It's not even finished yet, but the opening season of the Super Basketball League has already proved one thing -- it's tough at the bottom.
With the Yulon Dinos (11-0) and the red-hot Sina Lions (on a 7-0 unbeaten streak) tearing up the top of the table, the rest of the division is having a difficult time trying to cling on to their coat tails.
But in a league that is clearly divided into two, the BCC Mars and the Dacin Tigers are the teams that have the best chance of any kind of post-season play outside of the top two.
After starting the season with a bang (4-2), the BCC Mars fell behind after injuries took their toll and prevented coach Chung Chih-mong (
The team's overall success hinges on the health of point guard Yen Hsin-shu (
Yen's effectiveness in penetrating the defense should also lead to some easy baskets down below for Mars' big men when he is not sinking three-pointers.
As much as the Mars need a healthy Yen, their dependence on him pales in comparison to the Tigers' reliance on all-star forward Tien Lei (
Tien is the only player in the league with a double-double average (22.4 points per game and 11.1 rebounds per game), something that should draw him double coverage for the remainder of the season.
The two sub-par games experienced by Taiwan Beer's Lin "The Monster" Chih-jeh (
Without Lin's extra 12 points, the Beer men are winless in their last three contests, which is why coach Fu Ming-ren (傅明仁) must quickly find a way to increase the offensive output from his frontcourt players -- Liao Wei-cheng (廖偉成) and Pan Ren-deh (潘仁德).
Inconsistency has been the No. 1 concern for Jeoutai Elephant skipper Liu Hua-lin (劉華林) in the first half of the season as his team mixed in eight losses with two big wins over the Tigers and Taiwan Beer to climb off the bottom of the league.
"There is no doubt that the Elephants can play with anyone when they have their `A' game on," one senior league official said on condition of anonymity. "They definitely have all the key factors for a great team in shooter Yang Yu-ming (
The Elephants need to control the tempo of the game and maintain their offensive flow. They currently lead the league in turnovers committed with 204, 25 more than the next in line.
Most of the turnovers have come as the result of rushing the game too much. Once the team manages to control the tempo of the game, the offensive flow should follow naturally.
At 2-8, Bank of Taiwan finds itself with the most room for improvement.
On defense, the financial wizards actually deserve applause for yielding fewer points (77.1 on average) than the Mars (79.1) and Taiwan Beer (78.4). It is their last-placed scoring offense (70.4 on average) that has kept coach Wei Chen-ming (韋陳明) awake at night.
Their physical style of play is evident in the league-high 41.9 rebounds per game figure, however, crashing the boards alone will not get the job done in this league.
In order to sustain an offense that has no big name stars, Bank of Taiwan must adapt to a scrappy style of play to keep it from being blown out early.
Getting the ball inside to muscle man Chu Yung-hung (
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