Dai Oketani has been named the new head coach of the Ryukyu Golden Kings, the Okinawa-based team announced on Monday.
Oketani, 30, coached the Oita HeatDevils for the past three seasons. His contract was not renewed after Oita went 19-25 and finished in fourth place in the bj-league's Western Conference.
The HeatDevils still have a coaching vacancy.
The Golden Kings finished in last place in the West in their inaugural season. The team bought out the final year of original coach Hernando Planells' contract.
In other league news, veteran shooting guard Naoto Nakamura has agreed to terms of a one-year contract with the three-time champion Osaka Evessa. Nakamura played in all 44 regular-season games for Evessa in 2007-08. He averaged 10.6 points per game and made 91 of 215 3-point shots.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.