UNFAMILIARITY won't be an issue as Matthew Wright plays under coach Roy Rana in his first season with the Kyoto Hannaryz.
Their history dating back to the Fil-Canadian shooter's high school days in Toronto should come in handy as they try to help the team make noise this season in the Japan B.League.
See Matthew Wright embraces challenge as he starts afresh with Kyoto
"I've known Matthew since he was like 15 years old and was a young high school player and when I was a younger high school coach in Toronto," Rana said in Wright's introductory press conference on Thursday.
"I got a chance to see his career really begin to blossom, where he was really not very well known and really started to develop a little bit later in his high school career."
Rana, who was then the head coach for Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute, saw first hand how Wright turned into a solid player in his time for Martingrove Collegiate Institute in Toronto up to his college days with St. Bonaventure.
Since then, he has followed Wright's career, from his first professional team in UJAP Quimper 29 in France to his stints with Westports Malaysia Dragons and then with Phoenix in the PBA.
"He's got incredible toughness. People don't really understand that he's had to go through a lot in his life, to be able to become the man that he's become and become the player that he's become. It's something that I think is incredible and just to be part of that and to have witnessed that," said the Canadian mentor.
That's why when the opportunity opened up for Rana to team up with Wright cropped up, he wasted no time making the partnership happen.
"When this opportunity began to take shape, he was certainly somebody that I quickly put our organization's lens on," he admitted. "We've shared a lot of things together, more because of the mutual relationships and friendships and people that we've connected to throughout the years, but now we get a chance to be together and really try to drive winning together."
Rana needs Wright to lead the new-look Kyoto squad as they both seek to push the Hannaryz to the playoffs after a 14-43 record last season.
"He's got great habits and he's a professional in every way. He's a high character person, mentally and physically very, very tough," shared the coach. "He's already had a really tremendously positive impact on our team since he's arrived. He got off the plane and got on the court like it wasn't, 'Coach, I need a week off.' He was eager to get going with our team and I think it says a lot about Matthew. He has a tremendous diversity of experience internationally as a professional, and that will really, really help our group."
"We're looking to him not just to be someone who's going to help us perform, but obviously someone who's going to help us lead and many of those experience, I think, are foundational for Matthew. So we're super honored that he chose to be here at Kyoto with us."
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