bj league

The bj league ( jap bjリーグ, bj rīgu of Basketball Japan), actually Nihon Pro Basketball League (日本 プロ バスケットボール リーグ, Nihon puro basukettobōru rīgu ) is a professional Japanese basketball league. It was created in 2005 in competition with the hitherto dominant Japan Basketball League. The league is divided into two divisions, the Eastern Conference with six teams and the Western Conference with seven teams divided.

Organizer of the League is the company KK founded on 24 March 2005 Nihon Pro Basketball League (株式会社 日本 プロ バスケットボール リーグ, Kabushiki kaisha ~ ). The main sponsor is Spalding.

History

The first season took place in the 2005-2006 period November 5, 2005 to 16th April 2006 with 40 games per team. With six starters teams that resulted in 120 games in the season. The first draft took place on 6 June 2005. The playoffs and the finals were held until 30 April 2006 28. Only the top 4 teams took part in the playoffs. There were 15 players per team files without restrictions of nationality.

The first 6 teams in the new league were:

• Sendai 89ERS
• Niigata Albirex
• Saitama Broncos
• Tokyo Apache
• Osaka Evessa
• Oita Heat Devils

In the three following years, two new teams were added, and in 2009 another.

Current season

In the current season, each team plays 52 games. Each team may have a maximum of three non-Asian and four non-Japanese players in the game. At the end of the season the top four teams play each conference in the playoffs for the championship title. At the end of the season, there is a All-Star Game.

Western Conference

• Sendai 89ERS ( Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture)
• Niigata Albirex BB ( Niigata, Niigata Prefecture)
• Grouses Toyama ( Toyama, Toyama Prefecture)
• Saitama Broncos ( Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture)
• Tokyo Apache ( Shibuya, Tokyo Prefecture)
• Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix ( Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture and region Higashimikawa, Aichi Prefecture)

Eastern Conference

• Shiga Lake Stars ( Otsu Cities, Shiga Prefecture)
• Hannaryz Kyoto ( Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture)
• Osaka Evessa ( Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture)
• Takamatsu Five Arrows ( Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture)
• Rizing Fukuoka ( Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture)
• Oita Heat Devils ( Beppu, Oita Prefecture)
• Ryukyu Golden Kings ( Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture)

Previous champions

• 2005-2006 Osaka Evessa
• 2006-2007 Osaka Evessa
• 2007-2008 Osaka Evessa
• 2008-2009 Ryukyu Golden Kings