It¡¯s early and the order will be shuffled and some players near the top will drop down, while others will rise.
But already, a solid mix of defenders have staked their claim as the league¡¯s elite takeaway specialists, aka theft artists.
Through Monday, here are the league¡¯s top seven in steals: Niigata¡¯s Shunki Hatakeyama (2.5 per game), Hokkaido¡¯s Asahi Tajima and Shibuya¡¯s Kenta Hirose (2.2), Akita¡¯s Kevin Palmer (2.0) and Tokyo¡¯s Daiki Tanaka, Nagoya¡¯s Seiya Funyu and Tochigi¡¯s Jeff Gibbs (1.8).
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