Singapore credits ABL for upgrade

MANILA, Philippines -  Singapore isn’t expected to win the SEABA championship here this year but with six players coming from the Slingers squad that wound up second in the ABL this past season and an experienced Australian coach Frank Arsego at the helm, the team appears ready to improve on its third place finish in the last two sub-zone tournaments.

The Lion City’s acid test will come in the game against host Philippines at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight. Last year, Singapore bowed to the Philippines, 81-59, at the SEABA Cup in Bangkok and finished third. Jio Jalalon, Troy Rosario and R. R. Pogoy were held over from the SEABA Cup to play for Gilas in SEABA while five Singapore players were retained.

Basketball has been on the rise in Singapore since it won back-to-back bronze medals at the Southeast Asian Games in 2013 and 2015. The Slingers figured in the last two ABL finals, too. Arsego’s arrival is a clear indication that Singapore is serious in pushing its basketball program forward. Arsego coached the Slingers in 2008-10, the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian National Basketball League in 2003-05 and the Canberra Gunners in the Australian Basketball Association in 2006 and 2011. He was general manager of the Melbourne United basketball club in 2014.

The key Singapore players are 6-2 Leon Kwek, 5-7 Wei Long Wong, 6-6 Delvin Goh and 6-4 Hanbin Ng. Others in the lineup are 5-9 Jun Yuan Lim, 5-11 Johrathon Cheok, 6-2 John Ng, 6-2 Zao Chia, 6-4 Justin Lim, 6-6 Lavin Raj and 6-1 Chin Hong Tan. The only teenager in the cast is Raj who’s 16 and the team’s tallest player.

Hanbin Ng, 28, averaged 10.6 points at the FIBA Asia Championships in Wuhan in 2011 and 10 points at the Changsha edition in 2015. At the last SEA Games, Ng averaged 6.2 points and 2.8 rebounds. Goh, 22, averaged 12 points and 10.8 rebounds at the SEABA Cup last year. In Changsha, Goh averaged 8.2 points and 10.4 rebounds. Kwek, 20, averaged 9.2 points at the last SEABA Cup. Wong, 28, is known as the “Long Ranger” and “Singapore Assassin” because of his reputation as a deadly three-point shooter. Ng, Goh, Kwek and Wong were on the Slingers squad in the ABL this year.

“We would not be where we are today without the Slingers,” said Ng, quoted in fiba.com. “The exposure of competing against neighboring countries on a regular basis has toughened us up tremendously, eliminating the fear element stemming from inexperience that we used to have in the past. I believe the future of Singapore basketball is bright. It’s only a matter of time before Singaporean players get invited to play in other countries which will eventually lift the standard of basketball.” Ng said Singapore’s goal is to outdo its results from the past. “With the core of the team remaining the same, I believe we stand a good chance in SEABA and the SEA Games,” he said.

Wong, who averaged 17 points and hit 45.8 percent from beyond the arc at the SEABA Championships in Jakarta in 2011, said the ABL has contributed to Singapore’s progress in basketball.

“The ABL has provided local players with a platform to compete on an international level,” he said. “It allows exchange of skills and knowledge among players from different places in the world. Joining the Slingers also allowed me and my teammates to learn from our imports. Through training and games played together as a team, everyone is able to pick up different learning points along the way, enabling us to make adjustments to our skills so as to improve both as individuals and as a team. Six years ago, if we weren’t given a chance to play in the ABL, we would not have had the chance to learn from people who are better than us.”