Staten an island of strength for Jets in inaugural season

With 50 games in the books, the Chiba Jets' first chapter is nearly written.

Point provider: Chiba Jets forward Jamel Staten has been a solid contributor to the expansion team during its first season, averaging more than 21 points and 10 rebounds per game. YOSHIAKI MIURA

Their inaugural season will be remembered as a rocky introduction to the league, but the all-around excellence of power forward Jamel Staten has produced some of their top highlights.

Staten, a Minnesota State-Mankato product, is among the league's top 10 in four significant categories: points (21.1, fourth), rebounds (10.9, third), assists (4.2, tied for eighth) and steals (2.8, first).

In fact, Staten is poised to end Shimane Susanoo Magic forward Michael Parker's four-season reign as the league's top theft artist. No easy feat.

Parker, who'll still collect his fourth consecutive scoring crown, has made finishing atop the charts in scoring and steals looks as easy as eating an ice cream cone.

Since Parker entered the league in 2007-08 — a perfect fit for then-bench boss John Neumann's fast and furious Rizing Fukuoka squad — no one has been consistently better at anticipating where the ball will be and taking it away from opponents. He's third in steals this season at 2.4 per game.

In a big way, Staten's productivity has helped compensate roster deficiencies on Jets coach Eric Gardow's club.

The 208-cm Staten would probably be asked to do less on a winning team. For the Jets (18-32), however, his impact on the game has been the team's most constant trait.

Historically awful: The numbers are staggering, making the Takamatsu Five Arrows' current 23-game losing streak, a league record, almost an afterthought.

The Five Arrows (2-48) have only lost 10 games by single digits.

Marinate on those numbers for a minute. Then digest these facts: The team has lost by 20 or more points on 21 occasions, including defeats by 30, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40 and 56 points.

Blowouts are the norm.

Close contests are the surprising exception.

Coach Kenzo Maeda's club has yielded 100 or more points eight times, including last Saturday's 120-64 thrashing by the host Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix.

Takamatsu has lost its last six games by a combined 162 points, including the last four by 20, 29, 56 and 26 points.

The team's winning percentage is .040, courtesy of the following averages: 68.3 points per game and opponents' 87.9 ppg. And a depleted roster that's screaming out for the addition of two or three veteran stars.

The 2008-09 Oita HeatDevils had the previous worst season under the league's current 52-game format, going 8-44 under Tadaharu Ogawa.

Will the Five Arrows fold?

Will the cash-strapped franchise overhaul its roster and find a way to become competitive for the 2012-13 campaign?

Or will more of the same be in order?

Whatever happens next, the Shikoku franchise, now wrapping up its third season of awful operations, has reached the point of critical mass.

Upcoming games: Nine Saturday-Sunday series are scheduled: Iwate Big Bulls vs. Chiba Jets, Sendai 89ers vs. Yokohama B-Corsairs, Toyama Grouses vs. Ryukyu Golden Kings, Shinshu Brave Warriors vs. Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix, Saitama Broncos vs. Niigata Albirex BB, Osaka Evessa vs. Shiga Lakestars, Rizing Fukuoka vs. Kyoto Hannaryz, Miyazaki Shining Suns vs. Shimane Susanoo Magic and Takamatsu Five Arrows vs. Oita HeatDevils.

Playoff-bound Akita (28-24) played its final regular-season game against Iwate last Sunday.

Postseason picture: Hamamatsu (35-16) and Ryukyu (37-13) have clinched the Eastern and Western Conference regular-season titles, respectively.

Yokohama (29-21) sits in second place in the East, followed by Niigata (27-23), Akita, Toyama (25-25) and Sendai (25-25).

In the West, Osaka, Kyoto and Shiga all have 33-17 records, and are vying for the coveted No. 2 spot to earn a bye and the right to host a conference semifinal series.

Fukuoka is 32-18 and Shimane (26-24) has locked up the sixth spot.

Playoff pairings will be determined after the conclusion of Sunday's games.

League accolade: Iwate Big Bulls forward Gordon Klaiber, who helped guide his club to a sweep last weekend over the Akita Northern Happinets is the Lawson/Ponta Player of the Week.

Klaiber had 25 points and 15 rebounds in the series opener and scored 20 points, including four 3-pointers, with six rebounds and four assists in the rematch.

Around the league: Lynn Washington's so-called retirement on April 9 from the Evessa has triggered an outpouring of support and nostalgia from some of the team's most die-hard fans. One longtime booster, Wolfy Nishioka, is selling T-shirts on his website (evess.net) to commemorate Washington's distinguished career with the franchise (six Final Fours, four championship game appearances and three championships in 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08).

The red T-shirt features white words on the front: "The best team and booster," it reads with three white stars just below. On the back, the shirt has Washington's old number (44) and "Thanks" appearing in two neatly stacked horizontal rows.

Fifty-six T-shirts had been sold at last check, and more were being prepared.

Alleged coverup: After its first-ever league-mandated drug testing was completed recently, the league did not release a single name of an individual who'd failed the test. Evidently, transparency for the most serious of issues was not a priority at the league office.

But even the least cynical of observers wouldn't believe that 100 percent of the league's players are clean.

Now, sources are coming out of the woodwork with stories to share.

"I want you to know that (one prominent player) has been smoking weed for several years in Japan," a source told The Japan Times. "The bj-league already knows, but conceals the fact. ... They deceive boosters."

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Broncos eager to test newfound strength against Brady, Pats

ENGLEWOOD, Colorado — The Denver Broncos haven't been to the playoffs since 2006, so they're in no position and certainly no mood to judge the quality of the opponents they're dispatching with all this last-minute magic.

They're 7-1 since Tim Tebow took over and started engineering a series of outrageous second-half comebacks. Those opponents, though, have a combined record of 39-52.

With Tom Brady and the powerful New England Patriots (10-3) coming to town Sunday, the Broncos (8-5) see this as a chance to prove they're not just a curiosity but a contender.

"Yeah, well, we need to prove it to ourselves," star cornerback Champ Bailey said. "We've played against some teams that were kind of struggling. We'd like to go put it together against a top-quality quarterback like Brady."

It's not just Tebow who's facing what could be his toughest test since he started the final three games last season and then supplanted an ineffective Kyle Orton in October after a 1-4 start.

Denver's dominant defense, which has two hiccups — against the multifaceted Lions and Packers, faces another formidable challenge in the Patriots, led by Brady, who's thrown for 33 touchdown passes, 15 of them to big tight end Rob Gronkowski and nine to Wes Welker, who already has 100 catches.

"He's getting them all the ball," said Broncos safety Brian Dawkins. "Nobody's really starving for catches."

And so, the AFC East-leading Patriots are feasting on opponents, putting up an AFC-best 31 points a game.

That kind of firepower means the AFC West-leading Broncos' notoriously slow-starting offense will have to keep pace, and given New England's defensive shortcomings, this game could turn into a shootout.

Only twice have the Broncos piled up points since Tebow took over in October. They put up 38 at Oakland and 35 at Minnesota. But six times they've failed to even score 20 points with Tebow starting.

That's why so many see this game as the Broncos' best barometer yet.

The Patriots have the pedigree the Broncos used to have when they, too, were a perennial playoff team. But Denver hasn't punched its ticket to the postseason party since losing to Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game following the 2005 season.

"Obviously New England has been a team that's been in the playoffs for the last decade or whatever. So they've got a lot of players who've been there," Broncos pass rusher Elvis Dumervil said. "They're the team that's always been in the playoffs. We want to establish ourselves as that team. This is a good challenge for us."

The Patriots could clinch a playoff spot and inch closer to home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, which could prove the best salve for their defensive troubles.

The Broncos could take a lot of pressure off themselves over the final two weeks of the season, with games against Buffalo on the road and at home against AFC West rival Kansas City.

Bailey, the perennial Pro Bowl cornerback, will have his work cut out for him, covering either Welker in the slot or the Patriots' two big tight ends in Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

"What makes them so tough is their size," Bailey said. "I can keep up with them with my feet, but it's just the pushing and the shoving and the ball placement. It's tougher when you have a quarterback like Tom Brady, because he puts the ball where nobody else can get it."

Then, he might have to chase around Welker, the 175-cm dynamo who's putting up big numbers himself.

"It's like night and day, but they're all productive," Bailey said. "We've got some tools that we're going to use and hopefully they work."

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