Welcome to the New Suns

[Flagrant Fowl]

Interesting

This route is far more likely to result in a player better than Bol Bol.

[TOO]

Interesting

This route is far more likely to result in a player better than Bol Bol.

Get outta here, this is Bol Bol we're talking about.

[Superbone]

Interesting

This route is far more likely to result in a player better than Bol Bol.

Get outta here, this is Bol Bol we're talking about.

Cool, cool.

[Sunsfanatic76]

Man, I don't know if it's not enough offense (play them with the big 3?) but Goodwin and Okogie together would be a sight to see. They would terrorize opposing offenses.

Agreed! Super stoked to see what Vogel can create with those two in defensive schemes.

[JJ Slim]

Go Sans!

(Google translate problem, not Yuta's fault.)

Did we just get a whole country following us?

IIRC years ago the Suns signed the first Japanese player in the NBA. I can't remember his name but I believe he was a point guard.

Edit: I googled it. 5'-8" Yuta Tabuse opened the season for the Suns in 2004 as a backup to Nash and playing alongside Marion and Stoudemire. He played 4 games for us.

[Split T]

Yuta Tabuse

[JJ Slim]

Yuta Tabuse

Either you google faster than me or your memory is better. Probably both.

[Split T]

Haha…someone brought him up on Twitter I think after we signed Watanabe…I don’t know I would’ve remembered otherwise

[pickle]

I really wanted the Suns to keep him because he was such an easy guy to root for. You can tell when he got on the court that he genuinely enjoyed every second of it. The excitement in him was palpable.

Also would’ve helped the team tap into the Japanese market.

[Superbone]

Go Sans!

(Google translate problem, not Yuta's fault.)

Did we just get a whole country following us?

IIRC years ago the Suns signed the first Japanese player in the NBA. I can't remember his name but I believe he was a point guard.

Edit: I googled it. 5'-8" Yuta Tabuse opened the season for the Suns in 2004 as a backup to Nash and playing alongside Marion and Stoudemire. He played 4 games for us.

Yes, I remember that well. I know China followed Ming closely. I don't know how the Japanese feel about basketball.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I think basketball is far more of a niche sport in Japan than China, but I'm also pretty sure it's been growing a lot recently with guys like Watanabe and Hachimura representing the country in the NBA and FIBA.

[Wally_West]

Me trying to understand this new tournament

[pickle]

I actually think the fact that it’s more niche means it’s easier to totally corner the market. At least back when Tabuse was playing with us we could’ve had a whole country rooting for us. Like how 50% of China roots for the rockets today. Not comparing Tabuse to Yao obviously …

[Flagrant Fowl]

AFAIK, most Chinese people are and have always been bigger fans of non-Chinese players. It was well known they liked T-Mac more than Yao.

[pickle]

There’s a difference between liking a player and supporting his team.

[LazarusLong]

There was a minor influx of Chinese players after the drafting of the Great Walking Wall -- Ming, Wang ZhiZhi and Mengke Bateer. That faded after Ming retired. Wang was primarily a one-dimensional mid-range shooter and Mengke was pathologically slow.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Chairman Yi...

[Flagrant Fowl]

There’s a difference between liking a player and supporting his team.

That's right. I think it mostly comes down to Chinese people being far more interested in the sport than the Japanese. I suppose that would change quite a bit if the #1 pick in the draft was Japanese.

[pickle]

There was a minor influx of Chinese players after the drafting of the Great Walking Wall -- Ming, Wang ZhiZhi and Mengke Bateer. That faded after Ming retired. Wang was primarily a one-dimensional mid-range shooter and Mengke was pathologically slow.

Those two were actually before Yao. After him there was Yi, and Sun who was a second rounder who played with the lakers for a bit. An athletic 6’9 wing who couldn’t shoot. Rockets also drafted another 7’1 Chinese beanpole named Zhou Qi who apparently doesn’t actually love basketball and didn’t really work out in the league.

[BKinSJC]

Kind of interesting that the Suns have employed both of the Yutas in NBA history.

You'd think it'd be the Jazz, but apparently not...