Japan Basketball League

For the current top flight of Japanese basketball, see B.League.

The Japan Basketball League (JBL) was a professional basketball league in Japan. It made up the top-tier of basketball in Japan alongside the bj league, Japan's other basketball competition, with no promotion and relegation between bj and the JBL.

Japan Basketball League

Founded	2007
First season	2007–08
Folded	2013
Country	Japan
Confederation	FIBA Asia (Asia)
Number of teams	8
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	JBL2
Last champions	Aisin SeaHorses (4th title)
Most championships	Aisin SeaHorses (4)
Website	jbl.or.jp/ (Archived)

The JBL was composed of two divisions, the JBL (Division 1, formerly JBL Super League) and the JBL2 (Division 2, formerly Japan League).

In June 2012, the Japan Basketball Association announced the establishment of the National Basketball League (NBL) as the topflight professional league in Japan. The 2012–13 season was the last JBL season as JBL teams joined the NBL.

History

The Japan Basketball League was formed after the JBL Super League, which was held from 2001 to 2007, was disbanded. The new Japan Basketball League started with the 2007–08 season with 7 teams of the JBL Super League (Aisin SeaHorses, Hitachi SunRockers, Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Dolphins, OSG Phoenix, Panasonic Super Kangaroos, Toshiba Red Thunders, Toyota Alvark), and one team from another league, Rera Kamuy Hokkaido.^[1][2]

List of champions

Season	Regular season champion	Finals champion	Series	Runner-up
2007–08[2]	Aisin SeaHorses	Aisin SeaHorses	3–2	Toyota Alvark
2008–09[3]	Aisin SeaHorses	Aisin SeaHorses	3–1	Hitachi SunRockers
2009–10[4]	Aisin SeaHorses	Link Tochigi Brex	3–0	Aisin SeaHorses
2010–11[5]	Aisin SeaHorses	No winner (league discontinued due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami)
2011–12[6]	Aisin SeaHorses	Toyota Alvark	3–1	Aisin SeaHorses
2012–13[7]	Aisin SeaHorses	Aisin SeaHorses	3–2	Toshiba Brave Thunders

Award winners

Regular season MVP

J. R. Sakuragi won the Regular season MVP award 3 times in a row

Season	MVP	Team
2007–08	Shinsuke Kashiwagi[2]	Aisin SeaHorses
2008–09	Kosuke Takeuchi[3]	Aisin SeaHorses
2009–10	Kosuke Takeuchi[4] (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses
2010–11	J. R. Sakuragi[5]	Aisin SeaHorses
2011–12	J. R. Sakuragi[6] (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses
2012–13	J. R. Sakuragi[7] (3×)	Aisin SeaHorses

Finals MVP

Season	MVP	Team
2007–08	Shinsuke Kashiwagi[2]	Aisin SeaHorses
2008–09	Kosuke Takeuchi[3]	Aisin SeaHorses
2009–10	Yuta Tabuse[4]	Link Tochigi Brex
2010–11	No winner (playoffs not played)[5]
2011–12	Philip Ricci[6][8]	Toyota Alvark
2012–13	J. R. Sakuragi[7]	Aisin SeaHorses

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Takuya Kawamura led the league in scoring for 4 consecutive seasons

Season	Player	Team	PPG
2007–08	Marquis Estill[2][9]	OSG Phoenix	24.9
2008–09	Takuya Kawamura[3][10]	Link Tochigi Brex	20.4
2009–10	Takuya Kawamura[11][12] (2×)	Link Tochigi Brex	20.5
2010–11	Takuya Kawamura[5][13] (3×)	Link Tochigi Brex	19.3
2011–12	Takuya Kawamura[6][14] (4×)	Link Tochigi Brex	20.4
2012–13	Nick Fazekas[7][15]	Toshiba Brave Thunders	21.6

Rebounding leaders

Season	Player	Team	RPG
2007–08	Marquis Estill[2][9]	OSG Phoenix	16.0
2008–09	Cory Violette[16]	Toshiba Brave Thunders	11.0
2009–10	Kosuke Takeuchi[11][12]	Aisin SeaHorses	11.4
2010–11	Joji Takeuchi[5][13]	Hitachi SunRockers	12.2
2011–12	J. R. Sakuragi[14][17]	Aisin SeaHorses	12.0
2012–13	J. R. Sakuragi[7][15] (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses	12.5

Assists leaders

Season	Player	Team	APG
2007–08	Cliff Hawkins[2][9]	OSG Phoenix	7.5
2008–09	Yuta Tabuse[10][16]	Link Tochigi Brex	5.6
2009–10	Shinsuke Kashiwagi[11][12]	Aisin SeaHorses	4.1
2010–11	J. R. Sakuragi[5][13]	Aisin SeaHorses	3.9
2011–12	Takuya Kawamura[14][17]	Link Tochigi Brex	4.5
2012–13	J. R. Sakuragi[7][15] (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses	4.4

Steals leaders

Season	Player	Team	SPG
2007–08	Cliff Hawkins[2][9]	OSG Phoenix	2.3
2008–09	Yuta Tabuse[10][16]	Link Tochigi Brex	2.3
2009–10	Toshihiro Sato[4][11]	Hitachi SunRockers	2.9
2010–11	Shinsuke Kashiwagi[13][18]	Aisin SeaHorses	2.1
2011–12	Toshihiro Sato[14][17] (2×)	Hitachi SunRockers	1.7
2012–13	Tomokazu Abe[7][15]	Levanga Hokkaido	2.1

Blocks leaders

Season	Player	Team	BPG
2007–08	Kosuke Takeuchi[9]	Aisin SeaHorses	1.8
2008–09	Kosuke Takeuchi[3][10] (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses	1.7
2009–10	Kosuke Takeuchi[11][12] (3×)	Aisin SeaHorses	2.0
2010–11	Kosuke Takeuchi[5][13] (4×)	Aisin SeaHorses	1.7
2011–12	Joji Takeuchi[6][14]	Hitachi SunRockers	1.5
2012–13	Jameel Watkins[7][15]	Panasonic Trians	2.1

Clubs

The playoff final game between the Aisin SeaHorses and the Toshiba Brave Thunders in 2013

The teams that played in JBL's last season in 2012–13 were:^[19]

JBL

• Aisin SeaHorses
• Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins
• Levanga Hokkaido
• Toyota Alvark
• Hitachi SunRockers
• Toshiba Brave Thunders
• Panasonic Trians
• Link Tochigi Brex

JBL2

• Hitachi Cable Bulldogs
• Big Blue Tokyo
• Kuroda Electric Bullet Spirits
• Ishikawa Blue Sparks
• Toyota Tsusho Fighting Eagles
• Aisin AW Areions Anjo
• Toyoda Gosei Scorpions
• Renova Kagoshima
• TGI D-Rise
• Hyogo Storks