Former Evessa star Washington claims he is 'blackballed' despite exoneration

The Osaka Evessa and bj-league office claimed that Lynn Washington, one of the league's original superstars, retired on April 9 after he was exonerated of all charges following his arrest and 18 days in Osaka Prefectural Police custody.

The former Indiana University forward, however, is now telling a different story.

"I have been wrongfully blackballed from Japanese basketball," Washington told The Japan Times in an exclusive interview this week.

The two-time MVP and three-time title winner was the undisputed leader of the Evessa before his March 13 arrest on suspicion of smuggling about 1 kg of marijuana into Japan. When he was released by the police, neither the Evessa nor the bj-league issued a statement saying they would welcome Washington back into the league.

The 34-year-old Washington was ordered to keep quiet, to say nothing about his "retirement," this reporter has learned, after the team's news release was issued. He admitted as much. One source familiar with the situation called it "hush money," and Washington didn't speak out about the end of his successful career. Until now.

Despite the fact, he said, that no bj-league team will sign him, "if I did have a contract from a team, I would probably sign."

Recently, "I turned down two gigs in South America. So, no, 100 percent retired, absolutely not," he added.

Washington became the first player in bj-league history to reach the 5,000-point milestone, doing so on Oct. 15, 2011, against the Takamatsu Five Arrows, and also earned back-to-back All-Star Game MVP awards the past two seasons. He cherishes those accomplishments, he said, but is miffed about the way he and his family were treated by bj-league personnel.

Lynn's wife, Dana Washington, was arrested in February and released on May 25 after pleading guilty to drug possession.

Dana Washington's lawyer, Ichiro Morioka, presented her prescription, issued in California for medical marijuana to treat arthritis, sleep deprivation and migraine headaches, to court officials in Osaka. The 3?-year sentence sought by prosecutors was dropped.

(Washington maintains that he had no knowledge of his wife sending the package to Japan, and that he would have told her not to do so because of Japan's strict Cannabis Control Law.)

"Even though my wife did what she did, no one cared for my (three) children who were the most affected by what happened," Washington said.

Other key officials around the league demonstrated rude, thoughtless behavior after Washington's arrest, he said.

"For instance, the Shiga GM (Shinsuke Sakai) laughed when I went to jail and said the Evessa are finally finished," Washington said.

"Who cares if the Evessa are finished or not? Family is at stake, something, I thought all Japanese people cherished. I guess not."

Another incident involving the Saitama Broncos illustrated the immature way some individuals around the league handled matters after Washington's arrest.

"In Saitama, one of their team officials paused my picture on television from one of my endorsement commercials and started laughing," Washington said. "One of my friends on the team cursed him out because of his insensitivity.

"In the last 10 months, I have learned more about Japanese people than I have in the 10 years living in Japan," he said. "Most Japanese people will disown you if it saves their face. I'm OK with that however."

What angers Washington, though, is the way the championship-caliber team fell apart after the end of the 2011-12 season. The Evessa were 26-12 at the time of Washington's arrest, sitting in second place in the Western Conference behind the eventual-champion Ryukyu Golden Kings.

Osaka finished the season with a 35-17 record and remained in second place entering the postseason, giving the Evessa the right to host a second-round series against the Kyoto Hannaryz.

After the team's playoff exit, then-coach Ryan Blackwell said, "We lost arguably the greatest player in league history and we still had a chance (to make the Final Four)."

Washington said, "I understand the public relations aspect of disassociation, but cruelty reared its head therein. How so? Ryan Blackwell was fired for keeping a team together during troubling times and by being guilty by association. In one word, 'unreal.' "

In the Osaka front office's view, anything but an Evessa championship in May was an acceptable reason to unload Blackwell, one longtime league insider told this newspaper.

"All in all, the league handed down sanctions on anyone associated with what happened to me," Washington said. "Blackballed, absolutely. . . "

"I'm not bitter at all however. I had a nice career in Japan with a very promising future in America. I will come back to Japan and watch bj-league games this winter. I just hope I can get a front-row seat."

Washington's saga is a cautionary tale for anyone who expects the bj-league to offer them a second chance, even if they are declared innocent by the courts. Case in point: On March 30, Washington said in another exclusive interview after his release from police custody that he definitely wanted to return to the Evessa. "Give me a week of training and four games with the Lord with me, and I'm back where I left off," he said at the time.

That never happened.

"The Lynn Washington situation truly upset me," a former bj-league player told The Japan Times in a recent interview. "An innocent man being forced to retire, a week after he says to you that he only needs a week to get back in shape, then comes out and retires. Ridiculous."

The Evessa stumbled out of the gates losing three times in as many days by a combined 60 points in the recent Seiki Cup in Shiga Prefecture. It appears new coach Zoran Kreckovic will have his hands full building a team with only three of 12 players back on the squad from last season. General manager Hirotaro Nomamoto's ouster last week is the latest sign of a team far removed from its glory years — six Final Fours and seven straight playoff appearances.

For Washington, Nomamoto's departure was no surprise.

"By the way, Nomamoto being fired is just what happens when you have no knowledge of how a team should be put together," Washington said.

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Evessa GM Nomamoto fired after team's rocky preseason start: sources

Hirotaro Nomamoto, the Osaka Evessa general manager since the team entered the bj-league in 2005, was relieved of his duties on Wednesday, sources familiar with the situation told The Japan Times.

Longtime star: Former Osaka Evessa power forward Lynn Washington holds up his 2011-12 All-Star Game MVP trophy in January at Saitama Super Arena. Washington's departure in March took away the team's main tone-setter. YOSHIAKI MIURA

The Evessa went 0-3 in preseason play, and Nomamoto lost his job two days after their final preseason game. They suffered blowout losses to the Kyoto Hannaryz (78-58), host Shiga Lakestars (89-62) and Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix (75-62) in succession in the Seiki Cup, which ended on Monday.

The Evessa are three weeks away from playing host to the Takamatsu Five Arrows, who are coming off a 2-50 season, in their season-opening series under new coach Zoran Kreckovic.

One longtime bj-league insider said Friday he was not surprised that Nomamoto was made the apparent fall guy for the Evessa's performance in the three-day tournament.

"Losing to the rival Kansai teams and Hamamatsu by a total of 60 points (is unacceptable)," the source said. "Beating Shiga and Kyoto is a priority in Osaka."

After all, the Evessa are expected to win — nothing more, nothing less. They captured championships in the 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons and finished runnerup in 2009-10, in original coach Kensaku Tennichi's final season.

Entering this season, the Evessa's overall regular-season record is 227-103. They have appeared in six of seven Final Fours.

Though Kreckovic, the veteran bench boss from Serbia, may build a strong team as the season progresses, it appears the team has already pushed the panic button. And this comes only four months after coach Ryan Blackwell, Tennichi's replacement, was not offered a new contract despite leading the Evessa to the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, and a 67-35 record in the regular season.

Blackwell took the Evessa to the Final Four in May 2011 as a rookie head coach. And the team appeared on the verge of another trip to Ariake Colosseum last season, but two-time MVP Lynn Washington's season ended on March 13, when he was arrested on suspicion of smuggling marijuana into Japan.

Washington, the emotional soul of the team's three championship teams, was exonerated of all charges after 18 days in police custody in Osaka, but never played another game. And an era of Evessa basketball came to a crashing halt in the offseason.

Only three of the 12 men on the current Evessa roster were with the team last season. Ultimately, permitting that massive roster turnover goes back to Nomamoto's work as the day-to-day supervisor of on-court personnel. Nevertheless, team owner Koichi Sato and team president Hidetaka Isomura have the authority to dictate changes and demand results for the organization.

"This all goes back to last season when they broke up a very good team that could've challenged for a championship this year," the league insider said. "It's hard to bring in a new coach and imports who aren't familiar with the Japanese basketball culture and expect positive results . . . at least right away."

When he was contacted by The Japan Times on Friday, team spokesman Makoto Yamada wouldn't confirm or deny that Nomamoto is no longer the Osaka GM.

It's unclear at press time if Nomamoto will be reassigned to another position within the organization.

Did Nomamoto find suitable replacements for departed stars Mike Bell, Bobby St. Preux, Cohey Aoki and Washington and dependable big man Wayne Marshall?

The verdict is still out.

But one talent evaluator who has kept close tabs on the Western Conference for years is already convinced that the Evessa's four new imports — center Larry Cox, power forward Andre Coimbra, small forward Nathan Walkup and point guard Temi Soyebo — are not adequate replacements for the aforementioned ex-Evessa standouts.

"The team is fractured," another source said.

Meanwhile, just two days after the Phoenix routed the Evessa, bj-league commissioner Toshimitsu Kawachi reportedly visited Osaka on official league business.

Was Kawachi there to hold talks with Panasonic Corp. officials after the Panasonic Trians had announced on Monday they are folding after the 2012-13 JBL season?

Perhaps. If so, it would support the rumor that Panasonic will merge its basketball operations with the Evessa and their parent company, Human Holdings Co., Ltd, to form a stronger business backbone for the bj-league team.

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Blackwell returns to U.S. as Evessa tenure ends

For Ryan Blackwell, nothing's changed. His status — as the former Osaka Evessa head coach — is the same as it was last Friday, when it was first reported in this newspaper that his tenure had ended.

Blackwell won't be back on the Evessa sideline next season. He won't be given a shot to guide the bj-league team to its eight consecutive playoff appearance in as many seasons.

The 35-year-old returned to the United States on Tuesday, and is now officially unemployed. His search for a new coaching gig is under way.

Despite players' desire for Blackwell to return to Osaka for a third season at the helm, team executives did not offer the ex-Syracuse University forward a new contact for the 2012-13 season.

After The Japan Times' article was published about the team's plans to part ways with Blackwell due to his close friendship with former Evessa star and two-time league MVP Lynn Washington (who was exonerated of all charges in a drug case in Osaka, while his wife, Dana, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes; she was released from police custody last Friday), players voiced displeasure with the team's decision.

Blackwell, a former Evessa and Sendai 89ers player, reiterated on Wednesday what he said in an exclusive interview last week. "Ownership wanted to make a change," Blackwell told The Japan Times.

Osaka went 67-35 in two seasons under Blackwell. The Evessa went to the Final Four in 2010-11, and fell to the Kyoto Hannaryz in the mini-tiebreaker game on May 13, when Lee Cummard's buzzer-beating 3-pointer propelled Kyoto to its first trip to the Final Four.

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Defensive stalwart Blackledge leaves Evessa

The Osaka Evessa have parted ways with versatile forward Lawrence Blackledge, The Japan Times has learned.

Blackledge is the bj-league's second-leading shot blocker (3.0 per game) and tied for ninth in rebounds (10.0). In 22 games, he averaged 9.4 points.

Blackledge's release wasn't official at press time on Tuesday. But sources confirmed he is no longer playing for the title-contending Evessa.

Osaka (17-5) has also cut forward Lavell Payne, a Central Florida product. In 21 games, Payne averaged 5.0 points.

Blackledge is on the verge of joining the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix in the coming days, according to a league insider.

The Evessa, meanwhile, plan to add former Oita and Sendai 89ers standout Mike Bell, a high-scoring forward, well-informed sources said.

Bell, a 206-cm veteran averaged 21.3 points and 12.4 rebounds for Oita in 2009-10, both averages in the top five in the league. Last season, the Florida Atlantic University product averaged 18.5 ppg for Sendai before the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake ended the 89ers' season. After that, he saw action for teams in Qatar and Bahrain to complete the season.

Also Tuesday, the Oita HeatDevils released center Zach Atkinson.

The 206-cm Atkinson averaged 6.7 points in 24 games (seven starts). On Christmas Day, Atkinson had his best game of the season, finishing with 15 points, 20 rebounds and three assists in a blowout loss to the Ryukyu Golden Kings.

Oita has the league's second-worst record (5-19).

League accolade: Rookie forward Justin Burrell helped the Yokohama B-Corsairs sweep the Saitama Broncos last weekend. He is the Lawson/Ponta Player of the Week, the bj-league announced on Tuesday.

Burrell, the Big East Conference's Sixth Man of the Year winner last season, had 20 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in a two-point triumph over Saitama on Friday. A day later, he scored 33 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

The 23-year-old Burrell is averaging a team-high 19.3 points per game for expansion club Yokohama, which is 11-13 at the All-Star break.

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