The Saitama Broncos have been consistently bad or mediocre since the bj-league's inception in 2005. Despite being one of the league's two original teams, along with Niigata's JBL-defecting squad, the Broncos have never managed to finish above .500 and never advanced to the playoffs.
Now, their latest coaching casualty, Dean Murray, who was in charge until Nov. 23, when he was shown the door by team officials, claims his firing was due to bogus reasons. His replacement, Natalie Nakase, the first female head coach in league history, is a former UCLA point guard.
The team, which was 6-10 entering this weekend's series against the Niigata Albirex BB and ninth in the 10-team Eastern Conference, issued a news release on Nov. 24 in which it said there was a "serious breach" of his contract.