A full house is expected at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City this afternoon for this season’s All-Star weekend in the Super Basketball League (SBL).
The annual mid-season gala, which is intended to showcase the league’s best talent, was set to feature a near-all Taiwan Beer starting lineup for Team Red, with fan favorite and media darling Liu Cheng leading a Brew Crew quartet of Chiang Yu-an, Lu Chi-min, and Patrick O’Bryant, with the Dacin Tigers’ Chou Yi-hsiang completing the lineup.
However, O’Bryant and Lu were scratched from the lineup by league officials earlier this week and are set to be replaced by the Tigers’ Shih Yen-tsung and Bryan Davis, and there will be plenty of action for Taiwan Beer fans to cheer with the Brew Crew’s Chou Po-Husan, Yu Huan-ya and Chang Yung-hsuan also making the roster as alternates.
Taking on Team Red in this year’s competition will be a Yulon Luxgens-heavy lineup for Team White, led by three-time Player of the Week winner Lu “Male Model” Cheng-ju and fellow guards Chen Chih-chung and Ko Min-hao, along with Pure Youth Construction’s Doug Creighton and Chen Tzu-wei.
Prior to the All-Star Game, which is slated to start at 6:15pm, the All-Star weekend will also feature the annual Three-Point Shootout at 3pm which will determine the top three-point threat in the league, followed by the Skill Challenge and the highly anticipated Slam Dunk Contest.
With results of the fan-based voting clearly reflecting Taiwan Beer, Pure Youth, the Dacin Tigers and the Yulon Luxgens’ popularity, the league has slowly developed into a two-tier system, with the aforementioned clubs representing one tier and the Fubon Braves, Kinmen Kaoliang and Bank of Taiwan representing the other.
The league has yet to publish any attendance or merchandise statistics, but the two-tier nature of the competition could lead to a greater problem down the road for the overall long-term health of the league.
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