pitch in the postseason and meaningful games in September and, ultimately, the World Series," Bailey said. "So I'm going to welcome that with open arms."

NEW YORK — Former Boston Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima has agreed to terms with the rival New York Yankees, an article on the Yankees' website said Wednesday.

The 36-year-old left-hander will sign a minor league contract which includes an invitation to spring training, according to the report.

Okajima spent the majority of the 2011 season pitching in the minors, making just seven big league appearances and going 1-0 with an ERA of 4.32.

Following 12 seasons in Japan, Okajima signed with Boston as an international free agent in late 2006. As a rookie, he posted a 2.22 ERA over 66 appearances and helped the Red Sox win the 2007 World Series.

In five seasons as a major league reliever, all with Boston, Okajima is 17-8 with six saves in 261 games and a 3.11 ERA.

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Nakase, Westover to lead All-Star teams

Natalie Nakase of the Saitama Broncos grabbed the spotlight by becoming the first female head coach in bj-league history on Nov. 24.

Fan favorite: Osaka Evessa guard Cohey Aoki (11), seen driving against Chiba Jets defenders Jamel Staten (left) and Takaki Ishida on Dec. 1, will make a sixth consecutive All-Star Game appearance on Jan. 15. Aoki is the only six-time All-Star in bj-league history. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

Nakase, a former UCLA player and women's pro basketball coach in Germany, will add another chapter to her ongoing season of accomplishments when she guides the Eastern Conference All-Star team in the sixth annual All-Star Game on Jan. 15 at Saitama Super Arena.

The East's starting lineup, selected by fan balloting, will feature guards Masashi Joho (Toyama Grouses, a four-time All-Star) and Takehiko Shimura (Sendai 89ers) and forwards John "Helicopter" Humphrey (Saitama) and Daiki Terashita (Saitama) and ex-Bronco Kazuhiro Shoji (Akita Northern Happinets), the oldest All-Star at age 37. The All-Stars were named on Wednesday.

Chiba Jets bench boss Eric Gardow is the East's assistant coach.

The East's backups are guards Makoto Sawaguchi (Iwate Big Bulls) and Maurice Hargrow (Chiba), Takaki Ishida (Chiba); forwards Lee Roberts (Shinshu Brave Warriors) and Justin Burrell (Yokohama B-Corsairs); and centers Atsuya Ota (Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix) and Chris Holm (Niigata Albirex BB).

For the Western Conference, six-time All-Star and Osaka Evessa standout Cohey Aoki is the headliner in the backcourt, and he's joined by All-Star debutant and Ryukyu Golden Kings rookie guard Narito Namizato. The frontcourt features a trio of well-known players: five-time All-Star center Jeff Newton (Ryukyu), Osaka's Lynn Washington and four-time scoring champion and Shimane Susanoo Magic leader Michael Parker.

Shiga Lakestars bench boss Alan Westover is the West's head coach, and Miyazaki Shining Suns sideline supervisor Koto Toyama is his assistant.

The West's reserves are guards Shiga's Yu Okada, Takamatsu's Hiroyuki Kikuchi, Rizing Fukuoka's Jun Nakanishi, Miyazaki's Taishiro Shimizu; forwards Kevin Palmer (Fukuoka) and Wendell White (Oita HeatDevils); and ex-NBA center Lance Allred of the Kyoto Hannaryz.

The 3-Point Shootout contestants are Shoji, Sendai's Dan Fitzgerald, Saitama's Yasuaki Arai, Hamamatsu's Wayne Arnold, Okada and Aoki.

The Slam Dunk Contest participants are two-time champion Yoshihiro Tachibana of the 89ers, Sendai's O'Neal "Trey" Mims, Shinshu's Edward Morris, Humphrey, Burrell and Osaka's Lawrence Blackledge.

Solid start: To play .500 or better basketball is an ambitious goal for any first-year franchise.

Two of the bj-league's four current expansion squads are at that level through Sunday: the Chiba Jets (9-7) and Shinshu Brave Warriors (8-8). The Yokohama B-Corsairs and Iwate Big Bulls are 6-8 and 3-13 respectively.

The Brave Warriors, guided by sideline supervisor Motofumi Aoki, have not had any long winning or losing streaks yet; their biggest stretch of success was three straight victories and they've lost more than two in a row only once (a recent three-game slide). They've won four games by single digits. They've also lost four games ranging from 20 to 28 points, but bounced back to win the next game in each of those instances.

"Coach Aoki always has his teams play an up-tempo style, and already Shinshu reflects that style and their coach's personality," one longtime hoop observer told The Japan Times.

"Over the years he has been a very good judge of talent, bringing in talented import players, but more importantly recognizing which Japanese players will thrive in his system."

Shinshu has struggled at home, though, with a 2-6 record to date. But the club is 6-2 in road contests.

Roberts is the team's top scorer (18.2 points per game). Sharpshooter Derek Raivio is averaging 16.6 and Edward Morris checks in at 13.8 ppg. Center Tyler Hughes is averaging 10.4).

Guard Takato Saito has started all 16 games for Aoki, who led the Five Arrows to a championship runnerup finish as an expansion team in the 2006-07 season. Saito has a 6.8 ppg average, 60 assists with 30 turnovers.

Coach's assessment: First-year Niigata coach Matt Garrison offered this analysis of his team coming off a weekend split against the Brave Warriors:

"We are OK so far but getting better. Nagano this weekend played really well. They are a dangerous team who really needed a home victory. They played really hard on Sunday and made their free throws when they needed to. We played a bit fast in the fourth quarter and could have controlled the tempo a bit better. Our guys were down, of course, after the game, but know we are improving."

Around the league: The Chiba Jets will become the first bj-league team to participate in the All-Japan Basketball Championship (also known as the Emperor's Cup), when the event tips off in early January. The men's field for the 87th annual championship, held at Yoyogi National Gymnasium, also includes all eight JBL teams, three JBL2 teams and four university squads. . . . Kyoto announced the signing of veteran center Babacar Camara on Wednesday. The 211-cm big man previously played for the Toyama Grouses and Takamatsu Five Arrows. . . . Parker will serve a two-game suspension this weekend after attempting to hit a Five Arrows player last weekend. . . . The Sendai 89ers are featured in the latest issue of Sports Graphic Number magazine, which hit newsstands on Thursday.

League accolade: Sawaguchi, who helped the Big Bulls record the first back-to-back wins in franchise history, is the Lawson/Ponta Player of the Week, the league announced Tuesday.

Sawaguchi, who turned 20 on Monday, had 16 points, including 3-for-5 shooting from 3-point range, and three steals in 22 minutes off the bench in Iwate's win over Takamatsu on Sunday.

The Morioka native is averaging 12.1 ppg.

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