Bay Area Dragons

The Bay Area Dragons were a professional basketball team in the East Asia Super League. Based in Hong Kong, the team was meant to represent the Greater China region.

Bay Area Dragons
Leagues	East Asia Super League Philippine Basketball Association (guest team)
Founded	2021
Dissolved	2023
History	Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes[lower-alpha 1] (2021–2022) Bay Area Dragons (2022–2023) Chun Yu Bay Area Dragons[lower-alpha 1] (2023)
Arena	Southorn Stadium
Capacity	1,995
Location	Hong Kong
Ownership	East Asia Super League (franchise)

Established in 2021, the team competed in the 2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup in the Philippines as a guest team and in the 2023 EASL Champions Week. They were disbanded in September 2023.

History

Formation

The Dragons were originally formed as the Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes, a franchise team for the East Asia Super League, representing Greater China. Hong Kong was made as the home venue of the Phoenixes.^[1] Both the Phoenixes and the P. League+ champions of Taiwan were designated by the EASL as Greater China's representatives.^[2]

The team was established under the agreement of the Hong Kong Basketball Association and Chun Yu Basketball Club.^[3] The Phoenixes are the only franchise team in the EASL, with other participating teams seeded from domestic leagues from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines.^[1]

Former Chinese Basketball Association general manager Liu Quansheng was appointed as the team's first general manager.^[3][4]

Participation in the PBA

They entered the 2022–23 Commissioner's Cup of the Philippine Basketball Association which started in September 2022 as a guest team.^[5][6] The team also changed their name to the "Bay Area Dragons" upon joining the PBA, to avoid confusion with the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters.^[7][8][9] In May 2022, former NBL coach and incumbent Australia Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian was announced as the team's first head coach.^[10]

The Bay Area Dragons reached the 2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, becoming the fourth guest team to reach the last stage of a PBA competition.^[11] They could only field one of their two foreign players or import at a time in selected games.^[12] However, they would lose to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 4–3.^[13]

EASL Champions Week

The Dragons took part in the 2023 EASL Champions Week tournament where they finished third.^[14]

Planned PBA return and 2023–24 EASL participation

They were set to return in the Commissioner's Cup of the 2023–24 PBA season. However, they would be allowed to field one import for the whole conference.^[15][16] They underwent a rebrand and renamed themselves as the Chun Yu Bay Area Dragons. They were set to return to Hong Kong with their PBA games planned to be held there.^[17] The team which were also set to take part in the 2023–24 EASL season would sign five new players and retain eight players.^[18]

Disbandment

The Dragons' participation in the PBA and EASL was effectively cancelled after the EASL announced the Dragons's disbandment on 1 September 2023 reportedly due to financial reasons.^[19] The EASL mentions "conflict of interest" for managing a team and organizing the league at the same time, as the official reason for dissolving the club.^[20]

Home venue

The Southorn Stadium, an indoor arena in Wan Chai, Hong Kong was the designated home venue of the Dragons.^[21][22] However they never played any competitive EASL or PBA games in the venue since the team got disbanded.

Season-by-season records

Season	League	Finish	Wins	Losses	Win%	Playoffs
2022–23	PBA (Commissioner's)	2nd	17	7	.588	Won Quarterfinals (Rain or Shine) 1–0 Won Semifinals (San Miguel) 3–1 Lost Finals (Barangay Ginebra) 3–4
	EASL	3rd	2	1	.667	Won Third place game (Ryukyu) 90–70
2023–24	PBA (Commissioner's)	Withdrew
	EASL	Withdrew

List of notable personnel

Players

• Andrew Nicholson^[23]
• Liu Chuanxing^[24]
• Liu Xiaoyu^[25]
• Duncan Reid^[26]
• Sedrick Barefield^[27]
• Myles Powell^[23]

Coaches

• Brian Goorjian (Head coach)
• Pocholo Villanueva^[28] (Assistant coach)

2022–23 season roster

2022–23 Bay Area Dragons roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age G 0 Scotty Ewing 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 161 lb (73 kg) 1991–04–10 G 1 Glen Yang 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1996–08–30 G 2 Sedrick Barefield 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1996–11–18 F 6 Si Kun 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 203 lb (92 kg) 1995–02–27 F 8 Zhu Songwei 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 226 lb (103 kg) 1996–11–09 F 9 Ju Mingxin 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1993–03–10 F 11 Hayden Blankley 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 212 lb (96 kg) 2000–07–04 G 13 Myles Powell (I) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1997–07–07 G/F 15 Warren Liang 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 198 lb (90 kg) 1993–09–19 F 16 Song Jianhua 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 204 lb (93 kg) 1991–01–20 C 21 Liu Chuanxing 7 ft 5 in (2.26 m) 287 lb (130 kg) 1999–07–30 G/F 22 Kobey Lam 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 2000–03–02 F 25 Zheng Qilong 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 198 lb (90 kg) 1996–04–10 C 31 Zhang Zhiyuan 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1999–05–08 F/C 33 Duncan Reid 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1989–09–28 F/C 44 Andrew Nicholson (I) 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1989–12–08	Head coach Brian Goorjian Assistant coach(es) Pocholo Villanueva Bill Tomlinson Team manager Maya Montecillo Legend (C) Team captain (CI) Commissioner's Cup Import (GI) Governors' Cup Import (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended (R) Rookie Injured

Honours

Philippine Basketball Association (PBA):

Runners-up (1): 2022–23 Commissioner's Cup

Notes

1. Never competed under these names

References

1. Moura, Nelson (1 December 2021). "2022 East Asia Super League format to include new GBA basketball team franchise with local players". MacauBusiness.com. Macau News Agency. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
2. "East Asia Super League Debuts Season 1 of Premier Home-and-Away Pan-Regional League in 2022". East Asia Super League. Archived from the original on 22 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022. The newly formed Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes and the championship team from Chinese Taipei's P.LEAGUE+, will be the Greater China representatives.
3. McNicol, Andrew (1 December 2021). "East Asia Super League wants to bring professional basketball team to Hong Kong". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
4. Aye, John (1 December 2021). "EASL looking to rise as world's third-biggest league". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
5. "EASL Greater China rep to see action in PBA". PBA.ph. February 18, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
6. Joble, Rey (12 August 2022). "Bay Area Dragons' Myles Powell, Liu Chuanxing look forward to playing in PBA". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
7. Ramos, Gerry (19 March 2022). "PBA to welcome first foreign guest team in 22 years". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
8. Naredo, Camille (21 March 2022). "Hong Kong's Bay Area Dragons to join PBA as guest team". Retrieved 21 March 2022.
9. "EASL Members | Bay Area Dragons". East Asia Super League. East Asia Super League Ltd. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
10. "Bay Area Dragons appoint NBL legend Goorjian as head coach". South China Morning Post. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
11. Terrado, Jonas (18 December 2022). "Bay Area goes for kill vs San Miguel Beer". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
12. Henson, Joaquin (27 September 2022). "Bay Area's dilemma". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
13. "Ginebra pulls off Game 7 rout of Bay Area before biggest PBA crowd ever". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
14. Dalupang, Denison Rey (5 March 2023). "EASL: Bay Area secures third place". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
15. Garcia, John Mark (21 May 2023). "PBA sets terms for Bay Area return: 'Yung imports, 'di na pwede dalawa'". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
16. Castillo, Musong R. (27 May 2023). "PBA: Only one import allowed for Bay Area Dragons in next Commissioner's Cup". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
17. Times (19 July 2023). "Bay Area comes home to Hong Kong". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
18. "East Asia Super League sacks entire Bay Area Dragons team during online meeting". South China Morning Post. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
19. Li, Matthew (1 September 2023). "EASL disbands Bay Area Dragons ahead of PBA Comm's Cup". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
20. Li, Matthew (5 September 2023). "EASL cites 'conflict of interest' as reason for Bay Area disbandment". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
21. Chan, Mike (25 July 2023). "Bay Area Dragons to face region's best in Hong Kong in EASL's second season". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
22. Villanueva, Ralph Edwin (19 July 2023). "Bay Area Dragons announce PBA return". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
23. Ramos, Gerry (10 November 2022). "As Powell is reactivated, here's the only way Nicholson can come back". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
24. "Bay Area Dragons sign 7-foot-5 Liu ahead of PBA stint, EASL". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Associated Press. 23 June 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
25. Eaton, Matt (August 10, 2022). "Bay Area Dragons sign CBA veterans ahead of East Asia Super League season opener". South China Morning Post. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
26. Agcaoili, Lance (23 June 2022). "Duncan Reid banners Bay Area Dragons team for PBA, EASL". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
27. Ramos, Gerry (7 February 2023). "Sedrick Barefield Bay Area contract only for EASL Champions Week". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
28. "Why Cholo Villanueva is Bay Area's 'real MVP'". Spin.ph. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2023.

External links

• Bay Area Dragons Archived 2022-03-21 at the Wayback Machine – East Asia Super League Profile