Bay Area Dragons
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- Filipinas - PBA Commissioner's Cup 24 Ásia Oriental - Superliga 2 Amigáveis de Clubes 1
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Wikipedia - Bay Area Dragons
The Bay Area Dragons were a professional basketball team in the East Asia Super League. Based in Hong Kong, the team was meant to represent the Greater China region.
Established in 2021, the team competed in the 2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup in the Philippines as a guest team and in the 2023 EASL Champions Week. They were disbanded in September 2023.
History
Formation
The Dragons were originally formed as the Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes, a franchise team for the East Asia Super League, representing Greater China. Hong Kong was made as the home venue of the Phoenixes. Both the Phoenixes and the P. League+ champions of Taiwan were designated by the EASL as Greater China's representatives.
The team was established under the agreement of the Hong Kong Basketball Association and Chun Yu Basketball Club. The Phoenixes are the only franchise team in the EASL, with other participating teams seeded from domestic leagues from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines.
Former Chinese Basketball Association general manager Liu Quansheng was appointed as the team's first general manager.
Participation in the PBA
They entered the 2022–23 Commissioner's Cup of the Philippine Basketball Association which started in September 2022 as a guest team. The team also changed their name to the "Bay Area Dragons" upon joining the PBA, to avoid confusion with the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters. In May 2022, former NBL coach and incumbent Australia Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian was announced as the team's first head coach.
The Bay Area Dragons reached the 2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, becoming the fourth guest team to reach the last stage of a PBA competition. They could only field one of their two foreign players or import at a time in selected games. However, they would lose to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 4–3.
EASL Champions Week
The Dragons took part in the 2023 EASL Champions Week tournament where they finished third.
Planned PBA return and 2023–24 EASL participation
They are set to return in the Commissioner's Cup of the 2023–24 PBA season. However, they would be allowed to field one import for the whole conference. They underwent a rebrand and renamed themselves as the Chun Yu Bay Area Dragons. They were set to return to Hong Kong with their PBA games planned to be held there. The team which were also set to take part in the 2023–24 EASL season would sign five new players and retain eight players.
Disbandment
The Dragons' participation in the PBA and EASL was effectively cancelled after the EASL announced the Dragons's disbandment on 1 September 2023 reportedly due to financial reasons. The EASL mentions "conflict of interest" for managing a team and organizing the league at the same time, as the official reason for dissolving the club.
O time é liderado pelo treinador principal Brian Goorjian, que anteriormente treinou o South Dragons da National Basketball League (NBL) da Austrália. O elenco do Bay Area Dragons inclui vários jogadores filipinos experientes, como o ala-pivô Andray Blatche, o armador Kiefer Ravena e o ala-armador Alex Cabagnot.
O Bay Area Dragons fez sua estreia na EABA na temporada 2022-23. A equipe terminou a temporada regular em primeiro lugar com um recorde de 11-3. Nos playoffs, o Bay Area Dragons derrotou o Utsunomiya Brex do Japão nas semifinais e o Ryukyu Golden Kings de Okinawa na final para conquistar o título da EABA.
O título da EABA do Bay Area Dragons é o primeiro título internacional de uma equipe filipina de basquete. O título também garante ao Bay Area Dragons uma vaga na Copa Intercontinental da FIBA de 2023, onde a equipe enfrentará as melhores equipes de basquete do mundo.
O Bay Area Dragons é uma equipe jovem e talentosa com potencial para se tornar uma potência no basquete asiático. A equipe tem uma forte base de fãs nas Filipinas e em Hong Kong, e espera-se que continue a ter sucesso nos próximos anos.