2014–15 Dutch Basketball League

Dutch Basketball League
Champions	SPM Shoeters Den Bosch 16th title
Runners-up	Donar
Semifinalists	ZZ Leiden Landstede Zwolle
Teams	9
Games played	32
Duration	10 October 2014 – 28 May 2015
Top seed	SPM Shoeters Den Bosch
Major awards
MVP	Lance Jeter
Playoffs MVP	Brandyn Curry
Statistical leaders
Points	Yannick Franke 19.6
Rebounds	Kenneth van Kempen 11.0
Assists	Lance Jeter 5.0

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

The league started the season with nine teams, after Matrixx Magixx didn't 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 Magixx announced it would withdraw from the DBL, because they couldn't get the amount of money that was required together. Thereby the league would start with nine teams. In December, Den Helder Kings left as well.

Colors	Club	City	Arena	Capacity	Head coach	Main sponsor	Kit manufacturer
	BC Apollo	Amsterdam	Apollohal	1,500	Jaanus Liivak	–	Peak
	Port of Den Helder Kings	20px Den Helder	KingsDome	1,500	Jean-Marc Jaumin	Port of Den Helder	Macron
	SPM Shoeters Den Bosch	20px 's-Hertogenbosch	Maaspoort Sports and Events	2,800	Sam Jones	SPM Shoes & Boots	Joma
	Donar	Groningen	MartiniPlaza	4,310	Ivica Skelin	–	Kix
	Challenge Sports Rotterdam	20px Rotterdam	Topsportcentrum	1,000	Armand Salomon	Challenge Sports	Kelme
	Aris Leeuwarden	20px Leeuwarden	Sporthal Kalverdijkje	1,700	Tom Simpson	Univé	Jako
	Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden	20px Leiden	Vijf Meihal	2,000	Eddy Casteels	Zorg en Zekerheid	Panzari Sports
	BSW	Weert	Sporthal Boshoven		Niels Vorenhout	Maxxcom	Spalding
	Landstede Basketbal	20px 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 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 semi-finals
2	Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden	28	22	6	2418	2006	+412	44
3	Donar	28	21	7	2225	1903	+322	42	Qualification to quarter-finals
4	Landstede Basketbal	28	20	8	2322	1999	+323	40
5	Challenge Sports Rotterdam	28	8	20	2204	2426	−222	16
6	Aris Leeuwarden	28	8	20	2202	2464	−262	16
7	Apollo Amsterdam	28	5	23	1880	2297	−417	10
8	BSW	28	4	24	1765	2322	−557	8

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

	Quarterfinals (Best of 3)										Semifinals (Best of 7)										Finals (Best of 7)
	(4) Landstede					105	81	0
	(5) Challenge Sports Rotterdam					62	73	0
											(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	0	0
																					(3) Donar	54	61	72	67	64	0	0
	(3) Donar					101	87	0
	(6) Aris Leeuwarden					66	73	0
											(2) ZZ Leiden	86	63	69	59	85	71	0
											(3) Donar	80	78	79	63	56	77	0

Because the number of teams in the DBL decreased to 9, a new Playoff format was chosen. After the seeds 3 till 6 played a best-of-three series in the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and finals would be played in a best-of-seven system.

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 Zorg en Zekerheid extended its sponsorship contract with three more years.
• On May 13, 2014 it was announced ZZ Leiden and Toon van Helfteren – who won six trophies with the club – would part ways. On May 30, the Belgian Eddy Casteels coach was hired as new head coach.
• On June 6, 2014 Matrixx Magixx announced the club was close to bankruptcy because they had trouble finding a new main sponsor.

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

• 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, BC Apollo announced that it would play in the DBL after working a long time to reach the budget standard.
• On August 16, 2014, Groningen announced it would be named Donar again.
• On August 29, 2014, the DBL announced this season a new Playoffs system would be used. Just 6 teams would qualify this season, compared to 8 last year.
• On December 2, 2014, Den Helder Kings was declared bankrupt.