Tom Hovasse becomes Japan men’s basketball team head coach after leading the women’s Japan national team

Argentine Julio Lamas uncovered on Twitter Tuesday that he has left his position as head coach of the Japan men’s basketball team, with Tom Hovasse soon after named as his substitution by the Japan Basketball Association.

The Japan Basketball Association today declared a new head coach to lead the Japanese national team after the Tokyo Olympics. Tom Hovasse, who led the women’s Japan national team to the silver medal, becomes the commander of the men’s Japan national team.

The JBA affirmed hours after Julio Lamas’ tweet that his agreement has expired and said the American, new off leading the Japan women’s team to a history-making silver medal at the new Tokyo Olympics, will take his place.

Tom Hovasse became the first foreign-born head coach of Japan’s national women’s team in 2017 in the wake of serving as an assistant coach for the women’s team during the Rio Olympics in 2016.

The 54-year-old played with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks during the 1994-1995 season.

Toru Onzuka was elevated from assistant coach to head coach of the women’s team.

Japan’s men’s team completed 11th with the 57-year-old Julio Lamas in charge in their Olympic men’s basketball competition since 1976.

Japan was the lowest-ranked squad from the FIBA men’s rankings among the 12 teams taking part and qualified as host.

“After four years as the head coach of the Japanese national team, this journey has come to an end,” Julio Lamas tweeted.

“It has been a wonderful experience for me, I would like to offer my gratitude to the players, coaching staff, and all JBA members and wish them all the best in the future. Arigato!”

Julio Lamas, who coached Argentina to a fourth-place finish at the 2012 Olympics, was designated Japan head coach in 2017.

In 2019, he directed Japan to its first World Cup appearance in 13 years with the assistance of the ninth pick in that year’s NBA draft, Rui Hachimura, and Yuta Watanabe, who was at the time attempting to lay down a good foundation for himself in the NBA.

The team completed the 2019 FIBA World Cup with a 0-5 record and afterward went winless in three games at the Olympics.

First of all, Julio Lamas will retire from the five-man Japanese national team, and Tom Hovasse will supplant him. Born in 1967, Hobus experienced a small amount of NBA as a player. He came to Japan in 1990 and married a Japanese woman.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he supported the women’s delegate from Japan as an assistant coach under Tomohide Utsumi and became the head coach after the competition. While drawing out the talents of youngsters and progressing generational changes, he led the team to win a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

It will be important to change the style for the Japanese men’s national team, who have a shorter preparation period than the girls, since they are the sort who teaches the players detailed basketball in a long training camp, yet they know about Japanese basketball and pick a style that suits the players. There could be no more excellent applicant than him as far as making and intensive.

Toru Onzuka, who has served as an assistant coach, will be promoted to head coach in the women’s Japan national team, who will retire from Tom Hovasse. As the lead coach of Tokyo Health Care University, he has a track record of raising numerous current Japanese national team players. Toru Onzuka will lead the Japanese national team at the Asian Cup, which opens one week from now.

Furthermore, Torsten Loibl, who was the director coach of the Japanese national team for men and women in the three-player basketball “3×3”, has retired, and his replacement is unsure.