Mon, Aug 07, 2023 page7

• PLG’s first overall pick moves to T1’s Leopards

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  The P.League+ (PLG) first overall pick, Joof Alasan, has joined the T1 League’s Taiwan Beer Leopards after contract negotiations with the Hsinchu JKO Lioneers broke down.

  In a social media post on Friday, the Leopards said the team had signed the 21-year-old Senegalese player from National Taiwan University of Arts on a multiyear contract, adding that he would be one of the team’s “import” players in the 2023-2024 season.

  Alasan, who is 2.05m tall and has a 2.11m arm span, scored the most average points, rebounds and blocks in his debut in the 2021-2022 season in Taiwan’s University Basketball Association, and continued his reign last season with 23.2 points and 17.2 rebounds.

  

  Joof Alasan poses for reporters wearing a Hsinchu JKO Lioneers hat at a news conference on July 11.

  Photo: CNA

  He became the first foreign student to be a first overall pick for the PLG when he was drafted on July 11 by the Lioneers, the team that first brought him to Taiwan.

  Despite Alasan’s remark that being drafted by the Lioneers was like “going home,” the Lioneers did not announce that Alasan had been officially signed.

  Instead, the team on Wednesday said that the two sides had failed to reach an agreement on a deal, but that the most important thing was that Alasan continued to thrive in Taiwanese basketball.

  He officially joined the Leopards two days later.

  “We hope Alasan can grow along with Gao Jin-wen and Lin Hsin-kuan,” Leopards chief operating officer Johnny Yen said, referring to the top two overall picks the team made in this year’s draft.

  Yen added that the franchise expects Alasan, along with Gao and Lin, “to elevate the competitiveness of the team’s local roster.”

  Alasan said he has fallen in love with Taiwan after living in the country for two years and is eager to be naturalized as a Taiwanese citizen so he can join Gao and Lin in representing the country.

  In other T1 draft news, the Taipei Taishin cut ties with fourth overall pick Chien Ho-yu following his alleged involvement in a violent attack at an Yilan restaurant in April, the club said on Friday.

  The franchise said the incident occurred before it drafted Chien on July 14.

  Taishin said it spoke with Chien soon after it was made aware of the incident and then decided to end their relationship due to its high standards for players and staffers.

  ETtoday on Friday reported that police said Chien had allegedly been involved in vandalism after a man surnamed Chu allegedly asked nine men to attack the restaurant following an altercation between an associate of Chu and the restaurant owner.

  Police referred Chien to the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office after discovering he was part of the group, ETtoday said.

  However, police told the Central News Agency that a preliminary investigation indicated that Chien was not involved in the actual attack.

  Chien was arrested in the Taishin dorm on Wednesday afternoon, TVBS said.

  Chien’s agent Lu Lung-chi said the player drove the friends of a person in his village to the restaurant, but that he had no idea what they were planning to do.

  Chien has been released without bail, Lu said, adding that they are waiting to see if prosecutors would pursue charges.
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