2014–15 Dutch Basketball League

The 2014–15 season was the 55th season of the Dutch Basketball League, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands. The defending champion was Donar from Groningen.

Dutch Basketball League
Season	2014–15
Duration	10 October 2014 – 28 May 2015
Games played	32
Teams	9
Regular season
Top seed	SPM Shoeters Den Bosch
Season MVP	Lance Jeter
Finals
Champions	SPM Shoeters Den Bosch (16th title)
Runners-up	Donar
Semifinalists	ZZ Leiden Landstede Zwolle
Playoffs MVP	Brandyn Curry
Statistical leaders
Points Yannick Franke 19.6 Rebounds Kenneth van Kempen 11.0 Assists Lance Jeter 5.0 Index Rating Joe Burton 23.5
← 2013–14 2015–16 → All statistics correct as of 7 September 2014.

The league started the season with nine teams, after Matrixx Magixx did not enter. In December the number of teams was reduced to eight, after Den Helder Kings went bankrupt.

Top seeded SPM Shoeters won the league, by beating Donar 4–1 in the Finals.

Teams

Apollo

Aris Leeuwarden

Challenge Sports

Donar

Landstede

SPM Shoeters

BSW

ZZ Leiden

Location of teams in 2014–15 Dutch Basketball League

Before the season Matrixx Magixx announced it was withdrawing from the DBL, because the club could not complete its budget.^[1] Consequently, the league started with nine teams instead of ten. In December 2014, Port of Den Helder Kings left as well following its bankruptcy.

Further information: 2014–15 Dutch Basketball League/squads

Colors	Club	City	Arena	Capacity	Head coach	Main sponsor	Kit manufacturer
	Apollo Amsterdam	Amsterdam	Apollohal	1,500	Jaanus Liivak	–	Peak
	Port of Den Helder Kings 1	Den Helder	KingsDome	1,500	Jean-Marc Jaumin	Port of Den Helder	Macron
	SPM Shoeters Den Bosch	's-Hertogenbosch	Maaspoort	2,800	Sam Jones	SPM Shoes & Boots	Joma
	Donar	Groningen	MartiniPlaza	4,310	Ivica Skelin	–	Kix
	Challenge Sports Rotterdam	Rotterdam	Topsportcentrum	1,000	Armand Salomon	Challenge Sports	Kelme
	Aris Leeuwarden	Leeuwarden	Sporthal Kalverdijkje	1,700	Tom Simpson	Univé	Jako
	Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden	Leiden	Vijf Meihal	2,000	Eddy Casteels	Zorg en Zekerheid	Panzari Sports
	BSW 2	Weert	Sporthal Boshoven		Niels Vorenhout	Maxxcom	Spalding
	Landstede Basketbal	Zwolle	Landstede Sportcentrum	1,200	Herman van den Belt	Landstede	Hummel

Notes

^1 Den Helder Kings was declared bankrupt and all records of the team were expunged on 15 December 2014.^[2]

^2 Till 1 January 2015, BSW was known as "Maxxcom BSW" for sponsorship reasons.

Transactions

Main article: List of 2014–15 DBL transactions

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	SPM Shoeters Den Bosch	28	24	4	2374	1884	+490	48	Qualification to semifinals
2	ZZ Leiden	28	22	6	2418	2006	+412	44
3	Donar	28	21	7	2225	1903	+322	42	Qualification to quarterfinals
4	Landstede	28	20	8	2322	1999	+323	40
5	Challenge Sports Rotterdam	28	8	20	2204	2426	−222	16[a]
6	Aris Leeuwarden	28	8	20	2202	2464	−262	16[a]
7	Apollo Amsterdam	28	5	23	1880	2297	−417	10
8	BSW	28	4	24	1765	2322	−557	8
9	Port of Den Helder Kings (D)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Expelled

Source: Dutch Basketball League, Scoresway
(D) Disqualified
Notes:

1. Challenge Sports Rotterdam won head-to-head 2–2 (+40) vs Aris Leeuwarden.

Results

	AMS	DBO	GRO	LEE	ROT	LEI	WEE	ZWO
Apollo Amsterdam		52–88	56–85	76–82	66–90	75–87	61–64	46–77
		70–92	60–77	82–62	87–80	73–76	82–62	58–72
SPM Shoeters Den Bosch	111–60		76–59	93–66	81–59	82–77	95–57	79–56
	87–57		84–79	108–80	108–65	91–78	80–61	70–92
Donar Groningen	79–55	78–67		86–54	85–75	70–72	92–62	74–78
	74–55	69–63		80–56	93–77	70–65	92–50	68–78
Aris Leeuwarden	89–97	72–94	92–86		91–92	81–101	73–61	79–87
	97–91	75–89	79–97		87–73	76–89	91–85	77–83
Challenge Sports Rotterdam	96–70	65–90	52–70	110–85		73–86	93–81	88–92
	72–68	74–95	78–104	74–75		72–109	84–58	58–89
Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden	95–66	66–67	72–81	113–81	97–89		102–55	76–54
	97–61	65–69	76–72	94–83	107–76		85–45	93–80
BS Weert	75–64	56–88	53–71	65–94	81–83	59–73		56–84
	69–80	49–80	64–67	86–75	83–82	53–99		62–83
Landstede Zwolle	77–74	82–81	73–84	89–77	94–89	79–86	85–59
	68–66	65–66	81–83	84–56	94–85	73–82	84–54

Playoffs

Main article: 2015 DBL Playoffs

Because the number of teams in the DBL decreased to nine, a new play-off format was chosen. After the seeds 3–6 played a best-of-three series in the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and finals would be played in a best-of-seven format.^[3]

	Quarter-finals										Semi-finals										Final
	4 Landstede						105	81
	5 Challenge Sports Rotterdam						62	73
											1 SPM Shoeters	85	66	74	86	82	68	87
											4 Landstede	70	87	88	73	63	78	77
																					1 SPM Shoeters			93	70	80	62	85
																					3 Donar			54	61	72	67	64
	3 Donar						101	87
	6 Aris Leeuwarden						66	73
											2 ZZ Leiden		86	63	69	59	85	71
											3 Donar		80	78	79	63	56	77

Championship team

Awards

Lance Jeter was named league MVP

Award	Player	Team
Most Valuable Player	Lance Jeter	Donar
Playoffs MVP	Brandyn Curry	SPM Shoeters Den Bosch
Statistical Player of the Year	Joe Burton	Landstede Basketbal
Defensive Player of the Year	Mohamed Kherrazi	Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden
Coach of the Year	Ivica Skelin	Donar
MVP U23	Yannick Franke	Challenge Sports Rotterdam
Most Improved Player	Yannick Franke	Challenge Sports Rotterdam
Sixth Man of the Year	Dylon Cormier	Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden
Rookie of the Year	Daan Rosenmuller	BSW

All-Star Team Lance Jeter Donar Brandyn Curry SPM Shoeters Den Bosch Worthy de Jong Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden Mark Sanchez Donar Joe Burton Landstede Basketbal

All-Rookie Team Nigel Van Oostrum Aris Leeuwarden Mick Fleuren BSW Daan Rosenmuller BSW Nigel Onuoha Challenge Sports Rotterdam Jan Driessen Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden

All-Defense Team J.T. Tiller Landstede Basketbal Worthy de Jong Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden Mohamed Kherrazi Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden Stefan Wessels SPM Shoeters Den Bosch Joe Burton Landstede Basketbal

Individual statistics

Points

Rank	Name	Team	PPG
1	Yannick Franke	Challenge Sports Rotterdam	19.64
2	Marquise Simmons	Aris Leeuwarden	16.30
3	Lance Jeter	Donar	15.80

Rebounds

Rank	Name	Team	RPG
1	Kenneth van Kempen	BSW	11.00
2	Ryan Watkins	Aris Leeuwarden	10.15
3	Marquise Simmons	Aris Leeuwarden	8.04

Assists

Rank	Name	Team	APG
1	Lance Jeter	Donar	4.96
2	Brandyn Curry	SPM Shoeters	4.92
3	Rogier Jansen	ZZ Leiden	4.85

Notable occurrences

• On May 29, 2014, health insurance company Zorg en Zekerheid extended its sponsorship contract with ZZ Leiden for three more years.^[4]
• On May 13, 2014, it was announced ZZ Leiden and head coach Toon van Helfteren, who won six trophies with the club, would part ways.^[5] On May 30, the Belgian Eddy Casteels coach was hired as new head coach.^[6]
• On June 6, 2014, Matrixx Magixx announced the club was close to bankruptcy after having difficulties in finding a new main sponsor to replace The Magixx.

On July 21, 2014, Magixx announced it would withdraw its participation for this season, after they couldn't reach a high enough budget.^[1]

• On September 29, 2014, the first game ever of the Dutch Talent League (DTL) was played. This league was the newly formed development league of the DBL, mainly made for players under age 25.
• On August 9, 2014, Apollo Amsterdam announced that it would play in the DBL after working a long time to reach the DBL budget standard.^[7] This would mean the return of a team from Amsterdam since the departure of ABC in 2010.
• On August 16, 2014, GasTerra Flames announced it would be named "Donar" again.^[8]
• On August 29, 2014, the DBL announced for the season a new play-off system would be used. Six teams would qualify this season, compared to eight last year. In the quarter-finals, the first and second seeds received byes.^[3]
• On December 2, 2014, Den Helder Kings was declared bankrupt. Consequently, the club was expelled from the DBL.^[9]

In European competitions

Club	Competition	Result	W–L	Ref
SPM Shoeters Den Bosch	EuroChallenge	Last 16	4–8	[10]