2017–18 Dutch Basketball League

The 2017–18 Dutch Basketball League (DBL) was the 58th season of the Dutch Basketball League, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands. The regular season started on 7 October 2017 and ended 21 April 2018.^[1] Donar is the defending champion. The playoffs started on 1 May and ended 29 May 2018. Donar captured its seventh championship, its third in a row and fourth in fifth years, after defeating ZZ Leiden in the finals.

Dutch Basketball League
Season	2017–18
Dates	7 October 2017 – 29 May 2018
Games played	163
Teams	9
Regular season
Top seed	Donar
Season MVP	Brandyn Curry
Finals
Champions	Donar 7th title
Runners-up	ZZ Leiden
Playoffs MVP	Brandyn Curry
Statistical leaders
Points Ordane Kanda 18.8 Rebounds Roel Aarts 8.1 Assists Carrington Love 6.8
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Teams

Apollo

Suns

Aris

Rotterdam

Donar

Landstede

New Heroes

BAL

ZZ Leiden

Location of teams in the 2017–18 Dutch Basketball League

Den Helder Suns entered the DBL for this season, which meant the return of a teams from Den Helder since the departure of Kings three seasons ago.^[2] Starting from the 2017–18 season, BSW Weert was dissolved and replaced by BAL.

Arenas and locations

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity
Apollo Amsterdam	Amsterdam	Apollohal	1,500
Aris Leeuwarden	Leeuwarden	Kalverdijkje	1,700
BAL	Weert	Sporthal Boshoven	1,000
Den Helder Suns	Den Helder	Sporthal Sportlaan	1,000
Donar	Groningen	MartiniPlaza	4,350
Forward Lease Rotterdam	Rotterdam	Topsportcentrum	1,000
Landstede	Zwolle	Landstede Sportcentrum	1,200
New Heroes	's-Hertogenbosch	Maaspoort	2,800
Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden	Leiden	Vijf Meihal	2,000

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Apollo Amsterdam	Patrick Faijdherbe	Dimeo van der Horst	Adidas
Aris Leeuwarden	Tony van den Bosch	Stefan Mladenovic	Jako	Friezon
BAL	Radenko Varagic		Spalding
Den Helder Suns	Peter van Noord	Tjoe de Paula	Burned	Envinity[3]
Donar	Erik Braal	Jason Dourisseau	Burned	Hepro
Forward Lease Rotterdam	Armand Salomon	Ties Theeuwkens	Peak	Forward Lease
Landstede	Herman van den Belt	Nigel Van Oostrum	Burned	Landstede
New Heroes	Silvano Poropat	Stefan Wessels	Burned	New Heroes
ZZ Leiden	Paul Vervaeck	Mohamed Kherrazi	Peak	Zorg en Zekerheid

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
New Heroes	Sander van der Holst	Mutual consent	May 31, 2017	Pre-season	Silvano Poropat	May 31, 2017[4]
Aris Leeuwarden	Klaas Stoppels	End of contract	June 15, 2017		Tony van den Bosch	June 15, 2017[5]

Foreign players

See also: 2017–18 Dutch Basketball League squads

For the 2017–18 season, league policy was changed and the number of allowed foreign players per team was increased from 4 to 5.^[6] Additional was the restriction that a team is not allowed to have five foreign players on the court at the same time.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Left during season
Apollo Amsterdam	Benjamin Janssens[7]					Micheal Madanly[8]
Aris Leeuwarden	Emile Blackman[9]	Nate Kratch[10]	Deividas Kumelis[11]	David Michaels[12]		Meshack Lufile[13][14]
BAL
Den Helder Suns	LaVonte Dority[15]	Alex Laurent[16]	Quinterian McConico[17]
Donar	Drago Pašalić[18]	Brandyn Curry[19]	Bradford Burgess[20]	Teddy Gipson[21]	Evan Bruinsma[22]	Stephen Domingo[23][a]
Forward Lease Rotterdam	Ordane Kanda-Kanyndia[25]	Trevor Setty[26]	Marcel Boyd[27]	Joey Puddister[27]	Micheal Madanly[28]	Chris Commons[29][30]
Landstede	Noah Dahlman[31]	Jordan Gregory[32]	Sherron Dorsey-Walker[33]	Franko House[34]
New Heroes	Mike Miklusak[35]	Keshun Sherrill[36]	Norville Carey[37]	Anthony Marshall[38]
ZZ Leiden	Sergio De Randamie[39]	Clayton Vette[40]	Carrington Love[41]

1. Stephen Domingo of Donar suffered a season-ending injury in January 2018, opening up space for Bradford Burgess.^[24]

Regular season

In the regular season, teams play against each other four times home-and-away in double a round-robin format. The six first qualified teams advance to the playoffs. The regular season started on 7 October 2017 and will end 21 April 2018.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Donar	32	28	4	2686	2031	+655	56	Qualification to semifinals
2	Landstede	32	24	8	2556	2244	+312	48
3	ZZ Leiden	32	24	8	2598	2292	+306	48	Qualification to quarterfinals
4	New Heroes	32	24	8	2618	2289	+329	48
5	Forward Lease Rotterdam	32	15	17	2467	2636	−169	30
6	Aris Leeuwarden	32	10	22	2184	2448	−264	20
7	Apollo Amsterdam	32	9	23	2350	2583	−233	18
8	Den Helder Suns	32	6	26	2164	2671	−507	12
9	BAL	32	4	28	2212	2641	−429	8

Source: DBL, Scoresway

Results

First round

Home \ Away	APO	ARI	BAL	DHE	DON	ROT	LAN	NEW	ZZL
Apollo Amsterdam	—	82–76	109–114	85–67	47–78	71–84	76–84	67–79	64–83
Aris Leeuwarden	79–73	—	73–76	84–82	20–0[a]	69–80	61–81	48–99	64–66
BAL	54–79	80–96	—	76–82	67–93	65–79	88–91	63–81	73–76
Den Helder Suns	84–74	74–78	60–79	—	69–86	73–76	76–73	56–82	78–100
Donar	88–55	112–65	76–49	98–62	—	82–49	79–68	85–65	91–69
Forward Lease Rotterdam	80–82	83–74	79–62	95–77	68–106	—	92–89	81–91	77–76
Landstede	97–72	87–66	80–59	87–47	60–75	85–65	—	72–65	69–65
New Heroes	89–64	88–47	82–48	91–65	73–95	74–68	87–65	—	68–60
ZZ Leiden	82–69	77–55	101–78	87–49	75–63	92–74	74–64	83–81	—

Source: DBL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Second round

Home \ Away	APO	ARI	BAL	DHE	DON	RDM	LAN	NEW	ZZL
Apollo Amsterdam	—	55–74	85–70	94–72	81–87	84–91	65–105	82–93	79–100
Aris Leeuwarden	70–68	—	82–67	85–80	46–70	72–75	73–85	82–90	72–81
BAL	55–80	54–79	—	80–87	66–79	93–81	57–67	61–88	46–75
Den Helder Suns	56–80	69–66	85–83	—	73–95	77–86	44–80	73–77	68–84
Donar	90–61	85–61	84–71	78–56	—	89–65	84–68	71–80	103–112
Forward Lease Rotterdam	65–67	79–63	77–69	72–55	66–95	—	74–92	80–89	92–94
Landstede	73–69	88–66	88–65	84–49	55–86	111–74	—	86–78	82–81
New Heroes	78–73	90–79	92–75	91–52	48–96	114–86	68–69	—	86–78
ZZ Leiden	87–60	72–59	74–70	89–66	61–85	102–74	64–71	79–61	—

Source: DBL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Play-offs

In the quarterfinals a best-of-three format is used, while in the semifinals and finals are played in a best-of-seven format. The play-offs start on 1 May and ended 29 May 2018.^[43]

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Finals
	4 New Heroes	1
	5 Rotterdam	2
					1 Donar	4
					5 Rotterdam	0
									1 Donar	4
									3 ZZ Leiden	0
	3 ZZ Leiden	2
	6 Aris Leeuwarden	1
					2 Landstede	0
					3 ZZ Leiden	4

Quarterfinals

The legs were played on 1 May, 3 May and (if necessary) on 5 May.^[43] The team with the higher seed played game one and three (if necessary) at home.

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
ZZ Leiden	2–1	Aris Leeuwarden	85–77	64–56	66–55
New Heroes	1–2	Forward Lease Rotterdam	99–64	97–93 (ot)	89–92

Semifinals

The legs were played on 8 May, 10 May, 12 May, 15 May and (if necessary) 17 May, 19 May and 20 May.^[43] The team with the higher seed played game one, three, five and seven (if necessary) at home.

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7
Donar	4–0	Forward Lease Rotterdam	96–77	85–114	98–74	107–51
Landstede	0–4	ZZ Leiden	79–81	74–78	73–78	60–63

Finals

The legs were played on 22 May, 24 May, 26 May, 29 May and (if necessary) 31 May, 2 June and 3 June.^[43] The team with the higher seed played game one, three, five and seven (if necessary) at home.

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7
Donar	4–0	ZZ Leiden	105–66	78–71	80–69	73–66

Final standings

Teams are ranked based on the playoff round in which they were eliminated and their regular season records.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L
1	Donar (C, O)	40	36	4	Qualification for Champions League qualifying rounds
2	ZZ Leiden	43	30	13	Qualification for FIBA Europe Cup qualifying rounds
3	Landstede	36	24	12
4	Forward Lease Rotterdam	39	17	22
5	New Heroes[b]	35	25	10	Qualification for FIBA Europe Cup qualifying rounds
6	Aris Leeuwarden	35	11	24
7	Apollo Amsterdam	32	9	23
8	Den Helder Suns	32	6	26
9	BAL	32	4	28

Source: DBL
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners
Notes:

1. Donar won the match on November 17, 2017, 56–84 over Aris Leeuwarden. However, the result was reverted because Donar had five foreign players playing on the court at the same time, violating the DBL's foreigner policy.^[42]
2. New Heroes qualified for the 2018–19 FIBA Europe Cup, after Landstede and Rotterdam denied the invitation.

Awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player[44]	Brandyn Curry	Donar
Play-offs MVP[45]	Brandyn Curry	Donar
MVP Under-23[46]	Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries	Den Helder Suns
Rookie of the Year[47]	Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries	Den Helder Suns
Defensive Player of the Year[48]	Sean Cunningham	Donar
All-Defense Team[49]	Sean Cunningham	Donar
	Carrington Love	ZZ Leiden
	Mohamed Kherrazi	ZZ Leiden
	Stefan Wessels	New Heroes
	Thomas Koenis	Donar

Statistics

Statistical leaders

Category	Player	Team	Average
Points	Ordane Kanda-Kanyinda	Forward Lease Rotterdam	18.8
Rebounds	Roel Aarts	BAL	8.1
Assists	Carrington Love	ZZ Leiden	6.8
Steals	Worthy de Jong	ZZ Leiden	3.0
Blocks	Berend Weijs	Apollo Amsterdam	1.3
Turnovers	Ordane Kanda-Kanyinda	Forward Lease Rotterdam	3.8
2P%	Stefan Wessels	New Heroes	.671
3P%	Brandyn Curry	Donar	.423
FT%	Brandyn Curry	Donar	.901

In European competitions

Club	Competition	Performance	Record	Ref
Donar	Champions League	Third qualifying round	2–1–3	[50]
	FIBA Europe Cup	Semi-finals	12–6

Notes

See also

• 2017–18 NBB Cup
• 2017 Dutch Basketball Supercup