Carrying last season's tremendous success into this year, the Super Basketball League (SBL) season will kick off with the rematch of last season's championship finals between the defending champion Yulon Dinos and runners-up Taiwan Beer tonight at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium.
For those who are not too familiar with Taiwan's semi-professional basketball scene, the league is made up of seven teams, led by the Dinos, the three-time defending champs, crowd favorite Taiwan Beer, Bank of Taiwan, the Videoland Hunters, the ETTV Antelopes, Dacin Tigers and Azio, formerly known as YMY.
Busy offseason
A busy offseason that featured the addition of two US players, Jonathan Sanders for the Hunters and Delvin Thomas for the Ante-lopes, along with the return of Dinos great Chen "Airman" Hsin-an following a controversial sit-out for the entire season last year, and the reunion of former Sina Lions backcourt tandem Chou Jung-san and Luo "the Natural" Hsin-liang in Taiwan Beer uniforms will undoubtedly heighten the level of competitiveness in this year's play.
While there are no clear preseason favorites, the Dinos should continue their dominance in the league, especially with the leadership of Chen and all-star center Tseng Wen-ding heading a starting five that includes much-improved point guard Lee Hsueh-lin and perimeter threat Chou Shih-yuan.
Lurking
Lurking not far behind the Dinos will be the beer crew in green, which welcomes the addition of Chou and Luo, whose combined long years of on-court experience should provide the much-needed mental stability that Taiwan Beer never had to add to the play of top scorer Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh, big man Ha Hsiao-yuan and three-point shooter Ho Sho-cheng.
Standing even with Taiwan Beer are the Hunters and the Antelopes, direct beneficiaries of a rule change that allowed the bottom three finishers of last year to place a foreign player onto their rosters -- namely Sanders and Thomas -- to complete the top four squads in the league.
Sanders will be expected to show off his versatility for the Hunters this year with his blazing speed in the open court and a shooting touch that will force the defenders to play him tight.
His ball-handling ability and above-average presence in the paint should also allow him create some mismatches with opposing lineups.
Excellent preseason
As for the Antelopes, Thomas' excellent preseason showing inside the paint will complement the outside shooting of scoring guard Yang Yu-ming to balance an attack that was often thought to be one-dimensional last year.
Not qualifying for the addition of a foreign player are the Tigers, who will look to season MVP winner Tien Lei again in this year's campaign with defensive specialist Chang Chih-fong and point man Wang Chih-chuin filling out the supporting cast around Tien.
Known for its speed and for a physical style of play down below, Bank of Taiwan will try to follow its first-ever postseason appearance last year with another great effort from team leader Chu Yong-hong and power forward Lin Chuin-fong.
Sorely missed
Chu and Lin will sorely miss the three-point scoring offered by former teammate Wu Yong-ren, who chose to join the Hunters during the offseason.
Rounding out the rest of the league is a young Azio squad that finished dead last last year with a starting lineup with three rookies. Azio ended the year with a league-worst 25-game losing skid.
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