|
Fukushima Firebonds
The Fukushima Firebonds (福島ファイヤーボンズ (Fukushima Faiyābonzu)) are a professional basketball team that compete in the second division of the Japanese B.League.[1] HistoryIn May 2013 Fukushima Prefecture was announced as the successful bidder for an expansion franchise to enter the 2014-15 season of the bj-league. The league management included the region's recovery from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the long-term feasibility of the bidding company, Fukushima Sports Entertainment, as reasons for the successful bid.[2] In June 2014, the team announced Hiroki Fujita as the inaugural head coach.[3] As an expansion team, the Firebonds received the first pick in the 2014-15 rookie draft, selecting forward Shota Kanno, a Fukushima Prefecture native. Takumi Masuko was selected in the second round.[3] In July 2014 the team signed American players James Hughes and Nick Thompson as their two foreign players.[4] 2014-15 seasonThe team commenced play in the bj-league in October 2014 and had their first regular-season win in a match against the Aomori Wat's on 5 October 2015.[5] The team finished the season with a 21-31 record,[6] securing a playoff berth in the second-last game of the regular season.[7] They were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs 0-2 by the Iwate Big Bulls.[8] 2015-16 seasonDuring the off-season, the team renewed the contract of Fujita as head coach [9] and signed Le'Bryan Nash, Joseph Taylor and Stephan Van Treese as import players.[10] Masaya Karimata was named team captain and Kenya Tomori was named vice-captain.[11] Current roster
Notable players
CoachesResults by yearBj-League
Arenas
References
External linksInformation related to Fukushima Firebonds |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
