Leopards

Soon, the world will know about the East Asia Super League.
The rapidly growing league across East Asia is set to have its biggest event yet: the EASL Final Four happening March 8-10 in Cebu, Philippines.
Dubbed the "Champions League" of East Asian basketball, the EASL combines the best clubs from the top leagues in East Asia with elite production value. The teams in the Final Four are Korea&rsquo;s Seoul SK Knights and Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters, Taiwan&rsquo;s New Taipei Kings, and Japan&rsquo;s Chiba Jets. The Red Boosters come in as the defending champions following their win over their Korean neighbors, SK Knights, in last year&rsquo;s inaugural championship in Japan.&nbsp;
EASL&rsquo;s vision is to become one of the world&rsquo;s top professional basketball leagues. At the same time, EASL aims to elevate the sport of basketball across the East Asia region.&nbsp;
But what makes the league different is the style of play and the brand of basketball each team employs. While leagues like the NBA lean on athleticism, teams in the EASL use a lot of running and transition as well as relying on spacing.
&ldquo;Our play style is fast, and pretty open court. We use dynamic guards a lot and rely on spacing,&rdquo; New Taipei Kings&rsquo; Joseph Lin told BasketballNews in the opening press conference of the league&rsquo;s Final Four tournament. 
The 6-foot-1 Lin, the brother of former NBA player and champion Jeremy Lin, will attempt to bring the title to Taiwan as they go up against the Chiba Jets in the semifinals.
Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters&rsquo; Filipino import Rhenz Abando echoed the younger Lin&rsquo;s sentiments as he came home to play in front of Filipino fans in Cebu: &ldquo;[Our play style] is also the same with Taipei, we are also fast and have a lot of ball movement and spacing.&rdquo;
Going up against Abando and the Red Boosters are the SK Knights in a rematch of last year&rsquo;s finals matchup. Star player Oh Jae Hyun reflects the opinions of the basketball played in the EASL.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Our team&rsquo;s main strength is fast-paced basketball, which requires rebounding and pressing the defense so we can force turnovers and push it on the other side,&rdquo; Hyun added.
Aside from Lin, a number former NBA players have played in the EASL including <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/east-asia-super-league-inside-a-basketball-startup-with-a-unique-vision">Lance Stephenson (Liaoning Flying Leopards), Shabazz Muhammad (Shenzhen Leopards), KJ McDaniels (TNT KaTropa), Jared Sullinger (Shenzhen Aviators), Jameel Warney (Seoul SK Knights) and Domantas Motiejunas (Shandong Golden Stars).</a> Austin Daye, a 2014 NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs, is a teammate to Lin on New Taipei.
With the league&rsquo;s Final Four event aiming to have massive success in the Philippines, EASL CEO Henry Kerins is optimistic that the EASL will grow even more and increase the number of teams soon.
&ldquo;Our ambition is to expand from eight teams to 16 teams and that will include new geographies and new clubs,&rdquo; Kerins shared. &ldquo;Obviously, there&rsquo;s a huge amount of development and expansion for us to do and that&rsquo;s where the top basketball talent is right now &ndash; Asia.&rdquo;
Kerins further noted that this is only the start for EASL as it looks to increase its global market and viewership in the coming months and years.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Our focus right now is developing and expanding that and deepening both our penetration on the media partnerships. This is the beginning, and in 2025 you&rsquo;re going to see a much more mature and aggressive strategy for expanding that," Kerins said. "We will be expanding our presence and that will lead to more clubs participating &ndash; so hold for that in terms of our announcements but that&rsquo;s our vision and plan going forward.&rdquo;

Soon, the world will know about the East Asia Super League, which is about to hold its Final Four in the Philippines.

East Asia Super League set to have its biggest event yet in Cebu

The East Asia Super League announced that their 2023 EASL Champions Week will take place in Japan from March 1-5. The league&rsquo;s eight teams will battle for the inaugural Champions Week title and the first-place prize of $250,000. (The runner-up will receive $100,000 and the third-place team will get $50,000.)
A total of 10 games will be played in Japan from March 1-5. The Utsunomiya Brex will host the first six games of the Group Stage. The Ryukyu Golden Kings will host four games total &mdash; two Group Stage games as well as the championship game and third-place game on March 5 in their new Okinawa-based arena (which is also a 2023 FIBA World Cup venue).
Each day of EASL Champions Week will feature two marquee match-ups. EASL Champions Week is finalizing broadcast deals in all core EASL regions and beyond, and those details will be announced soon.
The eight teams that have already qualified for EASL Season 1 will remain in their respective groups. The schedule will be determined through a drawing that will be live-streamed globally later this month.&nbsp;
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The EASL will launch its home-and-away format in Season 2, which will tip off in fall of 2023. The teams will qualify through their current domestic seasons. In Season 3 (which will take place in fall of 2024), the EASL will expand the format to 16 teams and potentially add in new leagues and regions.
Past EASL events featured notable players such as Lance Stephenson (Liaoning Flying Leopards), Shabazz Muhammad (Shenzhen Leopards), KJ McDaniels (TNT KaTropa), Jared Sullinger (Shenzhen Aviators), Jameel Warney (Seoul SK Knights) and Domantas Motiejunas (Shandong Golden Stars). The league has added investors such as Jalen Green, Baron Davis, Metta Sandiford-Artest and Shane Battier.
For more on the East Asia Super League, check out this <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/east-asia-super-league-inside-a-basketball-startup-with-a-unique-vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in-depth article</a> about the league's future plans, which features an exclusive interview with EASL Commissioner Matt Beyer.

The East Asia Super League announced that their 2023 EASL Champions Week will take place in Japan from March 1-5.

East Asia Super League sets Champions Week for March 1-5 in Japan

Dwight Howard recently made headlines when he signed with the Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan. The 18-year NBA veteran decided to head overseas rather than continuing to hold out hope for an NBA offer.
Will other NBA veterans follow in Howard's footsteps?
Carmelo Anthony, DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas have also received interest from teams in Taiwan, but they have "thus far shown zero interest" in joining the T1 League, according to <a href="https://marcstein.substack.com/p/lebron-youth-basketball-asks-too?utm_source=post-email-title&amp;publication_id=392205&amp;post_id=87058254&amp;isFreemail=false&amp;utm_medium=email" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA insider Marc Stein</a>.
Anthony is determined to play in the NBA this year, as it would be his 20th season in the league. Last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, the 37-year-old put up 13.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.2 threes, 0.8 blocks and 0.7 steals in 26.0 minutes per game. Anthony is a 10-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA selection and a member of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team. He's a lock for the Hall of Fame (with a 98.4% Hall-of-Fame Probability, according to Basketball Reference), and career-averages of 22.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 threes and 1.0 steal per game.
In recent years, Anthony has shot the ball much better from three-point range, knocking down 37.5% of his three-point attempts last year and 40.9% from deep the year before. Over the offseason, Anthony was working out with his son, Kiyan, at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Carmelo Anthony (<a href="https://twitter.com/carmeloanthony?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@carmeloanthony</a>) working out at <a href="https://twitter.com/impactbball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@impactbball</a> in Las Vegas: <a href="https://t.co/Rnz8Bam7EO">pic.twitter.com/Rnz8Bam7EO</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1547693404414365702?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Last season, Cousins became a key contributor for the Denver Nuggets after joining the team in February, averaging 8.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 13.9 minutes per contest. He played well during the playoffs too, particularly in Denver's Game 5 loss against the Golden State Warriors when he scored 19 points in 15 minutes (while shooting 8-of-12 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point range).
Over the course of Cousins' 12-year NBA career, the four-time All-Star has averaged 19.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks on .460/.331/.737 shooting splits. The 32-year-old recently <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/free-agent-demarcus-cousins-admits-mistakes-hopes-for-nba-call" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opened up</a> about how misconceptions about him have impacted his free agency.
Last season, Thomas had short stints with the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks before finally sticking with the Charlotte Hornets. In 17 games with the Hornets, Thomas averaged 8.3 points in 12.9 minutes per game, while shooting 43.3% from the field, 39.7% from three-point range and 93.3% from the free-throw line. The 11-year NBA veteran has made two All-Star appearances and an All-NBA team, and he has career-averages of 17.7 points, 4.8 assists, 2.4 rebounds, 1.9 threes and 0.9 steals per game.

Carmelo Anthony, DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas have "thus far shown zero interest" in following Dwight Howard to Taiwan.

Carmelo Anthony, DeMarcus Cousins, Isaiah Thomas won't sign in Taiwan

Dwight Howard has announced that he will be playing overseas in Taiwan for the Taoyuan Leopards.
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Dwight Howard announces he&rsquo;s headed overseas to play in Taiwan for the Taoyuan Leopards. <a href="https://t.co/DpikvhnXYm">pic.twitter.com/DpikvhnXYm</a>
&mdash; Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeAScotto/status/1589805033964834818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Howard spent the 2021-22 NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers where he averaged 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in just 16.2 minutes a night over 60 games played.
Howard is an eight-time All Star, three-time All-NBA selection, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, and an NBA champion.
The former No. 1 overall pick's move overseas follows fellow NBA veteran Eric Bledsoe, who signed with the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association just over a week ago.&nbsp;

Dwight Howard has announced his move to Taiwan's Taoyuan Leopards.

Dwight Howard signs with Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan

It&rsquo;s only a matter of time until the East Asia Super League is a household name globally.
The EASL launched in 2017 as an invitational tournament for the top-two teams from the best men&rsquo;s leagues in China, Japan, Korea and the Philippines. The East Asia Super League marked the first time that the premier teams from China&rsquo;s CBA, Japan's B.League, South Korea's KBL and the Philippines' PBA faced off against each other. These tournaments became massively popular in Asia, most recently drawing 117 million viewers over a six-day span in 2019.
Past EASL events featured notable players such as Lance Stephenson (Liaoning Flying Leopards), Shabazz Muhammad (Shenzhen Leopards), KJ McDaniels (TNT KaTropa), Jared Sullinger (Shenzhen Aviators), Jameel Warney (Seoul SK Knights) and Domantas Motiejunas (Shandong Golden Stars).
Now, for the first time, the EASL is becoming an actual league with a home-and-away season that tips off in October. Eight teams will compete over the course of six months, culminating in a Final Four tournament with a $1 million prize for the winning team. It&rsquo;s essentially the Asian-basketball version of soccer&rsquo;s UEFA Champions League.&nbsp;
With a valuation of $100 million, a 10-year exclusive deal with FIBA and high-profile investors such as Jalen Green, Baron Davis, Metta Sandiford-Artest and Shane Battier, there&rsquo;s no question that the East Asia Super League is gaining momentum.
&ldquo;I think the league is really going to be the first Asia-originated sports property that&rsquo;s going to be capturing the hearts and minds of fans globally,&rdquo; EASL Commissioner Matt Beyer told BasketballNews.com.
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In order to do that, the EASL is getting creative and taking cues from some unlikely influences. One might expect an up-and-coming basketball league to follow the same blueprint as the NBA or EuroLeague. Instead, Beyer is channeling Formula One and K-Pop as he looks to grow the East Asia Super League.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re taking a lot of lessons from the K-Pop industry and, with our content, from Formula One and what they&rsquo;ve done with their &lsquo;Drive to Survive&rsquo; reality series,&rdquo; Beyer explained. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to make the league relevant to as wide of a fan base around the world as possible.&rdquo;
After years of struggling to increase viewership and find mainstream success (particularly in the United States), Formula One racing finally took off in recent years. F1 races saw their average viewership jump from 547,722 in 2018 to 928,000 in 2021. What was the key to their success? A reality show on Netflix called &ldquo;Drive to Survive.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The show gives an inside look at the Formula One World Championship, focusing primarily on big personalities and behind-the-scenes drama. Fans became invested in these characters, which gave them a rooting interest and a reason to watch the races. It has been an absolute game-changer for Formula One, and other sports leagues have taken notice.
Soon, the EASL will launch a reality show of their own that will spotlight three-to-five players from each team, documenting their lives on and off the court.
&ldquo;We're about to announce a partnership between two really big production companies &ndash; an experienced Asian content production company and a US-basketball-storytelling production company &ndash; to do a 10-episode, 30-minutes-per-episode type reality show that we're working on distributing on one of the major global platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc.&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;For our non-core markets, we&rsquo;ve also considered distributing the reality show together with our broadcast rights. There are a lot of things that need to happen between now and when that show hits the market, but basically we want fans globally to be able to access the East Asia Super League through this type of product and use it as an inroad to hook them. Like, &lsquo;Hey, this league is pretty cool. I've never thought about Asian basketball, but these guys that are featured in the show are interesting and I want to keep following this.&rsquo;&rdquo;
As the league looks to market its players as characters and generate support from a global audience, that&rsquo;s where Beyer hopes to learn a thing or two from the K-Pop industry.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I just visited Korea right after the country opened up in April,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;As we&rsquo;re doing our media-rights deals in Korea, we&rsquo;re looking at the entertainment groups like CJ E&amp;M and YG and these groups that have manufactured the highest-grossing K-Pop bands globally. How do we take the principles of K-Pop and variety shows and put that into a sports context? The way that I look at it is we have so much to learn in terms of how to create a storyline around a player or make a fan club around a certain group of players or a certain concept. For us, it&rsquo;s really about being sponges. While our team may know a lot about basketball and making highlight reels and all of that, we need to figure out how to leverage those best practices that have been tried and true in the entertainment industry and transfer them into sports.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The reality of the situation is that Asian basketball will benefit from having this platform where the top teams get together and play on a regular basis, and that will help Asian basketball as an aggregate and help their national teams perform better in key global competitions. But at the same time, there&rsquo;s still a huge gap between the level of talent in the NBA and the level of talent in Europe or Asia, so if we want to be a globally relevant league, we&rsquo;ve gotta pick up the slack somewhere and it&rsquo;s not necessarily all on the court.&rdquo;
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Beyer, who previously worked as a player agent and a translator for NBA teams, hopes the EASL can attract all kinds of fans &ndash; whether they&rsquo;re watching because their favorite team is competing or because they really like a certain player after watching the league&rsquo;s reality show and social-media content.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We want fans to understand the personalities in the East Asia Super League,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;We want people to be able to access the league and basketball however they feel comfortable. That&rsquo;s sort of our mentality: we&rsquo;re here to serve the fans and we&rsquo;re here to add value to our commercial partners. It may not be in the same way that domestic leagues in our markets operate, and it&rsquo;s certainly not the way that the NBA operates. But we want to make sure that in our ecosystem, there&rsquo;s something for every fan.&rdquo;
The pandemic forced the East Asia Super League to shift its approach. Not only did they abandon the tournament format in favor of a home-and-away season, they started prioritizing content.&nbsp;
&ldquo;For us, it was really an opportunity to change from an events company to thinking and acting more like a media company,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;From 2017 to the end of 2019, everyone was just totally focused on preparing for a big tournament, executing said tournament, wrapping up the tournament and then we&rsquo;d start preparing for the next tournament. During COVID, we started to really focus on producing short-form content and presenting Asian basketball from a lifestyle perspective and doing storytelling around the players in a way that had never been done before in Asia. I think storytelling is really important, and we want to be the best basketball storytellers out there.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Since pivoting, the response from fans has been overwhelming.
&ldquo;From when we did our first short-form video in June 2020 to now, our engagement is up over 1,200%. Our video plays are up over 2,000% and our cumulative social-media following is right now very close to a million followers,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;We're growing at about 20,000 followers per week. So, the fans love it and they want more. And we're gonna have so much more to give the fans once our games start on October 12. I just feel like the top is gonna be blown off at that point.&rdquo;
There&rsquo;s no question that the EASL is on the rise, and Beyer is already thinking about how the league will expand going forward.
&ldquo;We're going to offer a really awesome product for fans in this first season, and then we're going to grow and expand rapidly,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;By season three, we&rsquo;re going to expand to a 16-team format and it will be four small groups of four teams playing into a Final Four competition. The city that holds the Final Four competition will rotate on an annual basis. We&rsquo;re going to keep upping the prize in subsequent seasons too. It starts at $1 million and we're going to increase it after we operate a few seasons.&rdquo;
The EASL recently made headlines when they added Jalen Green as an investor-ambassador. Green, who is of Filipino descent, became the highest-drafted Asian-American player when the Houston Rockets selected him No. 2 overall in the 2021 NBA Draft. Bringing in Green, Davis, Artest and Battier is a significant step for the EASL, and the league may add more notable investors soon since they are in the middle of another fundraise.&nbsp;
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&ldquo;To be a globally relevant sports property coming out of Asia means that these alliances with NBA players and other global superstars are really important for us,&rdquo; Beyer explained. &ldquo;I've known Metta for over 10 years from his trips to China when he was still an NBA player and when he went over to play in China [in 2014]. We've always kept in touch and I've always thought Metta is a good guy. He loves Asia so much, and he's benefited so much from China in his career, so he really wanted to be a part of this. With Baron, he was the first NBA player to sign with Li-Ning, and he&rsquo;s a guy who's always tried to sort of do things his own way and be a little bit different. He&rsquo;s also someone who has a startup ecosystem that he's really fostering with his own Baron Davis Enterprises. And then with Shane Battier, he played alongside both Metta and Yao Ming for such a long part of his career and did so many tours to Asia with Peak.&nbsp;
"They had all heard about the East Asia Super League, so it was more so just trying to explain the vision. I think they all understand the potential of the markets. And they also feel that the leagues need innovation to really take it to the next level. We&rsquo;re all thinking: how can Asian basketball become as relevant in society as the NBA is in the US?&rdquo;
Beyer is setting lofty goals for the East Asia Super League, believing that it can become one of the biggest basketball leagues in the world.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We want to be the premier basketball league in Asia,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;We want to be a pioneer in terms of true sports entertainment for the Asian fan. But we also want to be a top-three league in the world in terms of fan-base size and commercial revenue by 2025.&rdquo;
Part of Beyer&rsquo;s confidence is because of his belief in Asia overall.
&ldquo;I mean, the 21st century is really Asia&rsquo;s century,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The growth is all in Asia and the opportunity is really in Asia; that&rsquo;s just where the money is going to be going forward, especially if you contrast that with the direction that the European market for basketball is going at the moment. Asia is on the rise; everyone knows it for pretty much every other part of the global economy, and for the sports economy, it's coming&hellip; If you're bullish on Asian markets taking more of an emphasis on experiential economy and health and wellness and that entertainment generally is growing in the region, then you should bet on the East Asia Super League.&rdquo;
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Basketball is insanely popular in Asia, which also makes the EASL a safe bet to succeed. Beyer has been blown away by the passion and support he&rsquo;s seen throughout Asia, particularly in the Philippines.
&ldquo;Just about everyone &ndash; men and women &ndash; between 6 and 60 years old in the Philippines loves basketball,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;The population is a little over 100 million. I saw a statistic that, on average, 52 million people across the country watch a live basketball game on broadcast every single week. I mean, that's half of the country! It's impressive. If you look at most NBA teams&rsquo; Facebook, I would say they have more fans from the Philippines on there than from the US. That&rsquo;s the reality of the situation. And if you look across the region, the media-rights values for basketball are growing.&rdquo;
The NBA&rsquo;s Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts have more than 24 million combined followers from the Philippines &mdash; the most of any country outside of the United States. And based on average viewership and reach, the Philippines draw the second-largest average audience for NBA games behind only the US.
&ldquo;The fan support we have in the Philippines, I think, is among the most amazing things I&rsquo;ve witnessed from the data side for the demographics of the NBA,&rdquo; said Kevin Esteves, the NBA&rsquo;s associate vice president of digital strategy and analytics. &ldquo;For that country to represent such a significant portion of the consumption we have on a person-to-person basis, they just love the NBA; they love the stories and the players. Our content performs exceptionally well there. We see support from countries all over the world &mdash; in Europe, Australia, Africa and so on &mdash; but the Philippines really stood out to me. I think that ties back to a lot of the globalization that the NBA has done, with some of its global games being held in Manila. That&rsquo;s been critical and we&rsquo;ve seen that show up in the numbers."
"The NBA is the most popular sports league in the Philippines, with 98% awareness among the general population," <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mortenjensen/2022/03/06/nba-seeing-uptick-in-international-league-pass-consumption/?sh=5fa733e51d51" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a> Matt Brabants, the NBA's senior vice president and head of international content partnerships.
However, these fans also love the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), which has posted incredible ratings in recent years. The PBA Governors Cup between Barangay Ginebra and Meralco recently drew 3.6 million viewers (or 17% of the total population watching TV).
Dating back to the EASL's tournaments, there's been no shortage of viewers or interest.
&ldquo;Our first tournament had 21 million viewers, and our most recent one in September 2019 had 117 million viewers over the course of a week,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;The support is really special. I think when you have any kind of start-up business, you have to see how the market reacts to it. We did a lot of due diligence prior to starting this to understand that this would be a concept that people would like and that fans would get behind, but you never really know how everything is going to go until the rubber hits the road.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a soccer version of this with the AFC Champions League in Asia since 1996, but there&rsquo;s never been anything in basketball that brought everyone together like this. In 2016 when we started to go out and do fact-finding on this, that was [the big question]: &lsquo;Why hasn&rsquo;t this happened already?&rsquo; And then we realized that these leagues don&rsquo;t really have much interaction and there had been no dialogue. Really, just being there to facilitate the dialogue and bring people to the table in and of itself was sort of a revolutionary thing at that point.&rdquo;
After getting all of the decision-makers on the same page, Beyer spent the last five years building trust with the leagues, teams and FIBA.
&ldquo;We had to build trust, so putting together the tournaments between 2017 and 2019 was the way to do that, and it was also a marketing tool to the stakeholders that we can make this happen,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;We have revenue-sharing deals for commercial revenue with the leagues. We have appearance fees and prize money for regular-season wins. We have this big $1 million prize at the end of the season. We handle all of the travel costs for the teams. We really derisk this for every single party involved so that participating in the East Asia Super League isn&rsquo;t something where we&rsquo;re twisting anyone&rsquo;s arm. It should be something fun for the teams and it should be an honor for the teams.
"It's really about proving yourself against your regional competition. This is exciting, it&rsquo;s different. If you're always playing against the same competition in your backyard, it becomes a bit of a vacuum, an echo chamber. Being able to go out and see a diverse group of opponents is something special, and it just hasn't happened in this environment. It has never been done before."
The East Asia Super League is demanding your attention. Soon, with an assist from Formula One and K-Pop, it very well could be the next big thing in basketball.
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With a valuation of $100 million, a 10-year exclusive deal with FIBA and high-profile investors, the EASL is gaining momentum.

East Asia Super League: Inside a basketball startup with a unique vision

There is no judgement when you enter Haseeb Fasihi&rsquo;s gym, but there are rules.&nbsp;
&ldquo;When you work with me, probably for the first two weeks, I don't want [any] footage,&rdquo; Fasihi explained. &ldquo;I don't want any cameras.&rdquo;
For Fasihi, this rule is rooted in passion and in the desire to see athletes improve their game, not to stroke their egos.&nbsp;
&ldquo;My [philosophy] is like, &lsquo;Hey, when I break you down and you're at your worst, how do you adjust?&rsquo;&rdquo;
The numbers, the success stories, and the accolades that he has accumulated over the last decade are evidence enough that the 30-year-old&rsquo;s approach to coaching and developing professional basketball players works. He&rsquo;s been in their position before, and he knows firsthand what is necessary to ensure a long career.&nbsp;
Not highly recruited out of high school, Haseeb&rsquo;s venture into the world of professional basketball began, like many others&rsquo;, at just 18 years old.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I went to this camp in Atlanta and I was just dropping dimes to everybody. They saw that I was not a scorer, but I had this one game where I had like 16 assists and 12 rebounds, but only scored 8 points. But I didn't feel like I needed to score. So a lot of the scouts were like, &lsquo;Hey you remind us of what Steve Nash does. He doesn't need to shoot.&rsquo; So they used that as a way of recruiting me,&rdquo; he says of the London Leopards (now the Essex Leopards) of the British Basketball League.&nbsp;
And while his own professional career was cut short due to knee and ankle injuries, a promise to his father would prove to be a blessing in disguise, giving him a different opportunity to pursue a career in professional basketball.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I wanted to get into school because I didn't have my Bachelor&rsquo;s yet," Fasihi said. "So as a favor to my father, I came back to America and got my Bachelor's from UCF (University of Central Florida) in Exercise Physiology.&rdquo;&nbsp;
His degree helped him understand the intricate workings of a professional athlete&rsquo;s body, and his personal experiences helped him turn it into an art form.&nbsp;
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While injuries and promises led him to pursue a new career, the NBA lockout of 2011 &mdash; in another butterfly-effect moment that has become the norm in his life &mdash; helped him get his foot in the door.&nbsp;
Two years into working independently as a conditioning coach, Fasihi joined the famed IMG Academy. His first client was none other than Tyrus Thomas, the fourth overall pick of the 2006 NBA draft. The young coach was unmistakably talented, but like the NBA, talent and opportunity are often two independent parts of the equation.
&ldquo;What got me into the NBA was one of my mentors, Bill Burgos, who's currently the head strength-and-conditioning coach for the Timberwolves," Fasihi said. "During the lockout, coaches and players were not working. So he decided to become a professor at UCF for one semester in Strength and Conditioning. So, I was so lucky and blessed to take that one Strength and Conditioning class.&rdquo;&nbsp;
As fate would have it, Professor Burgos was also the strength-and-conditioning coach for the Orlando Magic at the time.
&ldquo;I actually got to know him really well and we built a personal relationship," Fasihi said. "And then, he saw that in the offseason, I was training so many players.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Fasihi and Burgos kept in touch. When Haseeb was featured by ESPN for his work with Los Angeles Lakers signee Vander Blue, he sent the article to his longtime mentor. Burgos picked up the phone and called Fasihi with as little hesitation as Steph Curry has from behind the arc.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He told me, &lsquo;Hey, we're starting a new G League program and I want you to be my assistant strength coach in Orlando.&rsquo; And at that time, I was actually with Jae Crowder in Cleveland after he got traded," Fasihi said. "So I got the call when I was at his house. He said &lsquo;Hey, we want you to come to the Orlando Magic,&rsquo; and this was in 2017. I was like, &lsquo;Oh, wow. Alright. I'm ready. Let's do it.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;
Only 27 at the time, Fasihi jumped at the opportunity, and hasn&rsquo;t looked back since.&nbsp;
Haseeb wears many hats &mdash; he is the head of player development for the Lakeland Magic (the current G League champions), a strength-and-conditioning coach for the Orlando Magic, the creator of M.A.D.E Performance, and the personal development coach to basketball players at every level. His client list spans the length of every roster in the NBA, and he can name every one of them.&nbsp;
Since joining the Lakeland Magic in 2017, he has seen many players come and go; some head overseas, and some make it to the NBA. Other players go to his hometown of Miami to train with him individually.
&ldquo;If a player comes [to Miami] temporarily, they just work out with me short-term and then they leave. But guys like Jae Crowder or Bruno Fernando from Atlanta, these guys want me to be with them full-time," Fasihi said. "It usually depends on the demand at the moment. There have been times that Jae Crowder wants me to be with him in Phoenix, and I'll be like, &lsquo;Hey, I can't, I'm still in the season with Lakeland.&rsquo; Or if he's somewhere else, and he needs me there, I can't be there, just because the demand I have down here is pretty high, especially with a lot of college players transitioning to the NBA."&nbsp;
He has perfected the careful balancing act that is being in multiple places at the same time, and thanks the Lakeland Magic for their flexibility that allows him to do so.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Luckily, my two general managers, Anthony Parker &mdash; who is Candace Parker&rsquo;s brother, he's my head GM in the Lakeland &mdash; and my assistant general manager, Adetunji Adedipe, these two are pretty much my mentors in the organization, [along with] our assistant GM Matt Lloyd with Orlando," Fasihi said. "So they kind of understand that I have a lot of clientele in the offseason [and allow me to] go back to the offseason demand of the players contacting me."
Orlando completed several deals at this year&rsquo;s trade deadline, and no one is more excited than Fasihi.&nbsp;
&ldquo;They're going to have a lot of young guys that they&rsquo;re going to start drafting,&rdquo; he says, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. &ldquo;For the past three-to-five years, I've been working the NBA Draft Combine, so I do all the testing. We as strength-and-conditioning coaches, we do the testing like the vertical jump and all that stuff. So they'll assign me a certain spot at the combine to do it. And that's a very honorable thing to do because it&rsquo;s very rare to have the opportunity.&rdquo;
With a keen eye for detail, Fasihi&rsquo;s personal methods for player development have helped many draft prospects go from merely dreaming of playing in the NBA to living that reality.
Improving a player&rsquo;s mobility and confidence are areas that Fasihi is an expert in, with one often interchangeable with the other.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been taught that if you feel like the player is confident shooting at a high percentage, it&rsquo;s hard to change that," he said. "I'll give you an example: when I was growing up, people would say that Reggie Miller had a terrible shooting form, but he was so confident. He was just one of the best three-point shooters in the league, so nobody said anything! But now, we're in an era where guys have to shoot quicker, you know, all those little things are diagnosed. So for me, I would have to see where the percentages are at and how the body moves when they&rsquo;re shooting. If I feel like I can improve a player&rsquo;s shot by 2% or 3%, I'll break that down to a T and then see how the body responds when I do change the form.&rdquo;
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When he speaks of his client list, Fasihi doesn&rsquo;t start with the most famous. He starts with the players he sees the most potential in &mdash; the ones with the desire to improve a little bit every day.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Christian Vital from UConn; he's been with me for, like, the past four or five years," Fasihi said. "So he's like my little brother. He comes to me in the offseason. I know his agent really well, and he was actually picked up by Memphis on their G League roster. He's gonna be a great addition to [any] situation he's in. Jalen Adams, another kid from UConn, he&rsquo;s with the Pelicans and their G League team. I think he will have another great opportunity. 
"Miles Bridges, but we already see where he's at now; he's catching lobs and just dunking it. That's no surprise. There's just so many players. I mean, I could go down the list. Even one of my kids, MaCio Teague from Baylor, who just won [the national championship]. Seeing him win [after] having him come work with me in the offseason was fun.&rdquo;
He speaks highly of Princeton&rsquo;s Devin Cannady, the G League MVP in his second professional season: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great kid and he&rsquo;s got a great career ahead of him.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The day after Fasihi mentioned Cannady, the Magic signed him to a two-way contract.&nbsp;
Although the coach feels a sense of pride with every success story, he will never take the credit.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Growing up in Miami, I was a Heat fan, but now I&rsquo;m a Magic fan because obviously, it&rsquo;s political,&rdquo; Fasihi jokes. &ldquo;But seeing [Jae] make it to the Finals, I felt like I was part of Heat Nation.&rdquo;
He doesn&rsquo;t take credit for Crowder&rsquo;s Finals performance with the Heat, as he recognizes the amount of people involved in ensuring longevity in a player&rsquo;s career.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I did what I could to help him with the short period of time I had with him," he said. "It's what he does with what I&rsquo;ve taught him that makes him go to the next level.&rdquo;
Along with the players he&rsquo;s helped developed over the years, Fasihi is continuing to make his mark and have a positive impact behind the scenes.
And he&rsquo;s far from done.

Haseeb Fasihi's name might not be familiar to NBA fans, but behind the scenes, his teachings are pushing many young pros forward.

From NCAA to the NBA, Haseeb Fasihi continues to make his mark

Kevin Durant went down with another injury last night, a thigh contusion, just a couple days after LaMarcus Aldridge was forced into retirement due to an irregular heartbeat. After weighing their options, the Brooklyn Nets decided to sign an overseas player, Mike James, to address their depth. James spent part of this season with CSKA Moscow, but he was recently released after clashing with his coach.
Over the next few weeks, don&rsquo;t be surprised if more NBA teams look to sign overseas players who are suddenly available after wrapping up their campaign abroad.&nbsp;
A bunch of American players who had been playing in China are now available, and a few more will become available once their teams are eliminated from the Chinese Basketball Association playoffs. Other Americans are playing in Europe and could become available just before the NBA postseason begins, if their contract allows for it.
Teams in the Western Conference now have to find ways to defeat a Los Angeles Lakers team that has added Andre Drummond. They also need to compete with a Utah Jazz team that has the league&rsquo;s best overall record (42-16), best home record (42-3) and best point differential (+9.1), as Donovan Mitchell has become the second-leading scorer in the NBA since the All-Star break (29.6 points per game, behind only Stephen Curry at 34.4). The Jazz are the only team in the NBA to rank among the top-five in both offensive rating (116.7, fourth) and defensive rating (107.8, fourth).
So, who is available?
Let&rsquo;s start with China, where the CBA playoffs resumed Monday with six teams remaining. Dominique Jones led the CBA in scoring this season with an average of 38.0 points per game for the Jilin Northeast Tigers, who were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Another American whose season has already ended is Trae Golden of the Fujian Sturgeons (30.4 PPG).
MarShon Brooks (Guangdong Southern Tigers), Lester Hudson and Manny Harris (Shandong Heroes), O.J. Mayo (Liaoning Flying Leopards), and Darius Adams and Dakari Johnson (Qingdao Eagles) remain alive in the postseason, but they will be available whenever their season concludes.
All of the aforementioned players have NBA experience, and it will come down to which holes need to be plugged on a team-by-team basis as the final month of the NBA season winds down and postseason planning reaches its final stages.
The leading rebounder in China was Donatas Motiejunas from Lithuania (13.7 RPG), whose Xinjiang Fighting Tigers were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday by Shandong. Hamed Haddadi of the Sichuan Blue Whales, who finished second in the CBA in rebounding (13.5 RPG), is also available if visa issues do not exist.
Will visa issues be problematic for these overseas players?
&ldquo;If a player has visa issues, we do try to help them if one of our teams wants to sign them,&rdquo; NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.&nbsp;&rdquo;But we can&rsquo;t speak to any specific individuals, as we certainly haven&rsquo;t studied them nor would we speak about any person&rsquo;s visa status, generally speaking.&rdquo;
In Europe, the Euroleague playoffs begin this week with recently unretired Pau Gasol having joined FC Barcelona, which finished the regular season tied for first place with CSKA Moscow, who lost their leading scorer (Mike James).&nbsp;
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Titula la foto 😜 <a href="https://t.co/6wUUafsAdT">pic.twitter.com/6wUUafsAdT</a>
&mdash; Pau Gasol (@paugasol) <a href="https://twitter.com/paugasol/status/1383844239105089538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Jordan Loyd (Red Star Belgrade) and Scottie Wilbekin (Maccabi Tel Aviv) did not make the Euroleague playoffs but will continue domestic league play. Meanwhile, Wade Baldwin and Jalen Reynolds (Bayern Munich), Shane Larkin (Anadolu Efes Istanbul), Cory Higgins and Nikola Mirotic (Barcelona) will be competing in the Euroleague postseason.
&ldquo;Mirotic has a contract that requires him to compete in the Euroleague playoffs and Spanish league playoffs, so in his case he will be unavailable,&rdquo; said former NBA player Bostjan Nachbar, who now runs the Euroleague Players&rsquo; Association. &ldquo;It is a case-by-case, contract-by-contract thing, but for all of the main guys on big teams here, it does not make much sense [to leave].&rdquo;
Nachbar, speaking via WhatsApp from Barcelona, pointed to Mike James as a case study of someone who can sign with an NBA team. James was having issues with the coach of CSKA Moscow, Dimitrios Itoudis, and was let out of his contract. Now, <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/pacers/news/the-brooklyn-nets-will-sign-mike-james-according-to-chema-de-lucas">he will be signing with Brooklyn</a>.
Kyle O'Quinn (Fenerbahce) received some interest from the Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks among other teams last offseason, but he signed in Turkey after he wasn't able to reach a deal with an NBA squad. This season, he's averaging 11.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, and he'll be eligible to sign with an NBA team that needs frontcourt depth once Fenerbahce's campaign concludes.&nbsp;
Reynolds is the Euroleague&rsquo;s fifth-leading rebounder (5.8 RPG in 34 games), while Nikola Milutinovic of CSKA Moscow is first with 8.5 rebounds per game (and 14.5 rebounds per 40 minutes). The leading three-point shooter in the Euroleague is Kyle Kuric of Slovakia. He plays for Barcelona and is shooting a ridiculous 58.6% from deep, while also leading all players in threes per game (3.1). Loyd, Baldwin and Wilbekin are all in the top-10 in fouls drawn.
As the Nets look to bolster their roster for the playoffs, could they add another overseas player?
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll do our due diligence as always and keep grinding away,&rdquo; general manager Sean Marks said last week prior to Durant&rsquo;s latest injury. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll look at what we got. I think with certain guys coming back this week and working themselves back into the rotation and playing more minutes, I don&rsquo;t think we want to jump to any conclusions on what we might need or what we might be missing. We&rsquo;ll look at every alternative and everybody out there. Obviously, losing a player like LaMarcus is without a doubt a blow to us. It&rsquo;s about us being flexible and it&rsquo;s a great opportunity for somebody else -- a group or a person -- to step up and take advantage of this opportunity.&rdquo;
Remember, what a team&lsquo;s roster looks like now and what it looks like when playoff rosters are set could be very different. A lot of basketball remains to be played worldwide, and every team is just one injury away from needing an extra body from overseas.

As NBA teams look to bolster their roster, they could turn to unrestricted free agents who recently finished playing abroad.

Which overseas players could be free-agent targets for NBA teams?

Jonathon Simmons, who participated (and impressed) in the Warriors&rsquo; recent bubble minicamp, is signing in China with the Liaoning Flying Leopards. Steve Kerr said he believes Simmons still does have &ldquo;NBA years&rdquo; ahead of him.
Source: <a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/1313860499520417792" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter)</a>
ANALYSIS: The Warriors were somewhat surprised by the news that Simmons was going to sign in China, as Steve Kerr was optimistic that he would make the team next season. Simmons will sign with the Liaoning Flying Leopards who are reportedly offering 'a lot of money' to Jonathon.
Simmons still has the ability to opt out of his contract if he is offered a guaranteed deal with an NBA team, though that seems unlikely. &nbsp;

Jonathon Simmons, who had been working out with the Warriors, is expected to sign a deal in China.

Jonathon Simmons to sign deal in China

LeBron James turns 36 years old soon, so which player will be the next face of the NBA? Alex Kennedy and Spencer Davies debate.

La Verne Leopards