Taiwan’s men’s national basketball team is set to upgrade its depth in the paint after signing Brandon Gilbeck of the P.League+’s Formosa Dreamers to a naturalized player’s contract.
The 27-year-old big man from the US landed in Taoyuan early on Monday, where he was welcomed by Chinese Taipei Basketball Association deputy secretary-general Chang Cheng-chung.
The two signed the deal, which still has to be approved by the Sports Administration and the Ministry of the Interior.
Photo: CNA
Chang said he is confident that “the proceedings would go smoothly.”
If approved, Gilbeck would become the third naturalized basketball player in Taiwan, following the New Taipei Kings’ Quincy Davis, now 41, and William Artino, who parted ways with the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers when his contract expired in late January before returning to the US.
Gilbeck has made a name for himself in Taiwan for his defense. Since joining the Dreamers in 2021, the 2.1m American has won the shot-blocking title three seasons in a row. He is also a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and has been twice chosen for the P.League+’s All-Defensive Team.
Gilbeck had expressed an interest in playing for Taiwan, saying he likes the people and the environment of the country.
In a social media post on Monday morning, the association thanked Dreamers general manager Jonathan Han and franchise cofounder Chen Li-tsung for their help in the deal.
If approved, Gilbeck would suit up for Taiwan’s A Team at this month’s William Jones Cup, where he would play with top national players such as Chen Ying-chun, Liu Cheng and Benson Lin in a warmup for FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in November.
In February, Taiwan lost 89-69 to New Zealand in their first game with no naturalized players on the roster.
At the Jones Cup, Gilbeck would face off against two of his Dreamers teammates: Julian Boyd, who plays for Taiwan’s Team B, and Chris McCullough, who plays for the Philippines.
Boyd and McCullough are also likely to become naturalized players, the franchise said.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
EMPTY STANDS: Maccabi fans were banned from attending by police, who cited violence and hate crimes when the team played Ajax in Amsterdam last season Aston Villa beat Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 on Thursday in a Europa League game played amid heightened security measures, with more than 700 police officers deployed to deal with possible protests. Morgan Rogers put through Ian Maatsen in first-half stoppage time for the defender to score from a tight angle and Villa doubled the lead on the hour with Donyell Malen hitting the bottom corner from the penalty spot. It was Villa’s third win from games in the competition. The game at Villa Park had become the center of a political debate after Maccabi fans were banned from attending, as
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
RSS