This article is about foreign coaches in Japan’s new JBL (Japan Basketball League) and mentions the situation with the Kumamoto Volters:
“On the opening day of the league, there were 10 foreign coaches overall. American Norman de Silva was let go by the Kumamoto Volters at the end of last month, being replaced by Japanese Shinji Tomiyama, who served as an assistant under De Silva after stints as a bj-league head coach with Iwate and Chiba, the latter before the team defected to the NBL before this season.”
By the way, can anybody explain why it’s the “Japan Basketball League” and not the “Japanese Basketball League” or the “Basketball League of Japan”? It is quite common to use “Japan” in this way in the names of organizations so I don’t think it’s a “mistake” but I can’t explain why this is OK. One clear example is “Japan Airlines” vs. “American Airlines.” Both sound fine to me but “America Airlines” sounds strange and “Japanese Airlines” sounds a bit odd too. I can’t quite figure out why, though.
