Ex-Taiwan NT assistant banned by NBA for gambling

Former Taiwan NT assistant coach and Sacramento Kings assistant director of scouting Jack Mai has been banned by the NBA for betting money on league games, including those involving the Kings, Yahoo! Sports reported.

Jack Mai coached Luckipar Panthers in 1995-96 and registered 12 wins and 18 losses in 30 games in the Chinese Basketball Alliance, a Taiwanese pro league folded in 2000 after five seasons.

He worked as Panthers’ general manager after that until the CBA went out of business.

Mai assisted late Yulon head coach Chien Yi-fei and led Taiwan NT to a silver medal finish in the 2001 East Asian Games in Osaka, Japan.

He was instrumental in landing Chen Hsin-an an opportunity to try out for the Kings in 2002. Chen was cut after appearing in two preseason games and did not make the opening day roster, however.

He also brought Tien Lei to play for the Kings in the Southern California Summer Pro League a few years later.

Ex-assistant scouting director gambled with Kings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Sacramento Kings say they’ve been informed by the NBA that a former employee gambled while on their staff.

Jack Mai, the team’s former assistant director of scouting, was found to have gambled while with the Kings, who fired him in January. Last season was his eighth with the franchise and third as assistant director of scouting.

The Kings’ release says the "investigation revealed that Mr. Mai participated in improper wagering activities while a member of this organization." The Kings say Mai has been disqualified from further association with the NBA and its teams.

The league has taken gambling especially seriously since former referee Tim Donaghy admitted taking thousands of dollars from a professional gambler in exchange for inside tips, including games he worked.

 

NBA bans Kings scout for gambling on team
Adrian Wojnarowski

The NBA has banned former Sacramento Kings assistant director of scouting Jack Mai for betting money on league games, including those involving the Kings, Yahoo! Sports has learned.

The league informed teams in a memo on Wednesday afternoon that an investigation revealed Mai bet on NBA games “limited to small amounts of money among acquaintances and there is no evidence that he ever attempted to use his position with the Kings to influence the outcome of any NBA game.”

Mai bet on the Kings’ games for years, “some for, and some against,” a league source told Yahoo! Sports.

When reached by phone on Wednesday afternoon, Mai said only, “I resigned,” and declined further comment.

The NBA told teams they can never employ, nor use Mai in a consultant’s capacity. League rules forbid employees from betting on any NBA games, especially those involving their own teams.

“We take this matter very seriously, and we fully cooperated with the NBA’s investigation,” the Kings said in a statement.

Business partners of Mai tipped the NBA to his betting, a league source told Yahoo! Sports. After eight years with the organization, the Kings fired Mai early in 2009. Besides the gambling investigation, one league source said Mai had “questionable business dealings with Korean and Chinese basketball teams and leagues.”

“He was using his position with the Kings to make business deals for players, equipment, etc., and appearances by NBA players in Asia for money,” the source said.

Donaghy tried to peddle a tell-all book that would’ve alleged further impropriety among officials and the league, but the publisher said the threat of potential liability ultimately killed the book’s release.

 

Scouting assistant Mai gambled
Associted Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings said Wednesday they were informed by the NBA that a former employee gambled while on their staff.

Jack Mai, the team’s former assistant director of scouting, was found to have gambled while with the Kings, who fired him in January. Last season was his eighth with the franchise and third as assistant director of scouting.

Kings owner Joe Maloof said the team fired Mai as soon as it found out through general manager Geoff Petrie that Mai had been wagering.

"I wasn’t aware that he was betting. But the minute we found out he was doing something wrong we had to let him go," Maloof said. "People should know that you are not allowed to bet on NBA games. It’s against the bylaws, it’s against the rules."

The Kings’ release said the "investigation revealed that Mr. Mai participated in improper wagering activities while a member of this organization." The Kings said Mai had been disqualified from further association with the NBA and its teams.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed Mai’s disqualification and said reinstatement was not possible, but said the league would have no other comment.

The league has taken gambling especially seriously since former referee Tim Donaghy admitted taking thousands of dollars from a professional gambler in exchange for inside tips, including games he worked.

Yen signs with Shanghai

Central News Agency reported that Taiwan Beer backup point guard Yen Hsin-shu has signed with China’s Shanghai Sharks in what will be his second stint in the Chinese pro league CBA.

Yen, 33, played for Yunnan Honghe in 2007 and averaged 8.1 points, 5.2 assists and 1.6 steals for the season.

The former national team starter shocked everyone by retiring in 2004 at the age of 28 and went into the show business, saying that he was disappointed with Taiwanese basketball environment.

Yen’s venture to the glittering showbiz world was not successful however, which was probably why he came out of retirement and picked up a basketball again by testing his skill in China in 2007 before joining Taiwan Beer.

It was reported that Shanghai, which is now owned by Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, signed Yen for one year with the salary of RMB$250,000 (US$36,620).

Yen became the fifth Taiwanese player to sign with a Chinese club this year, following Lin Chih-chieh, Chen Hsin-an, Hsu Hao-cheng and Lin Kwan-lun.

Formation of new organization looks like dead

Local media reported over the weekend that formation of a new basketball organization looked like a thing in the past as Taiwan Beer and Yulon management both pulled an about-face, reaffirming their support for the CTBA and the SBL.

Representatives from five of seven SBL teams said last week that they were planning to establish a new committee, Super Basketball Developmental Committee, to tackle on SBL marketing.

Dacin Tigers, which is owned by CTBA President Wang Jen-da, and Bank of Taiwan, a state-owned bank, were not invited to join the new committee, which was scheduled to launch on Nov. 17.

It was reported that Taiwan Beer Chairman Wei Po-tao reiterated TB’s support for the SBL and the SBL Committee, a committee under the CTBA in charge of league-wide affairs in a public statement.

The astonishing statement was basically a slap in the face for TB head coach Yen Chia-hwa, who has been an integral part of the new committee with the ultimate goal of forming a new professional league free of CTBA’s control.

Since Yen’s boss has spoken, Yen would have no choice but to play the game under CTBA’s playbook.

Yulon management was also said to phone in its support for the CTBA.

Sports Affairs Council, Taiwan’s highest sports affairs governing body, chairwoman Tai Hsia-ling told the media last week that the SAC will do whatever it takes to make sure the 2009-10 SBL season tip off on January 9 next year.

Chen going to Guangdong

Apple Daily reported that Yulon Luxgen forward Chen Hsin-an is scheduled to go to China next Sunday and is expected to sign with Dongguan New Century.

Chen, who had surgeries on both knees in June, is working on his conditioning to prepare for the upcoming season in China, which will tip off on Dec. 19.

Once the biggest star in Taiwanese basketball, Chen has been plagued by injuries during the past three years and his skill deteriorated.

With or without Chen, Yulon has been and will always be competitive with the core of center Tseng Wen-ting and a group of aggressive and experienced guards. Which was why Yulon let go of Chen.

Sources told me that Yulon planned to send Chen to Shanxi but Chen opposed the move. Luxgen head coach Zhang Xue-lei, sources said, made up his mind that Yulon would stay competitive without Chen. At the same time he can be a valuable asset for his good friend Wu Qing-long, Shanxi’s head coach.

Feeling unwanted, Chen then made his move to contact Chinese teams although he’s still under contract. He figured that Yulon would let him do whatever he wanted again, just like what happened in 2002 when he tried out for Sacramento Kings and 2005, when he signed a lucrative contract with ETSN Antelopes before changing mind and re-joining Yulon.

Guess what? Chen was right. Not only Yulon approved his transfer to China but Yulon decided not to challenge Chen’s breach of contract.

On other news, Lin Chih-chieh, who’s currently in Zhejiang’s pre-season training camp, said that his goal for the new season is averaging 10-15 points and 5 assists.

But Lin will have to make a major adjustment in his game, which contains a lot of penetration. Zhejiang head coach Wang Fei, a former Chinese NT member, stresses a lot on set-up plays which require less penetration, more ball movement, cutting and screening.

(Photo: Apple Daily)

New basketball organization in the making

Did I say Taiwanese basketball never ceases to amaze me? Well, here’s the latest example. Liberty Times reported Saturday that five of seven SBL teams plan to set up a new committee to tackle on the marketing issue.

Dacin Tigers, which is owned by CTBA President Wang Jen-da, and Bank of Taiwan, a state-owned bank, were not invited to join the Super Basketball Developmental Committee, which will officially established on Nov. 17.

Taiwan Mobile general manager Wang Hong-shen said the committee looks to improve the marketing aspect of the SBL and will not be competing with the SBL Committee, comprised of team representatives and CTBA officials, for the leadership and organizational power.

"It is a division of labor, " Wang said.

CTBA deputy secretary-general Wang Jen-shen expressed his disappointment toward the move. "The move will destroy what the league has accomplished during the past six years if they want to take the matters in their own hands." Wang was referring to game operations, including venue and officiating.

"I doubt they will be able to set up all those things before the season opener in January, " he said.

The strange thing is:

1. The new committee excludes Dacin and BOT although it stresses that marketing will be its only goal. If that is true, why do they decide to left two teams out in the cold?

2. Although the new committee stresses that marketing will be its main goal, Wang Jen-shen still presumed that it’s trying to take charge of everything eventually.

Do you smell something?

Wang jen-shen is not stupid. And I bet he’s thinking what I’m thinking: these teams are trying to break away fro m the CTBA to set up their own league — again.

However I don’t think Wang and the CTBA are panicking any time soon. SBL teams have threatened to leave the league and set up a new one like…a million times, but they never actually did anything.

It will be interesting to see how this thing develops though.