Sports
Alvark’s Luka Pavicevic, Jets’ Atsushi Ono Leave Teams After Successful Coaching Stints
The departing Tokyo and Chiba bench bosses guided the perennial title contenders with astute leadership and passion.
Two days after the Utsunomiya Brex captured the 2021-22 B.League Finals title, the Alvark Tokyo and Chiba Jets announced that they are moving forward without their title-winning head coaches.
Luka Pavicevic is leaving Tokyo after five seasons at the helm.
Atsushi Ono is finished in Chiba after six seasons in charge.
Both teams issued news releases on Tuesday, May 31 announcing the departure of their longtime bench bosses. The Alvark labeled Pavicevic’s exit a mutual agreement, as did the Jets in reference to Ono.
The Alvark and the Jets are the only other franchises in league history to win titles.
Tokyo won back-to-back titles in 2017-18 and 2018-19, defeating the Jets in the championship final both times.
The 2019-20 season ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The playoffs were canceled.
As a result, the Alvark were technically the reigning champions when the 2020-21 season began. The Jets were the better team, however, and advanced to the championship round, which became a best-of-three format for the first time. Chiba defeated Utsunomiya in three games.
In Ono's six seasons as Chiba’s coach, and the team’s only sideline supervisor since the B.League’s inception in 2016, the Jets had a 248-74 overall record in the regular season, including 35-10 in 2021-22. They set a franchise record by going 52-8 in 2018-19.
Pavicevic compiled a 191-79 record in his five seasons at Tokyo. The Alvark went 39-14 this past season.
Read the full story here on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward's [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter ＠ed_odeven.
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