April 6, 2006
Life is about making adjustments and if anybody would be considered an expert, it might just be former Santa Clara men's basketball standout Doron Perkins.
In his first professional season with Toyota Alvark of the Japanese Basketball League, the Anchorage, Alaska native led his team to its second Super League title with a 24-5 overall record. He was named the league's Player of the Year, Guard of the Year, Import Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.
In addition, The Santa Clara, SCU's student newspaper, reported that Perkins has been invited to participate on the Los Angeles Lakers' Summer Pro League team later this year.
Alvark posted a 77-66 win over the OSG Phoenix in Game 4 of the playoff finals last weekend. Perkins scored 19 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out six assists in the game, which was played at the Yoyogi national gymnasium annex in Tokyo, Japan.
After an injury-plagued prep career at Barlett High School, Perkins spent two seasons at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Ore. where he was only the second player to be selected the NWAACC Southern Region Player of the Year twice.
After transferring to Santa Clara in the fall of 2003, Perkins proceeded to make a significant impact in his two seasons on the mission campus. He was a two-time all-West Coast Conference selection and set a conference and school record with 10 steals against San Diego as a senior. Perkins ranks seventh on the SCU charts for career steals and started 59 of his 63 appearances.
The JBL announced plans recently to become a fully professional league starting in the 2007-08 season. Up until now, the JBL was a industrial league with the import players on professional contracts but only a handful of domestic players on pro contracts. The number of domestic players on professional contracts has been increasing recently with some teams like Toyota and Aisin playing with their rosters full of players (import and domestic) on pro contracts. According to an article in the Daily Yomiuri, the teams in the JBL Super League (top division) will become corporate bodies and will own their commercial rights.