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| Akita Northern Happinets | |
| Leagues: | B.League |
| Division: | First |
| Conference: | East |
| History: | bj league (2010–2016) B.League (2016–present) |
| Arena: | CNA Arena Akita |
| Location: | Akita, Akita |
| Colors: | Pink, Gold, Black [1] |
| President: | Yuki Mizuno (fr)[2] [3] |
| Coach: | Kenzo Maeda |
| Conf Champs: | 2 bj league Eastern Conference champions (2014, 2015) |
| H Body: | E40073 |
| H Pattern B: | _AKITA NORTHERN HAPPINETS 20-21 HOME |
| H Shorts: | E40073 |
| H Pattern S: | _AKITA NORTHERN HAPPINETS 20-21 HOME |
| H Title: | Home |
| A Body: | ffff |
| A Pattern B: | _AKITA NORTHERN HAPPINETS 20-21 AWAY |
| A Shorts: | ffff |
| A Pattern S: | _AKITA NORTHERN HAPPINETS 20-21 AWAY |
| A Title: | Away |
| 3 Body: | 0000 |
| 3 Pattern B: | _AKITA NORTHERN HAPPINETS 19-20 3rd |
| 3 Shorts: | 0000 |
| 3 Pattern S: | _AKITA NORTHERN HAPPINETS 19-20 3rd |
| 3 Title: | Third |
The Akita Northern Happinets are a Japanese professional basketball team based in Akita that competes in the Eastern Conference of the First Division of the B.League.[4] The team was formed as an expansion team of the bj league in 2010[5] and found success for the first time in 2013–14, finishing their fourth season as league runners-up.[6] They went on to finish as runners-up for the second year in a row in 2014–15 and in third place in 2015–16, the final season of the bj league.[7]
Akita Prefecture's connection with basketball has historically lay with Noshiro Technical High School, which has won a total of 58 national-level championships,[8] and the Isuzu Motors corporate team (Akita Isuzu Motors, currently the Yokohama Giga Spirits), which was based in Akita from 1955 until 1987.[9] Following the formation of the independent bj league in 2006, a committee was formed to investigate the formation of a professional club within the prefecture in 2007 but was unsuccessful. In June 2008 another association was formed to pursue a bj league franchise licence and a pre-season match between the Sendai 89ers and Niigata Albirex BB was held a few months later.[10] In January 2009 Akita Pro Basketball Club Co., Ltd. was established and in the following May was granted a licence to enter the 2010-11 bj league season. The team's name was announced at a pre-season match hosted in Akita between the 89ers and Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix in September 2009.[11]
The Happinets entered the Eastern Conference of the bj league in October 2010 as one of three expansion teams. The Shimane Susanoo Magic and Miyazaki Shining Suns joined the Western Conference, taking the league to a total of 16 teams.[12] For their first season the Happinets signed Seiichi Oba as general manager[13] and former Shiga Lakestars coach Robert Pierce as head coach.[14] 39-year-old Akita native and Noshiro Tech alumnus Makoto Hasegawa was acquired from Niigata in exchange for a first-round draft pick and took on a player-manager role.[15] The team drafted and Ryosuke Mizumachi in the expansion draft, in the second round of the rookie draft and Makoto Sawaguchi in the development draft.[16] The team was unable to reach a deal with Nakanishi, who instead signed with Rizing Fukuoka before the start of the season.[17] Happinets' inaugural home game was held at the Akita Prefectural Gymnasium in October.[18]
In November 2011 the team signed Curtis Terry, brother of NBA player Jason Terry, to replace the injured Brandon Wallace. After 14 games Terry was released from the club in January due to his arrest for theft from a convenience store.[19]
Has emerged as a strong league power, and won a conference title two years in a row.
ANH struggled throughout the season and were relegated to second division.[20]
Akita finished the regular season with a 54–6 record, defeated Kumamoto Volters in the B2 playoffs and were promoted to B1.[21]
The team suffered its 11th consecutive defeat,[22] However, Akita was not relegated and remained in the B1 league.
Coach Pep left, and Maeda was promoted from assistant coach to bench boss.[23] The 10th anniversary team got sponsorship deals from electronics company TDK Corporation.[24] Tokyo Denki Kagaku sponsored Liga ACB team, TDK Manresa between 1985 and 2000.[25] New practice facilities, near the Akita Station, was completed in December. Two games were played without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March.[26]
Assistant coach Makoto Tanaka was arrested for drink-driving on July 17, 2021.[27] The team clinched their first B. League playoff berth on May 8, 2022.
Amida Brimah was released by Happinets on August 29, 2022. He originally signed for this season on July 13.
| Akita Northern Happinets Co., Ltd. | |
| Type: | Kabushiki gaisha |
| Foundation: | 30 January 2009 |
| Location City: | Akita Northern Gate Square 2F, Nakadori 7-chome 1 2-3, Akitashi. Akitaken 010-0001 |
| Location Country: | Japan |
| Key People: | Yuki Mizuno |
| Area Served: | Akita Prefecture |
| Industry: | Sports |
| Building Name: | Headquarters |
Yukio Kodaka Shintaro Tahara Itsuki Midorikawa Ryohei Sugano unknown Seiya Ando
Antonio Burks Marshall Brown Alex Davis Jordan Glynn Will Graves Makoto Hasegawa Sek Henry Justin Keenan
Scott Morrison Kevin Palmer Richard Roby Kazuhiro Shoji Deshawn Stephens Shigehiro Taguchi Kenichi Takahashi Yuki Togashi Brandon Wallace| Akita Northern Happinets season-by-season record | ||||||||||||||
| Season | League | Finish | G | W | L | W-L | GB | Play-offs | PG | PW | PL | PWL | ||
| 2010–11 | East 6th | 50 | 18 | 32 | .360 | 24 | Lost in First Round to Niigata | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | |||
| 2011-12 | East 3rd | 52 | 28 | 24 | .538 | 9 | Lost in Second Round to Yokohama | 6 | 3 | 3 | .500 | |||
| 2012-13 | East 5th | 52 | 26 | 26 | .500 | 8 | Lost in Second Round to Niigata | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | |||
| 2013-14 | East 3rd | 52 | 40 | 12 | .759 | 2 | Conference Champions | 6 | 5 | 1 | .833 | |||
| 2014–15 | East 1st | 52 | 41 | 11 | .788 | - | Eastern Conference Champions | 7 | 5 | 2 | .714 | |||
| 2015–16 | East 3rd | 52 | 35 | 17 | .673 | 4 | 3rd place | 6 | 5 | 1 | .833 | |||
| East 5th | 60 | 18 | 42 | .300 | 31 | relegated to B2 | ||||||||
| East 1st | 60 | 54 | 6 | .900 | - | B2 Runners-up | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | ||||
| East 5th | 60 | 17 | 43 | .283 | 35 | - | ||||||||
| East 5th | 41 | 19 | 22 | .463 | 13 | - | ||||||||
| East 7th | 59 | 28 | 31 | .475 | 20.5 | - | ||||||||
| East 5th | 54 | 31 | 23 | .574 | 9 | Lost in First Round to Ryukyu | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | ||||
| Totals | Bj League | 310 | 188 | 122 | .606 | 32 | 20 | 12 | .625 | |||||
| Totals | B.League | 274 | 113 | 161 | .412 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | |||||
| Totals | B.League2 | 60 | 54 | 6 | .900 | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | |||||
| Year | Lg | GP | MP | FG(%) | 3P(%) | FT(%) | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | OPPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | bj | 50 | 10050 | .414 | .324 | .620 | 49.3 | 15.5 | 5.8 | 2.0 | 79.4 | 84.3 |
| 2011–12 | bj | 52 | 10425 | .408 | .323 | .669 | 37.3 | 15.6 | 8.0 | 2.2 | 73.8 | 80.2 |
| 2012–13 | bj | 52 | 10475 | .415 | .334 | .620 | 33.4 | 15.8 | 6.8 | 2.5 | 77.4 | 76.9 |
| 2013–14 | bj | 52 | 10475 | .457 | .354 | .692 | 40.0 | 19.4 | 7.1 | 3.0 | 90.2 | 81.1 |
| 2014–15 | bj | 52 | 10475 | .484 | .375 | .679 | 38.8 | 20.3 | 7.1 | 4.1 | 89.2 | 77.1 |
| 2015–16 | bj | 52 | 10475 | .462 | .359 | .692 | 46.3 | 19.7 | 7.4 | 3.1 | 83.9 | 75.9 |
| 2016–17 | B1 | 60 | 12150 | .425 | .342 | .684 | 37.5 | 12.1 | 6.3 | 1.9 | 70.4 | 74.3 |
| 2017–18 | B2 | 60 | 12000 | .437 | .339 | .631 | 40.7 | 20.6 | 11.9 | 3.5 | 80.0 | 67.7 |
| 2018–19 | B1 | 60 | 12025 | .421 | .307 | .696 | 36.8 | 18.3 | 8.2 | 2.9 | 71.3 | 78.2 |
| 2019–20 | B1 | 41 | 8200 | .430 | .306 | .711 | 35.8 | 19.1 | 9.7 | 3.0 | 75.5 | 73.9 |
| 2020–21 | B1 | 59 | 11875 | .435 | .319 | .696 | 35.5 | 20.7 | 9.1 | 4.0 | 77.5 | 78.1 |
| 2021–22 | B1 | 54 | 10850 | .446 | .378 | .751 | 36.1 | 20.7 | 8.9 | 2.7 | 78.7 | 75.7 |
| Go! Akita Northern Happinets | TelevisionSoftBank Group Corp. is estimated to have invested over ¥12 billion to get the broadcasting rights of B.League in 2016.[28] The Happinets home game broadcasters are Toshifumi Takeshima (Akita Television, play-by-play announcer) and Hiroyuki Chida (JR Akita Peckers). Programs
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