Japanese 2012-2013 National Team

[CKR13]

Yuta Watanabe saw some minutes at power forward but had trouble against South Korea's Lee Seung-Hyun. Although Watanabe drained a wide open shot. At this point, Watanabe is a much better at SF and playing a slot position aside from wings will be to not only his disadvantage, but to the Hayabusa team as well.

Naoto Tsuji is not a point guard, but Suzuki made him play to back-up Ryota Sakurai. Tsuji drained a single trey and that is what he does best: catch and shoot. Tsuji has trouble creating shots for himself, unlike in the JBL. Park Chan-Hee, Kim Min-Koo and Park Jae-Hyun gave him trouble with him finding his range.

[CKR13]

Awesome game by Yuta Watanabe. This is perhaps is the game that he needed to spark his confidence. Kimikazu Suzuki said it best: Watanabe is not ripe but a diamond in the rough. He can get better at every facet of his game. One of those hybrid fours that is a cross between a PF and an SF.

[CKR13]

Japan's current shooters in the squad:

Keijuro "KJ" Matsui



Naoto Tsuji



Kosuke Kanamaru

[CKR13]

Fumihiko Aono played sparingly again as Kimikazu Suzuki is trying not to strain or aggravate the gentle giant's knees. But Aono did cheer without reserved.

[CKR13]

Japan tried going big with a post tandem of Fumihiko Aono and Kosuke Takeuchi, but China's equally tall front-line of Wang Zhelin, Li Muhao, Sun Tonglin and Zhai Xiaochuan were proving to be much more mobile as Aono suddenly became a liability in the half-court setting. Wang Zhelin slipped past Aono and Takeuchi a few times. Inserted was Yuya Nagayoshi paired with Takeuchi for pretty much the rest of the game.

Later, Japan plays Hong Kong for third classification. Looking ahead, Japan needs a much more solid interior something that JR Sakuragi could provide for the last time. Returning bigmen should be Atsuya Ota and Joji Takeuchi.

Front-line for Manila could be:

Kosuke Takeuchi
Joji Takeuchi
JR Sakuragi
Atsuya Ota
Sean Ichioka

Kosuke Kanamaru made a good account of himself on this tourney. Able to create space and score against China's bothersome wingspan and has the dribble game and knows how to rotate properly for a CnS instance. Still, Japan needs much more firepower from the wings. Daiki Tanaka, Ryota Sakurai Keijuro Matsui, Naoto Tsuji, Makoto Hiejima and Takahiro Kurihara should play better in the Jones Cup heading into Manila. Fans are divided over the absence of Takuya Kawamura who last played in 2011 as the latter used much of the FIBA season to recover. Some quarters suggest that Kawamura should still be considered given the lacking of points production from the wings. Some fans suggest that Kanamaru is a replacement for Kawamura, a much younger and much more athletic player who knows how to slash in the lanes. While some welcome the possibility that Kawamura and Kanamaru could co-exist in the same Hayabusa team where one of the other should be benched to provide consistency in the wings point production. Japan suffers some scoring drought given the +/- points when Kanamaru is benched.

[zonglin]

I heard that the JBA found a Japanese-Americans player,Known as the younger Moon Tae-Jong,any body know who he is?

[sinobball]

I heard that the JBA found a Japanese-Americans player,Known as the younger Moon Tae-Jong,any body know who he is?

No idea. Where did you hear this? Is he playing in Japan or America? Why would a Japanese-American be nicknamed "younger Moon Tae-Jong" is beyond me. Do Japanese people even know who Moon Taejong is? Why not "younger Michael Takahashi"?

Anywho, you can probably check this link, not sure how useful it is: http://www.geocities.co.jp/Athlete-S...verseas-2.html

[CKR13]

I heard that the JBA found a Japanese-Americans player,Known as the younger Moon Tae-Jong,any body know who he is?

As far as I'm concerned, it is the Koreans who found David Micheals, a Korean American that is a product of the NCAA Div. III in the US. The JBA are not really searching for Japanese Americans to reinforce their grass-roots and youth programs. They are looking at Chinese, Japanese Brazilians and South Africans to develop for basketball. Can you share a link?

No idea. Where did you hear this? Is he playing in Japan or America? Why would a Japanese-American be nicknamed "younger Moon Tae-Jong" is beyond me. Do Japanese people even know who Moon Taejong is? Why not "younger Michael Takahashi"?

Anywho, you can probably check this link, not sure how useful it is: http://www.geocities.co.jp/Athlete-S...verseas-2.html

Maybe he meant South Koreans?

[zonglin]

I heard from someone Taiwanese agent,younger Moon Tae-Jong is the agent's assessment,I don't know about this guy any more.

[CKR13]

I heard from someone Taiwanese agent,younger Moon Tae-Jong is the agent's assessment,I don't know about this guy any more.

I have no idea about this. But this maybe related to the ongoing BJ-League import scouting for next season. I know two Taiwanese in the past brokering imports for the BJ-League.

[CKR13]

Japan will play three exhibition games with the Philippine National Team in June 28, 29, 30.

[CKR13]

Current national team pool. Mainstays like Sakuragi, Joji Takeuchi and Atsuya Ota will re-join the pool. Despite fan clamor of adding more names such as Takuya Kawamura, Hironori Watanabe, Takumi Ishizaki and Takatoshi Furukawa, no additions to the pool. I think the team needs a true point guard like Ishizaki and Watanabe. Fans felt that the team played sub-par due to the inconsistencies in perimeter scoring as Kanamaru was the only consistent scoring threat. I understand why fans would like Kawamura back.

JR Sakuragi (Aishin SeaHorses)
Fumihiko Aono (Wakayama Apricot)
Ryota Sakurai (Levanga Hokaido)
Atsuya Ota (Hamamatsu Phoenix Higashimikawa)
Kosuke Takeuchi (Toyota Alvark)
Joji Takeuchi (Hitachi SunRockerz)
Keijuro Matsui (Toyota Alvark)
Takahiro Kurihara (Toshiba Brave Thunder)
Kosuke Kanamaru (Aishin SeaHorses)
Naoto Tsuji (Toshiba Brave Thunder)
Makoto Hiejima (Aishin SeaHorses)
Sean Hinkley (Toyota Alvark)
Yuya Nagayoshi (Gakuin University)
Daiki Tanaka (Tokai University)
Tenketsu Harimoto (Gakuin University)
Kengo Nomoto (Gakuin University)
Kosuke Hashimoto (Tokai University)
Seiji Ikaruga (Gakuin University)
Yuta Watanabe

[CKR13]

After the East Asian tourney, players like Yuta Watanabe and Yuya Nagayoshi have responded and both were impressive thus far according to head coach Kimikazu Suzuki.

[CKR13]

Two national team players who are trying their fortunes abroad have spoken messages towards the fans of the Hayabusa national team.

Takuya Kawamura left a message via a podcast in WSSports.JP that he would like to try out in the NBA Summer league this year and in hopes of making the team. Kawamura said also that he will join the national team someday.

Takatoshi Furukawa said in a post with the Aishin homepage that he wants to try his career in the German Pro A in hopes of making the team like Takumi Ishizaki.

[CKR13]

Based from the videos shared by Shonenbasket, the national team have introduced drills and workouts based on lateral movement, balance, core training and weight lifting.

Most surprising was Yuta Watanabe, who could keep pace with the guards based on dribbling left and right as they advance through hurdles. Watanabe showed dexterity, a developed ball handling ability and lateral quickness with those square foot swipe drills.

Younger players like Watanabe and Seiji Ikaruga were given specialized weight training. Next week, five on five scrimmages will be conducted to fine tune defense and offense sets.