By Les Tan/Red Hoops in Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur, Tuesday, March 9, 2010 – American Jason Dixon of the Philippines Patriots walked away with the Best ABL Import award at the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) end-of-season dinner last night in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Philippine Patriots also received their championship rings on the night, their reward for sweeping Jakarta-based Satria Muda BritAma 3-0 in the best-of-five finals last month. It was a night of celebration for team owners, sponsors and the organisers of the inaugural league that tipped off in October 2009.

The 6′ 9″ (206cm) big man though, was modest about his award.

“To be honest with you, I personally don’t feel I deserve it,” said Dixon to Red Hoops after the dinner at the Garden Hotel in Mid Valley City. “I personally feel there are various other guys who outperformed me, Gabe Freeman being number one. Nakiea Miller is a guy that you have to give him his credit.

“When you come in number one scorer, number one rebounder, numbers talk. I’m just a guy, I fit in well with my team, I make my team play better. [But] I accept the award, thank you.”

Dixon finished the season with 228 points over 15 games for a 15.2 points-per-game average. Miller, who was brought in after the season started to replace Theo Little in the Satria Muda squad, played 10 games, scoring 207 points for a 20.7 points-per-game average.

For Dixon, who just turned 37 in February, the experience with the Patriots in a new league has been a good one so far.

“With it being a new league, I think every moment is going to be a highlight. I think there’s a lot that they have to learn, but they’ve set their bar so high. It was actually a joy to play for them (Patriots),” said Dixon.

Dixon, a much-travelled professional basketballer who has played in the Philippines, China, Turkey, Cyprus and Europe, was impressed by how the league was run.

“As far as off the court, I have no complaints. We stayed in good hotels. We travelled as well as we could. It was a good league. I was actually surprised at how the league was run,” said Dixon.

“Yes, I have seen [some leagues in my time]. I’ve stayed at some terrible hotels in the leagues that have been established. I’ve seen them treat players like they’re dirt. The ASEAN league has treated the players like they are professionals and that’s a good reputation to have,” Dixon added.

The native of Colorado, USA, is certainly looking forward to resuming his position as centre on the Patriots roster for the upcoming season.

“I am looking forward to seeing how many championships we can win. The thing is when they add more teams, you add more competition. I’m sure the salary cap is going to increase as well. We’ll see what happens,” Dixon said.

Attaporn Lertmalaiporn of the Thailand Tigers won the ABL League MVP award while Patriot Warren Ybanez pipped teammates Robert Wainwright and Jerwin Gaco for the ABL Finals MVP recognition.

Jason Dixon Career Highlights

Guangdong Southern Tigers, Chinese Basketball Association (1998−2001,2002-2009)
- Dixon achieved team-highs of 3908 rebounds, 349 blocks and 498 dunks
- Dixon’s number 15 jersey was retired by the team

Coca-Cola Tigers, Philippine Basketball Association (2008 – Fiesta Conference)

Previous Clubs

1997 – Hapoel Galil Elion, Israel Premier League
1997 – Portland Wave, USBL
1998 – New Jersey Shorecats
1998 – Karsiyaka Izmir Turkiye, Turkey Basketball League
1999 to 2000 – Guangdong Southern Tigers, Chinese Basketball League
2001 – Sodertalje Kings, Sverige Basketligan
2001 – Guangdong Southern Tigers, CBA
2001 – Trotamundos de Carabobo, Venezuela LPB
2001 – Keravnos Keo Nicosia, Cyprus A1
2002 – Huntsville Flight, D-League
2002 – Keravnos Keo Nicosia, Cyprus A1
2003 to 2009 – Guangdong Southern Tigers, CBA

source: www.basketpedya.com

By Jan Lin/Red Hoops

After five months and 53 games of the maiden ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) season, the league is clearly still imperfect in many ways, but in the end, what mattered most was that ASEAN basketballers proved to be a delight to watch.
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By Jan Lin/Red Hoops

Kuhan Foo, the chief executive officer of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), has revealed that the league will know by April the status of new teams coming on board for the 2010/11 season. He also pointed out that for the existing teams to survive, teams will need to learn to market themselves well.
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Contributed by reader Jonathan Chuongco

With the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) finals days away, Red Hoops reader Jonathan Chuongco gives his review of those who have stood out for him during the regular ABL season.
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N.B. We first posted this reader-nominated poll on Jan 4. Since then, readers have made more suggestions for the poll.

Since the first ASEAN Basketball League season is two-thirds of the way through and rosters are now settled, who do you think would make a dream starting five?

Let’s have fun with a reader-nominated and reader-driven poll, shall we?
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In Red Hoops’ third part of the 2009/10 ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Season Review, we look at team and individual game-highs.

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Game-highs (Team)

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Game-lows (Team)

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Game-highs (Individual)

By Erwin Wong/Red Hoops

In Red Hoops’ second part of the 2009/10 ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Season Review, team defence is the focus.

The Brunei Barracudas may have averaged the most points per game (78.9), but they have also allowed the most (82.3 points per game). If we take a closer look at point differential (points scored minus points allowed) for each team, we would have a clearer picture of how each team manages their points at both ends of the court.

Barracudas: -3.4
Dragons: -4.0
Patriots: +5.5
Satria Muda: +2.9
Slingers: +3.4
Tigers: -4.4

They would rank as they are on the league standings, except that the Barracudas and Dragons have swapped places.

The Patriots have the stingiest defence in the league, allowing opponents to make only 37.6% of their shots from the field. Their opponents’ three-point field goal percentage of 28.7% is also a squeak under the league-leading 28.5% by the Tigers.

Opponents are most likely to have a block party at the Slingers’ expense, as they have rejected 64 of the team’s shots, 11 more than Satria Muda which is next to last.

The Slingers drew the most fouls in the league (20.5 per game), and also lead the league in rebounding differential.

Barracudas: -4.5
Dragons: -3.5
Patriots: +3.2
Satria Muda: +1.6
Slingers: +4.7
Tigers: -1.5

Check back tomorrow when we will go through the ABL game highs for individual and team.

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Defence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Defence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Defence

By Erwin Wong/Red Hoops

After 45 matches played over the course of more than three months, the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) regular season has come to a close.

This region finally has a professional basketball league to call our own, and we’ve seen our fair share of thrills and spills as the six teams battled for league supremacy and a coveted play-off spot.
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Story by Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, 22 November 2009 – Around 60 KL Dragon fans travelled across the Causeway to catch the team play against the Singapore Slingers. It was their first road trip to support their team. Even though their ride to the stadium was late, the Dragon fans did not let the hiccup dampen their spirits and were duly rewarded with a 84-74 win by the KL Dragons.
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The second-placed Philippine Patriots entertain third-placed Satria Muda BritAma this Saturday at 4pm at the San Juan Arena.

The Philippine Patriots come off a 73-63 win over the KL Dragons last weekend at the MABA Stadium on November 15th. The KL Dragons put up a tough fight, only allowing the Patriots to secure their win in the final quarter of the match. Philippine Patriot’s will be relying on top scorers Brandon Powell and Jason Dixon to bring them their fifth win.
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Basketball fans hungry for news about the fledgling ASEAN Basketball League are finding Red Hoops via the Google search engine.

A Filipino fan using Google in the Philippines got Red Hoops as the first two search results with the search terms, “standing of philippine patriots in ABL“.
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RED SPORTS READER SPECIAL

If you are a student in Singapore – regardless of race, age or nationality – and always wanted to catch a professional basketball game ‘live’, we have good news for you.

Singapore’s local sports news website, Red Sports, has worked out a deal with the Singapore Slingers management to get you into the Singapore Indoor Stadium to watch the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) at the cheapest price in town.

And how much is that?

$6.

And how to get it?
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Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia has signed on as the official airline partner of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) which tips off today in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In a sponsorship that will make a significant difference to the operating costs of the six new teams in the league, AirAsia will provide free flights to all their away games.
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By Les Tan/Red Hoops

After watching four pre-season games between the Singapore Slingers and the visiting teams from the Philippines, one thing is for sure: Filipino fans don’t always agree with how Singapore’s FIBA*-certified referees call the game.

Part of the reason could be the fact that the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) plays by a different set of rules that is patterned after the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the USA.
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