National Basketball Development League (Japan)

The National Basketball Development League (NBDL) was a professional basketball league based in Japan. It was a second-tier league below the National Basketball League and was formed in 2013 as the successor of JBL2, the second division of the former Japan Basketball League.[1] After three seasons the league merged with the National Basketball League and its rival the bj-league to form the B.League.[2]

History

In 2012 the Japan Basketball Association announced that it was rebranding the Japan Basketball League to the National Basketball League, to commence in the 2013-14 season. At the same time, it was announced that the second division of the JBL would be called the National Basketball Development League. The league commenced in October 2013 with eight of the twelve teams that competed in JBL2 the previous season and Tokyo Excellence, a newly formed team. The other four teams that made up the 12-team JBL2 league did not join the NBDL, with Daytrick Tsukuba and the Hyogo Storks earning promotion to the NBL while the Hitachi Cable Bulldogs joined a Kanto corporate league. The Ishikawa Blue Sparks sought entry into the NBDL but were denied due to not satisfying the league's capital requirements; the club subsequently announced it would fold at the close of the final JBL2 season.[3] Three of the NBDL's teams, the Excellence, Toyota Tsusho Fighting Eagles and Renova Kagoshima received associate membership to the NBL, which granted them the possibility of future promotion to the top league. The Fighting Eagles (30-2) finished on top of the standings in the first season of the league, but were defeated by second-placed Tokyo Excellence (29-3) in the championship match.[4]

A team from Miyazaki Prefecture was to join the NBDL for the 2014-15 season to provide an even number of teams in the league, but withdrew in November 2013.[5] TGI D-Rise, the development club of the NBL's Link Tochigi Brex, relocated to Yamagata Prefecture before the start of the season and was renamed as the Passlab Yamagata Wyverns.[6][7] The Tokyo-based Kuroda Electric Bullet Spirits withdrew to compete in the Kanto corporate league and transferred their NBDL membership to the newly-formed Earth Friends Tokyo Z. The result of the changes was that the second season of the league was again contested by nine teams. The Fighting Eagles again finished the regular season in first place with a 30-2 win-loss record, but fell to the Aisin AW Areions in the semi-final. Second-placed Excellence defeated the Areions in the final to claim their second consecutive championship.[8]

During the 2015 off-season the merger of the three professional leagues and formation of the B.League was announced, with the NBDL teams placed in the second and third divisions of the new competition.[2] The final season of the NBDL saw the Tokyo Hachioji Trains join as an expansion club, taking the league to ten teams.[9] The Fighting Eagles finished on top of the regular season standings for a third consecutive year with a 32-4 record. However, the third-placed Excellence again prevailed in the playoffs, defeating the second-placed Otsuka Alphas in the semi-final before overcoming the Fighting Eagles 89-70 in the final.[10]

Format

The teams competing in the NBDL were grouped in a single standings table. In the first season, teams played four matches against each other team in the league for a 32-game season, with the four highest-placed teams advancing to the semi-finals. With the addition of a tenth team in 2015, the season increased to 36 games.[11]

Teams and standings by year
Team City, Prefecture Final standings by year 2016 B.League Division [2]
2013-14 Season 2014-15 Season 2015-16 Season
Regular season Playoffs Regular season Playoffs Regular season Playoffs
Aisin AW Areions Anjo Anjō, Aichi 3rd (20-12) Fourth-place 4th (16-16) Runners-up 7th (16-20) - Division 3
Earth Friends Tokyo Z Ōta, Tokyo - 3rd (25-7) Fourth-place 5th (22-14) - Division 2
Kuroda Electric Bullet Spirits Tokyo 8th (8-24) - Withdrawn from professional basketball
Otsuka Corporation Alphas Tokyo 7th (11-21) - 5th (16-16) - 2nd (26-10) Third-place Division 3
Passlab Yamagata Wyverns Yamagata, Yamagata - 7th (10-22) - 4th (23-13) Fourth-place Division 2
Renova Kagoshima Kagoshima, Kagoshima 6th (11-21) - 8th (5-27) - 9th (6-30) - Division 2
TGI D-Rise Tochigi, Tochigi 4th (17-15) Third-place Relocated to Yamagata
Tokio Marine Nichido Big Blue Nerima, Tokyo 9th (6-26) - 9th (4-28) - 8th (8-28) - Division 3
Tokyo Excellence Itabashi, Tokyo 2nd (29-3) Champions 2nd (27-5) Champions 3rd (25-11) Champions Division 2
Tokyo Hachioji Trains Hachiōji, Tokyo - 6th (17-19) - Division 3
Toyoda Gosei Scorpions Kiyosu, Aichi 5th (12-20) - 6th (11-21) - 10th (5-31) - Division 3
Toyota Tsusho Fighting Eagles Nagoya Nagoya, Aichi 1st Runners-up 1st (30-2) Third-place 1st (32-4) Runners-up Division 2

References
  1. Perpetual problems plague Japan Basketball Association
  2. Nagatsuka, Kaz (29 August 2015). "JPBL finalizes division placements for 2016-17". The Japan Times. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  3. "今季で活動中止　石川ブルースパークス" [Ishikawa Blue Sparks to fold at season's end]. Hokkoku Shimbun (in Japanese). 10 October 2012. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  4. "Tokyo Excellence triumph in NBDL championship game". Japan Times. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  5. "NBDL2014-2015シーズン　参入辞退チームのご報告" [Report of withdrawal from NBDL 2014-2015 season] (in Japanese). 13 November 2013. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  6. Odeven, Ed (16 May 2016). "Kanazawa to coach NBDL's Yamagata team". Japan Times. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  7. "TGI・Dライズ　フランチャイズ移転のご報告" [Report of TGI D-Rise Franchise Relocation] (in Japanese). 9 August 2013. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  8. "NBDL 2014-2015 PLAYOFFS最終結果・アウォード 表彰受賞者のお知らせ" [Notification of final results of NBDL 2014-2015 playoffs and award recipients] (in Japanese). National Basketball Development League of Japan. 22 March 2015. Archived from the original on 25 May 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  9. "2015-2016シーズンNBDL新規参入チームのご報告" [2015-2016 Season NBDL Expansion team Announcement] (in Japanese). 24 September 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  10. "東京ＥＸ、３連覇で最後のＮＢＤＬ王者！ＭＶＰに飛田" [Tokyo Excellence three-peat to be final NBDL champions! Tobita MVP]. Hochi Shimbun (in Japanese). 27 March 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  11. "2015-2016 レギュラーシーズン試合開始時間のお知らせ" [Notification of 2015-2016 Regular Season Game Starting Times] (in Japanese). 3 August 2015. Archived from the original on 27 August 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
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