TAIPEI CITY (Chinese Taipei) – New Taipei Kings will become the latest team in the BCL Asia eco-system when they take to court for their Group B BCL Asia-East 2025 game against Thailand's Hi-Tech on April 26. That game might mark the team’s maiden appearance in the League but call them rookies at your own expense.
For if nothing else, the New Taipei Kings are by far one of the most experienced teams, in terms of league play, amongst all in the fray. For the record, New Taipei Kings made it all the way to the Final Four of the glamorous EASL and finished in the third place.
“I think our team will do a great job of adapting to the schedule,” said coach Ryan Marchand amidst filling the final blanks in his preparation for the third Window of BCL Asia-East.
“We are used to the travel and playing in different countries, but it will be a test to how mentally tough our group is when we can move beyond relying on two of our main scorers with Jeremy & Joe Lin (who are both ruled out to play as locals due to issues concerning FIBA Eligibility),” he added.
“Our team has been built around these two players so it will be up to our younger group of players to step up, get experience, and show they can improve and potentially make an impact when they have more minutes available to them,” the 37-year-old said.
“We need to see Lee Kai Yen improve as a ballhandler and take control without the Lins to rely on,” he went on.
“Su Shih-Hsuan and Wang Po Chih are two of our bigger players that will have to make an impact. From the other guards, we have a mix of a lot of players still vying for playing time in the rotation so they will get a chance to play and see if they can build some confidence in themselves and our team,” he said.
Marchand considers the BCL Asia-East as the platform for Taipei basketball to earn the respect it deserves.
“Taipei hasn't had much respect in Asia from a basketball perspective but you start to see the impact we have in EASL. I think the better competition we play, the better our players become and if you want to grow basketball in the region, you need to start putting these teams against better competition as often as possible,” he said.
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