The Shiga LakeStars will be the name of one of next season's expansion teams, the bj-league announced on Thursday. The club will begin play in the 2008-09 season along with the Hamamatsu Phoenix (tentative name), formerly the OSG Phoenix of the JBL. The LakeStars also introduced Robert Pierce as their first head coach. The 47-year-old, who worked as an Asian region scout for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005-07, formerly was the head coach of the JBL's Hitachi Sunrockers in the 2000-01 season. He served as an assistant coach for the Japan national team in 2002. He agreed to a one-year contract with the LakeStars.
