LWD Basket

LWD Basket
Leagues	BNXT League
Founded	2004; 20 years ago (2004)
History	List Woon! Aris (2004–2007) Aris Friesland (2007–2009) De Friesland Aris (2009–2011) Lasaulec Aris (2011–2012) Aris Leeuwarden (2012–2023) LWD Basket (2023–present)
Arena	Kalverdijkje
Capacity	1,700
Location	Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Team colors	Yellow, Navy Blue
Team manager	Gert Schurer
Head coach	Vincent van Sliedregt
2021–22 position	BNXT League, 14th of 21
Website	lwdbasket.nl

LWD Basket is a Dutch professional basketball club based in Leeuwarden. Founded as Aris Leeuwarden in 2004, the club competes in the BNXT League, and has competed at the highest national level since its foundation. The team plays its home games at the Kalverdijkje.

The most notable successes are reaching the DBL finals in 2013 and the NBB Cup final in 2020.

The parent club was actually founded in 1992, when the clubs Sporty and Ymir merged into BV Aris. In 2004 the professional team was founded, when the team promoted from the Promotiedivisie – the Dutch second-tier league – to the Eredivisie. The team, coached by Tom Simpson, was named Woon!Aris for sponsorship reasons and reached the Playoffs in its first season. After then, the team failed to reach the postseason for four seasons. In 2009–10, Aris, then named De Friesland Aris, reached the playoff semi-finals for the first time.

In the 2012–13 season, Aris was in financial trouble after it lost their main sponsor Lasaulec.^[1] Despite these circumstances Aris' squad – which included All-Stars Holcomb-Faye and Givens – reached the DBL Finals. Rival #1 seed Den Bosch was knocked out of the tournament 3–1 in the semi-finals. In the Finals Aris played ZZ Leiden and lost 0–4 to the #2 seed of the regular season.^[2]

Before the start of the 2013–14 Aris signed a new main sponsor in Univé, which guaranteed the existence of the team despite its ongoing financial struggles.^[3] The capacity of Kalverdijkje was also increased from 800 to 1,700 to further increase the stability for the club's future.^[4]

In the 2019–20 season, Aris reached the final of the Dutch Basketball Cup for the first time in history under head coach Ferried Naciri.^[5] The final, however, was never played as the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The final, which was to be played against Donar, was cancelled as well after no new date could be found.^[6]

Since the 2021–22 season, Aris plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.^[7] During the 2022–23 season, Aris reached the semi-finals for a third time in history.

At the end of the 2022–23 season, it was revealed that the club was in financial difficulties. The BNXT organisation denied the club’s first application for a licence. To resolve the issues, the stichting behind the club was resolved and a new club was founded in a besloten vennootschap by the three members of the board, Johan Meijer, Gert Schrurer and Paul de Jong. The new name of the phoenix club was decided to be LWD Basket, with LWD being an abbreviation for Leeuwarden.^[8] LWD Basket adopted new club colours, blue and yellow, which it lends from the flag of the city.

Dutch Basketball League

• Runners-up (1): 2012–13
• Semifinalists (2): 2009–10, 2022–23

Dutch Cup

• Finalist (1): 2019–20^[a]
• Semifinalist (4): 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2021–22

Aris Leeuwarden roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age C 2 Doorson, Shaquille 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) 30 – (1994-02-26)26 February 1994 G 3 van der Geijn, Thomas 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 21 – (2003-02-12)12 February 2003 G 4 Frierson, Matt 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 27 – (1997-05-02)2 May 1997 F 5 Johansson, Daniel 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 26 – (1998-04-04)4 April 1998 G 6 ter Weeme, Bram 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 18 – (2006-07-16)16 July 2006 F 7 Douwes, Jurrian 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 22 – (2002-07-11)11 July 2002 F 9 Whitfield, Devin 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 26 – (1998-03-10)10 March 1998 PG 11 Murray, Joel 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 24 – (1999-11-23)23 November 1999 C 15 Brandsma, Reinder 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 24 – (1999-11-11)11 November 1999 F 24 Merkx, Bjorn 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 22 – (2002-03-08)8 March 2002 F/C 32 Hemphill, Jack 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 25 – (1999-05-15)15 May 1999 G 55 Duncan, Robin 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 28 – (1996-08-23)23 August 1996	Head coach Vincent van Sliedregt Assistant coach(es) Klaas Stoppels Physician(s) Piet Bouius Jan Watse Jousma Team manager Jouke Lemke Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent Injured Roster Transactions Updated: November 1, 2024

Meshack Lufile
(1 season: 2016-17)

Season Name PPG 2011–12 Lance Jeter 16.8 2012–13 Samme Givens 16.4 2013–14 Darius Theus 16.5 2014–15 Tjoe de Paula 17.0 2015–16 Javier Duren 17.7 2016–17 Jordan Gregory 18.6

Season Name PPG 2017–18 Emile Blackman 16.4 2018–19 Nick Masterson 16.6 2019–20 Andrzej Mazurczak 16.5 2020–21 Chad Frazier 12.7 2021–22 Nigel Pruitt 16.9

^[9]

The following list shows all head coaches of Aris Leeuwarden since its inception in 2004:

Name	From	To	Ref.
Tom Simpson	2004	2006
Andre Roorda	2007	2008
Tony van den Bosch	2008	2009
Pete Miller	2009	2011
Erik Braal	2011	2013
Ed Molthoff	2013	February 2014
Tom Simpson	February 2014	2015
Michael Schuurs	2015	2016
Klaas Stoppels	2016	2017
Tony van den Bosch	2017	April 2019	[10]
Anne van Dijk (interim)	April 2019	May 2019	[11]
Ferried Naciri	September 2019	May 2021	[12]
Vincent van Sliedregt	June 2021	present	[13]

• Official website
• Eurobasket.com Aris Leeuwarden Page

53°12′43.1″N 5°49′33.8″E / 53.211972°N 5.826056°E / 53.211972; 5.826056