The Oita HeatDevils were in shambles last season, including in the team's front office. Not only did the club manage to lose a league-worst 44 games (it played 52), it also created unnecessary headaches for the bj-league.
In mid-May, while the Final Four was taking place at Ariake Colosseum, a league insider told The Japan Times that ex-Oita owner Vince Rawl backed out of his financial commitments to the team last September, just weeks before the league's fourth season. Last week, more details emerged about Rawl's dealings with the team, none of which paint the picture of a business executive with honest intentions.
As a result, the league was forced to step in and appoint an interim team president, bj-league president/COO Hidemitsu Nakano, setting the stage for a new company to be formed this summer, for Masaaki Mimaki to become the team's new president and Brian Rowsom to take over as the new head coach.