The Yokohama Giga Spirits are a Japanese corporate basketball team based in

Yokohama, Kanagawa is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

History

Akita Isuzu Motors 1955-1987

Akita Isuzu Motors basketball team was founded by Shozaburo Makinae in 1955. Makinae currently serves as a director and corporate adviser for the

Akita Northern Happinets 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. The team was formed as an expansion team of the bj league in 2010 and found succ ...

of B.League. They practiced at Sannoh Junior High School gymnasium in 1960's and 1970's.

Head coaches

* Mototaka Kohama *Shiro Yoshii *Shigeyoshi Kasahara *Hyokichi Tsuji V

Notable players

Vince BrookinsLouisville vs Iowa
*

Jack Givens Jack "Goose" Givens (born September 21, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats, earning consensus second-team All-American honors. He led the team to the 1978 NCAA Men' ...

(JBL2 MVP, Best5, Scoring Leader)
Derrick Hord
- Drafted in the third round of the NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Louisville vs Kentucky 1983
* Mitsuhiko Kato
Hirohide Matsuoka
*

Kazuo Nakamura Kazuo Nakamura was a Japanese-Canadian painter and sculptor (born Vancouver October 13, 1926; died Toronto April 9, 2002) and a founding member of the Toronto-based Painters Eleven group in the 1950s. Among the first major Japanese Canadian arti ...

Taku Umetsu
(JBL2 Best5) -Denver, Colorado, Drafted in the fifth round of the NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers -
1980 UK @ LSU 2/24Wood Carvings
Lavon_Williams

* Ted Young (JBL MVP, Best5, 1988)

Honors and titles

JBL2 *Champions (1): 1983 *Runners-up (1): 1982 Emperor's Cup
Champions (1): 1984
*Runners-up (1): 1986 *3rd place (1): 1987 Japan Industrial and Commercial Basketball Federation Championships *Runners-up (1): 1981 National Sports Festival of Japan *Champions (2):　

Isuzu Motors Lynx/Giga Cats 1987-2002

The team moved to

in 1987. The club enjoyed its golden age winning JBL championships 6 times. Isuzu shut down their basketball and baseball clubs in 2002.

Head coach

* Mototaka Kohama *

Dwane Casey Dwane Lyndon Casey (born April 17, 1957) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a former NCAA basketball player and coach, having played and coached there ...

(1992-94) Due to the Emery scandal in 1989, Kohama and Casey were reunited.

Notable players

* Dan Bingenheimer
Highlights
* Dave Butler *

Casey Calvary Casey Calvary (born April 27, 1979 in Würzburg, Germany) is a retired American basketball player. He played professionally in Japan, the United States, Spain and Australia, including two seasons in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL ...

Richard Coffey Richard Lee Coffey (born September 2, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who had a brief stint with the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. Prior to his college basketball career he was a member of the US Army's 82nd Airborne ...

Anthony Cook (basketball) Anthony Lacquise Cook (born March 19, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player. After having played collegiately at the University of Arizona, power forward–center Cook was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the first ro ...

Lucius Davis Lucius Cecil Davis (born July 20, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played the forward position. He played for the Isuzu GigaCats in Japan, and for Maccabi Rishon LeZion in the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He w ...

(JBL MVP, 1998) *

Terry Dozier Terry Linnard Dozier (born June 29, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played high school basketball at Dunbar High in Baltimore and later attended the University of South Carolina, where he played from 198 ...

* Toshihiro Goto *

Reggie Hanson Reggie Hanson (born October 6, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a former assistant coach for the University of South Florida Bulls men ...

Makoto Hasegawa Makoto Hasegawa may refer to: * Makoto Hasegawa (basketball) * Makoto Hasegawa (dancer) {{hndis, Hasegawa, Makoto ...

(JBL Rookie of the year, 1994)
Brian Hendrick

Cal vs Duke
* Mike Higgins
Cedric Jenkins
*

Makoto Minamiyama is a former Japanese basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting ...

Hiroshi Nagano is a Japanese singer, rapper, actor, and television host. He is a former member of V6, a dance-vocal group formed in 1995 by Johnny & Associates, and its subunit 20th Century. He is best-known for his role in the popular tokusatsu series Ultram ...

Ernest Nzigmasabo
* Julius Nwosu *

Tadaharu Ogawa is the head coach of the Niigata Albirex BB Rabbits in the Women's Japan Basketball League. Head coaching record , - , style="text-align:left;", Oita Heat Devils , style="text-align:left;", 2008-09 , 52, , 8, , 44, , , , style="text-a ...

Dale Roberts
* Yukihiro Sakka (JBL Rookie of the year, 1988) *

Kenichi Sako Kenichi Sako (佐古賢一, born 17 July 1970) is a Japanese former basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary obje ...

* Satoshi Sakumoto *

Toru Shioya Toru Shioya (born January 9, 1968) is a former professional basketball Head coach for the Hitachi High-Technologies Cougars of Women's Japan Basketball League The Women's Japan Basketball League is the premier women's basketball league in Japa ...

Anthony Smith
*

Michael Takahashi , sometimes called Maikeru Takahashi, is a Japanese-born American professional basketball player who was considered in the mid-1990s to early 2000s one of the best players in Asia, a prolific scorer and rebounder, dominating the opposition throug ...

Highlights
* Kenny Walker (JBL Best5, 1996)
Joe Wallace
* Wang Libin

Honors and titles

JBL *Champions (6): 1988, 1995,1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 *Runners-up (2): 1999. 2001 Emperor's Cup *Champions (5): 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001 *3rd place (2): 1990, 2002 ABC Champions Cup *Runners-up (1): 1996 *4th place (1):

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

ABA Club Championship The ABA Club Championship was an Asian basketball tournament for professional clubs, organised by the Asian Basketball Association (ABA) under Dr. Carl Men Ky Ching. The ABA is not to be confused with FIBA Asia which Dr. Ching had also once presi ...

*Runners-up (1): 2001

Yokohama Giga Cats 2002-2005

Kohama led the revamped Giga Cats, after Isuzu dropped sponsorship, as a club team until 2005.

Notable players

Yoshihiko Amano Yoshihiko Amano (born 18 May 1971) is a retired Japanese basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of sh ...

* Kenji Hilke * Haruyuki Ishibashi *

Hirokazu Nema is a Japanese basketball coach and former player. He is currently the U15 coach of the Shiga Lakestars in the Japanese B.League. Early life Nema was born in Okinawa, Japan, in 1979. He attended Chatan Senior High School and later Hosei Universit ...

* Masahiro Ohara *

Taku Saito is the former head coach of the Earth Friends Tokyo Z in the Japanese B.League. Head coaching record , - , - , style="text-align:left;", Earth Friends Tokyo Z The Earth Friends Tokyo Z is a professional basketball team that competes in the s ...

Yokohama Giga Spirits 2005-present

Notable players

* Minoru Kimura (basketball) * Masahiro Ohara

References

External links

* *{{Facebook, gigaspirits.yokohama/
JBL Final Isuzu Giga Cats vs Toyota Alvark
Basketball teams in Japan Isuzu Sport in Akita (city) Sports teams in Akita Prefecture Sports teams in Kanagawa Prefecture