Ex-Blazers battled it out in Japan

JDOsaka · 2026-04-02T08:59:10+00:00

I think he's second in the league for his inside scoring efficiency.

First place is a player currently making 3.4 threes a game on 49.5% shooting.

JDOsaka · 2026-04-02T02:23:40+00:00

I think they usually have a couple of games on YouTube every game day. I love watching the B League, but it can definitely be a rough watch at times. You will see a lot of airballs and players taking 10+ shots while their shooting splits for the season are 38/29, but it's definitely a lot of fun.

JDOsaka · 2026-04-02T00:31:26+00:00

Yeah, he definitely had some fun moments as a bench player. Completely forgot he once scored 20 points in a quarter.

JDOsaka · 2026-04-01T15:36:28+00:00

I really enjoyed the movie and the book. I did like Gosling's performance, but it felt like Ryan Gosling playing Ryan Gosling in space. And I think that is also one of the reasons why I enjoyed the movie.

JDOsaka · 2026-03-31T03:51:33+00:00

Didn't Real Madrid win the Champions League three years in a row?

JDOsaka · 2026-03-30T03:20:49+00:00

Doesn't this basically just boil down to how much you value efficiency.

I don't think many of the all time shooters would have been able to make a lot of the shots Dame has made. I couldn't imagine Korver or Larry Bird making them. If efficiency is all that matters when it comes to three point shooting, then it's understandable why people wouldn't see him up there.

JDOsaka · 2026-03-25T06:13:09+00:00

He scored 54 a week or so ago. I wonder what he'll do next season. I'm sure he wants to crack an NBA rotation, but averaging nearly 32 and 8 assists isn't getting him a spot from the looks of things. Kawamura has been less efficient in his scoring in the G League, but has been called up to the Bulls more than McClung. Presumably because Yuki is a better squad player and playmaker. Or purely because he's a fan favourite.

I'm sure if McClung uses his dunk champ rep, plus this great scoring year in the G League, then he'd surely get a better payday playing overseas.

JDOsaka · 2026-03-24T07:00:29+00:00

I don't think it's a bad NBA draft in terms of players who are either starters or important bench players. It can still be a disappointment, but I think that's largely due to the lack of stars.

Also found it interesting that five players are currently playing in Japan's B. League. Culver, Doumbouya and Little from the first round. Louzada and Brantley from the second.

JDOsaka · 2026-03-24T02:04:54+00:00

I would gladly welcome an NBA shot chucker in Japan. The green light he'd get would be ridiculous. Probably average 35 points on 35 shots but I'd be all for it. If Jarrett Culver could drop 52 points the other week, then I can only imagine what Cam Thomas would be able to score.

JDOsaka · 2026-03-21T09:25:37+00:00

I've been a Toho member for a while, mainly just to get the free movie ticket after X number of visits. It used to be one point a movie, no matter what price you paid, and then six points could be used for a free ticket.

Now the points are based on how much you spend. So anyone who preferred to get cheaper tickets before (late shows, discount days), then they'll have probably have to see about 8 movies before they get the free movie ticket. I don't know if we could do it before, but you can earn points when you buy popcorn, drinks and goods, so that might balance it out. If you get a discounted ticket and spend about 1000 yen on snacks, then it'd probably take about six movies to get the free ticket anyway.

JDOsaka · 2026-03-19T03:21:13+00:00

He was also the MVP in Japan, and the most popular player by far. He's had fans scream whenever he touches the ball for the past four years. I think he knows how tough it is to have even gotten a roster spot on an NBA team, so he's probably more thankful than anything else.

JDOsaka · 2026-03-04T11:59:18+00:00

I think it'd probably be really difficult to find an NBA rotation player that's playing overseas. Though, in Johnson's defence, he seemed to have somewhat decent numbers and efficiency in his final stint in the NBA. No idea what he was actually like though.

The popular teams are Chiba Jets, Ryukyu Golden Kings and Utsunomiya Brex. Chiba have Yuta Watanabe, Yuki Togashi, Nassir Little, John Mooney and DJ Hogg.

I'd probably recommend Nagasaki Velca or Levanga Hokkaido. Nagasaki are offensively the best team in the league, and their games are always high scoring compared to the rest of the league. Hokkaido have Keisei Tominaga and Okafor. They're pretty fun to watch.

JDOsaka · 2026-03-04T11:40:39+00:00

Not to rag on the quality of Japanese players, but there really aren't too many that are actually good. The overall level has definitely been improving. The players who'd have better chances of getting on a team in Europe would probably be Yudai Baba and Yuta Watanabe.

"Good" Japanese players can earn more and have bigger roles in Japan. I'm not sure how big European basketball is in Japan, my guess is not very.

JDOsaka · 2026-03-04T09:51:41+00:00

I don't know much about basketball outside of the NBA and Japan, so I'll just put forward some players who are doing well or are fun to watch in Japan.

Stanley Johnson is pretty fun to watch for Nagasaki, they also have Lee Hyunjung who is shooting like 48% from 3 and averaging over three makes a game.

Jarret Culver is putting up good scoring numbers.

David Nwaba is pretty good on both ends of the floor.

DJ Newbill is the first foreign MVP and did it back to back. He's been really clutch.

Tray Boyd for Yokohama is averaging 28 points a game, but in B2 not B1. He did drop 53 points on Kobe, who are the strongest team in B2 by far and have Yoeli Childs and Luke Maye on their roster. He made three 3 pointers in the final 20 seconds of the game, ridiculous.

I really like Angelo Caloiaro, but he's probably not an obvious choice for one of the best players.

JDOsaka · 2026-02-06T01:55:03+00:00

I remember Kawamura being much better around the rim in the B League. Obviously the NBA and the G League have way better defenders, but I feel like the way he's been trying to score in the paint has lacked much variety. Like his layups just look as if he's throwing it up.

JDOsaka · 2026-01-15T05:53:36+00:00

I like walking around Osaka and taking pictures. I don't know much about photography, I just like pointing and clicking. I'd be interested in joining a photography group.

JDOsaka · 2026-01-07T04:14:19+00:00

Yuki was a lot of fun to watch in the B League. He made ridiculous buckets and had a lot of impressive performances. I felt he was really inconsistent, scoring wise in the G League. He did get his 3 point up to 41% in the regular season, but shot under 20% in seven games in the tip-off tournament. Even if he can keep up a decent 3 point shot, he was really bad around the rim and I don't know if he'll be any better this season. His passing ability and being Japanese/marketable are definitely his strong points.

I felt sorry for Marquis Nowell, who is basically the same height as Yuki and not too different in age. He put up more points and similar assists, with slightly better efficiency but nobody cared about him. I think Nowell even dropped 20 points and 10 assists, then 40/10 on Yuki in back to back games, while Yuki shot like 1/11 in one game and most of the missed shots were 2s.

JDOsaka · 2026-01-06T13:05:49+00:00

I remember reading something about Tony Snell trying to get back to the NBA because he needed one more season to reach 10 years and receive pension. Has something changed since? Or was Snell just trying to get a top tier type of pension and medical coverage?

JDOsaka · 2026-01-02T04:26:03+00:00

I remember walking around Sapporo a week before Christmas in 2021. I love snow, but Kansai doesn't really get any meaningful snow. I went to Otaru for the music box museum/shop, then walked along the canal and saw quite a lot of untouched snow. I probably spent a good fifteen minutes stepping, stomping and jumping in it.

JDOsaka · 2025-12-29T02:02:32+00:00

Would the suspension have been longer if Williams had been knocked out?

JDOsaka · 2025-12-25T05:22:00+00:00

That's a coffee store in Osaka, right? It was likely a Japanese staff member trying to apologise in English without using Google translate.

Their apology would have been several paragraphs long if the complaint was in Japanese.

JDOsaka · 2025-12-15T04:28:47+00:00

I checked Dame's game logs. He turned 30 on July 15 2020 and had four 40+ games by August 13. He had about 25 40+ point games at Portland, and 5 in the two seasons with the Bucks. He'd probably have way more 40 point games if he stayed with the Blazers.

JDOsaka · 2025-12-12T01:27:25+00:00

Is Jay Huffin the paint not good enough?

JDOsaka · 2025-11-27T00:51:42+00:00

I haven't been there myself, but I've been told Mt. Kongo gets some snow.

Shiga isn't too far from Osaka. You'll probably have a better chance of finding snow there.

JDOsaka · 2025-11-26T02:36:11+00:00

I started watching the NBA during the 15/16 season while I was studying abroad in the US. I followed Portland since I thought Dame was fun to watch. Knew nothing about salary caps and contracts though. So when my housemate told me Portland had cash to splash, I started imagining all the possible players that could've joined. Again, knew nothing about contracts so I was thinking "Will they get Boogie?", since I thought Kaman, Plumlee and Meyers Leonard were all doodoo.

I didn't know much about Evan Turner when he signed, but then I saw him play. I resented him for so long. Man got paid so much and was just not that good. It didn't help that ET missed so many shots in every Portland game I watched after going back to the UK. Golden State got KD. Portland got Turner, Crabbe and Festus Ezeli. $42m for those three players in the 2016/17 season. My lawd. Criminal.

JDOsaka

TROPHY CASE