Attaporn Lertmalaiporn of the Thailand Tigers was named the winner of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) regular season award at the awards night held earlier this year in March 2010.

“Winning the award made me very happy for Thailand and the Tigers,” Attaporn told Red Hoops. “I never thought I would win it. It will help the Thai players in general to show you can make it.”

For the best import award, which was won by Jason Dixon of the Philippine Patriots, the ASEAN players who were brought in as imports in any of the six teams were also in the running. As for the regular season MVP award given to Attaporn, the award was only restricted to locals. Attaporn finished 11th in the league for points per game (14.9) to lead all local players.

The award winners were chosen by a panel made up of ABL technical director Agus A. Mauro and ABL CEO Kuhan Foo.

“The criteria are based on an MVP points format from FIBA that calculates from points, rebounds, assists, etc, that accumulate from all the games the players played,” an ABL spokesperson told Red Hoops.

“He’s very special. He plays maybe a little odd. But that’s what people like,” said Thailand Tigers owner Wim Reijnen at the awards dinner in Kuala Lumpur in early March. “Now of course his stats are also very good. He is a national team player in Thailand but up until October, he was not a professional player. He had some challenges in the beginning, when it was difficult for him, and then we figured it out with him, and I think he did very well. He scored 230 plus points. His free throws were great, 71%, which is high, I would say. And that’s not three or four free throws. I think he had a 100 or so. That’s very good.

Attaporn, who picked up basketball when he was 13, is currently doing a master degree in physical education at Srinakarin Thalawirot Pasanmit University and is in his final year on a full scholarship. Before suiting up for the Tigers, Attaporn played for the Bangkok Bank club and Hi Tech Apparel. He still plays for Hi Tech Apparel when he is not with the Tigers. He also turns out for his university team.

Reijnen said that Attaporn’s award comes from a lot of hard work.

“I’m very happy for him. Extremely happy for him also because of his background which is not the easiest and so he had to work doubly hard to get to this. And now the first season, being a pro, being an MVP of the ABL. His personal background is not easy. He’s not from a middle class or wealthy family and so it’s extra difficult. So he had to work hard to get to university and that’s why he’s not here tonight because he had to play in a university tournament,” said Reijnen.

Reijnen was also confident that Attaporn would return for the second season.

“Absolutely. He’s already said so. 110% that he’s coming back for sure. He actually feels the same way that he adds something to it. I think he’s also a good role model and kids love him. The only unfortunate thing is that he doesn’t speak English. But that’s ok. It’s fine. You don’t need to. Sports is the language and you don’t really need to speak English for what he does. It would be handy, maybe sometimes. He understands but didn’t get enough practise,” said Reijnen.

The award for Attaporn was a highlight of an otherwise forgettable first season in the ABL. The Tigers finished with a 3-12 win-loss record although the team lost seven of those games by six points or less.

A short pre-season was a key reason, said Reijnen.

“We were only able to start the preparations for the season a few weeks before the season. Had a new pro sport, with a brand new team in a new league. Our imports did not do the trick, especially the Filipinos were way under qualified regarding what we needed,” said Reijnen. “Ike was ok regarding rebounds, but lost it regarding free throws at 29%. Chaz also made some great points, but was not consistent enough and also low on free throws (35%). Happy that Nop (Attaporn), Boy (Piyapong Piroon) and J.O. (Ratdech Kruatiwa) helped us to win some games, with Nop and J.O. being nominated for the MVP regular season and Nop winning the MVP award.”

The regular schedule also did not seem to do the Tigers any favours. The squad played eight away games in a 15-game regular season, with four of those in a stretch from November 28th to December 13th, 2009.

“Scheduling was not really in our favour, or any of the new teams (who all played 7 at home and 8 away). Playing 4 games away, followed by 4 at home (including a bye in the middle) did not help either. But it is hard to schedule with all the venues, and on such a short notice. Think this will be better in the next season,” siad Reijnen.

The team also was not helped by a change in head coach nearing the end of the season. Their American coach, Chuck Davission, a former scout with the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA, left the Tigers after the game against the Singapore Slingers on December 18th, 2010.

“Davisson breached his agreement, furthermore he did not have the international experience we were looking for, and did not adept to the Asian style of coaching a team,” said Reijnen.

The Tigers have also been rocked by online grumblings about players allegedly not getting their salaries. Reijnen declined to comment on this matter for this story, citing confidentiality issues.

Attaporn’s MVP win is certainly one of the few bright sparks in a losing season dogged by player unrest for the Tigers.

Attaporn Stats
- Most points in a game by a local player (23, Oct 18 2009 v Satria Muda)
- Most 20-point games by a local player (5)
- Tied for third place in the league for most 20-point games
- Most games with double-digit points by a local player (12)
- Finished 11th in the league for points per game (14.9), led all local players
- Finished 8th in the league for total points scored (223), led all local players
- Finished tied-11th in the league for field goals made (74), led all local players
- Most field goals made in a game by a local player (9, Oct 18 2009 v Satria Muda)
- Finished 12th in the league for field goals attempted (168), led all local players
- Most field goals attempted in a game by a local player (21, Oct 18 2009 v Satria Muda)
- Finished tied-1st in the league for free throws made (70), led all local players
- Most free throws made in a game by a local player (10, Dec 13 2009 v Dragons)
- Finished tied-3rd in the league for free throws attempted (98), led all local players
- Most free throws attempted in a game by a local player (11, twice)
- 1 of only 4 players in the league to make at least 44% of their field goals and 70% of their free throws
- 1 of only 2 players to shoot 100% from the free throw line in a game with at least 10 attempts (10/10, Dec 13 2009 v Dragons)
- Finished 2nd among local players in total minutes played (402)
- Finished 3rd among local players in minutes per game (26.8)

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

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.

Many ASEAN basketball fans have grown up living and breathing the NBA (National Basketball Association) but not many would know that the NBA’s success did not happen overnight and in fact the world’s most popular basketball league was bereft of attention in its first decade.

Yet through the NBA came the invention of the 24-second shot clock that not only breathed life into the league, it revolutionised the entire game altogether. So it is with ABL, it may be uncertain now what changes this league could bring but the signs are already promising.

“Through this ABL, my local players have improved a lot,” said KL Dragons head coach Goh Cheng Huat. “In fact all the local players from Indonesia and Singapore have stepped up. The way I look at it, some of them have caught up with the standard of the Filipino imports.”

Unbeknownst to many, unlike the imports, most local cagers face the challenge of juggling this professional basketball gig and their long-term marketplace career. Currently amongst the local cagers, there are teachers, engineers, undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Brunei Barracudas’ top local player, 25-year-old Esmond Tan, who is an engineer with Shell, said: “Coach Ramos has tried to adjust the trainings for me in the morning and in the evening when I can join the team for trainings. I’m proud of the local players, I kept telling my local players to be ready and we will get the chance to play. We have been improving.”

Filipino coach Bong Ramos, who has extensive coaching experience across ASEAN (in Philippines, Indonesia and now Brunei), echoed coach Goh’s sentiments, he said: “Filipinos have the advantage against any of the ASEAN locals but, because of ABL I think the locals of all Southeast Asian nations will improve because this is a good league for the locals.”

“Except the Filipinos, ABL is the first professional stint for many locals,” coach Ramos added, “but to narrow the gap [between Philippines and the rest of ASEAN] is not only this league, it’s also the training and having a college league like Philippines’ NCAA/UAAP is important.”

A key indicator of the league’s maiden success was how it has managed to attract the top ASEAN coaches. Besides coach Ramos and coach Goh, who are both highly regarded in Philippines and Malaysia respectively, the coaches of the finalists – Fictor Roring of Satria Muda and Louie Alas of Philippine Patriots – are both household names as well.

Coach Alas gave a tongue-in-cheek sharing on why he joined the ABL, he said: “I was coaching Toyota Altis in the Philippine Basketball League while Mikee (Patriots owner) is the owner of Harbour Centre. We fought them twice in the PBL Championship and we lost both times. That’s why when Mikee called me to coach the Patriots, I agreed right away because there is a saying, ‘If you can’t beat them, you join them!’”

Patriots went on to assert their dominance in the league to lift the inaugural title with a 5-0 playoff run, sweeping the KL Dragons 2-0 in the semi-finals and Satria Muda 3-0 in the finals. During the regular season, Patriots beat every team in head-to-head match-ups except the Slingers, which was the only team with a non-ASEAN marshal.

Slingers’ head coach Frank Arsego, who has announced he will not be returning next season so as to spend more time with his family in Canberra, gave his two cents on how local players can be successful through the ABL.

“Listen to your coaches, learn from your coaches, try to be in an environment where you can learn your skills in competition. The players who make it, are the ones who do the extra work outside of their normal environment, they are the ones who go on to be successful,” he said.

To raise their game, the Australian coach shared how the local players have to work extremely hard to be corrected in their techniques and be grounded in high quality fundamentals to execute them under pressure.

Coach Frank shared: “We work very hard during practice to stimulate an environment where there is a lot of pressure where their decision-making under pressure will improve as they go along, and that’s what the good players can do. We’ve got local guys in Slingers, who just through their work ethics have deserved the opportunity to be with the Slingers and because of that, they are going to become better basketballers.”

While many did step up for their teams over the season, Jan has picked the top two locals who have been a surprise ‘spark’ for their team in the 09/10 ABL season and the six local young guns to look out for in the next season. Enjoy!

ABL 09/10 Top Local ‘Spark’ (Playoff and Finals): Rony Gunawan (Satria Muda)

Rony Gunawan was the local name that stood out in the ABL finals between Satria Muda and the Philippine Patriots. While the four American imports were engrossed in a battle of attrition, the Indonesian center completely outclassed the other locals in the finals.

With both Hartman and Miller pinned down by the Patriots’ tough defense, Rony rose from the rubble to finish the game one with 10 points, eight rebounds (55.6% shooting percentage), the second game with 15 points, seven rebounds (58.3% shooting percentage), and top-scored in the final game with 20 points, seven rebounds (72.7% shooting percentage).

Rony’s finals performance epitomised how it is possible for locals to shine and make a statement for themselves amidst the import-driven league.

“Coach gave me a lot minutes to play so I just played and gave my all,” said Rony reflecting on his stunning finals showing that had breathed hope into his team. “I trusted myself and my team mates, and I’ve got nothing to lose because the pressure was not on my team.”

“I think the skills of the local players are not so far from the imports,” said Rony who also shared he looks up to NBA’s Tim Duncan. “Maybe we lose out in size and the strength, but actually we can compete with the imports if we trust ourselves and not fear them.”

“Local players can do more!” said Rony on a concluding note. “They mostly face the problem of confidence and are a bit afraid to play when there is hard, body contact with the imports. But I think the more often they play in this league, they will get used to that, and get better.”

ABL 09/10 Top Local ‘Spark’ (Regular Season): Attaporn Lertmalaiporn (Thailand Tigers)

If numbers do not lie, then without a doubt, Bangkok-born Attaporn Lertmalaiporn is not only Thailand’s best kept secret, his 223 points (14.9 points per game) score card meant that he was the top-scoring local player and not at all inferior to an American import.

Besides being a menacing scoring machine, the left-handed Attaporn was also a natural entertainer with his unorthodox style of play.

“I feel that the way I play has to do with my personality,” said Attaporn who is also pursuing a Masters degree in Physical Education in Thailand concurrently. “I’m a fun-loving person and I feel that my style of basketball has to be enjoyable and entertaining to the spectators.”

“I’ve been playing basketball for 12 years but this is my first time playing in a professional league,” added the 1.93m tall Attaporn. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity. I’ve learnt a lot from the imports and I feel that having them around, my game has improved a lot.”

And finally, the top local young gun of each team to look out for in the next season:

Brunei Barracudas: Esmond Tan

KL Dragons: Loh Shee Fai

Nonoy Baclao (Philippine Patriots)

Christian Ronaldo Sitepu (Satria Muda)

Hong Wei Jian (Singapore Slingers)

Ratdech Kruatiwa (Thailand Tigers)

Editor’s Note: This has been a maiden season of surprises and here’s a shout of thanks to Leslie and Dawn for the opportunity to cover this league; the REDcrew for working so hard under my Cruella-complex; the ABL coaches who taught me heaps about the game; the ABL players for tolerating my endless questions; and the readers for your love-hate relationship with my stories. Enjoy the other stories coming up, til we next “meet”. (jan@redhoops.com)

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.

“The challenge I think is getting teams to market themselves and finding the major support, sponsors, pulling in more crowd and creating a basketball culture,” shared Kuhan at the post-finals press conference.

“We know it is possible,” Kuhan added, “if we look at KL Dragons for example in Malaysia where the crowd is usually Chinese and men, but now their crowd has 40% Malays, 30% women because of the ABL.”

Four of the six ABL teams in the inaugural season are new teams set up in conjunction with the inception of the ABL. Only Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma and the Singapore Slingers are existing professional teams with the experience of engaging the community.

It has indeed proven to be a challenge for the new teams to fill the stadiums on game day. Thailand Tigers and Philippine Patriots gave free entry to their home games in a bid to draw in the crowds and drum up the support in their first season.

While the Thailand Tigers, who finished at the bottom of the table in the inaugural season, struggled to bring in the home crowd all season, the Patriots crowd picked up significantly towards the playoffs and finals.

The KL Dragons, singled out by Kuhan as the role model for having done an exceptional job in expanding and diversifying their fan base in their maiden season, credited their fans and media partners for their success.

“I don’t think other teams can do so because they don’t have Malaysian blood in them!” the KL Dragons owners said jokingly when asked how they managed to pack their stadium to the point of having to turn away spectators.

Turning serious, they continued: “I think to be fair, this game, except for Philippines, is quite new to other countries, including Malaysia. I think if you look at any leagues when they have just started, even the NBA, the English Premier League, the crowds were not there either.”

“It takes time to develop these things,” they added. “Give it time to slowly grow, it’s about creating the awareness. It has a lot to do with our media partners as well, we need to say a big thank you to them.”

Besides a massive revamp of their dynamic website mid-season and heavy utilisation of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the Kuala Lumpur-based team also organised road trips for their fans to Singapore for their away games.

Indonesia’s Satria Muda is the only other team that had fans travel to an away game. Satria Muda, who have the most number of fans of all the ABL teams, have been actively building their fan base since the team joined the Indonesian Basketball League in 2003. Satria Muda have won four domestic titles since, plus the SEABA Champions Cup in 2008.

Philippine Patriots owner, Mikee Romero, who also owns the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) team, Harbour Center, the team that Satria Muda beat in the 2008 SEABA Champions Cup final, said after the ABL finals: “When we (Harbour Center) played against Satria Muda two years ago, it was a very different team. The level of Indonesian basketball has become higher.”

While the team’s success and progress will be a crowd puller, according to Kuhan, what is essentially more important is the building of a basketball culture, or a culture of identifying ABL as ASEAN’s pride.

While the Philippines have built an unrivaled basketball culture, elsewhere in ASEAN, Malaysians and Indonesians would not find local sporting pride unfamiliar too, with their history of having homegrown athletes claiming top honours at international competitions such as the Olympics.

But for the rest of ASEAN, building a strong fan base that would attract sponsors and support to ensure the sustainability and survivability of the team does seem like a mountain-moving task. The teams taking ownership of the ABL dream is the instrumental first step.

“This finals is the fruit of the ABL dream,” shared Mikee Romero at the post-finals press conference in Jakarta. “It is a common dream of Tony Fernandes and his friends (who became the owners of the six teams). There are a lot of people backing this.”

“And one day, we will grow into Asia and this league will become a big, big league,” Romero continued in zest, “and maybe even rival the NBA (National Basketball Association) or CBL (China Basketball League). Watch out for this league.”

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.

Best Player of the Regular Season: Nakiea Miller

Brought in to replace the ineffective Theophilus Little, Satria Muda have chosen the right guy. Not only can Miller score, but he can crash the boards as well, averaging a monstrous 20.7 points a game and 16.4 boards. Where Miller goes, Satria Muda go as well.

Most surprising win of the Regular Season: Thailand Tigers at Singapore Slingers (Dec 7)

The win was surprising because the Slingers were leading the ABL standings at the time, while the Tigers were anchored at the bottom. The Slingers actually held the lead at the end of the first quarter but things turned around during the second and the Tigers never looked back, getting the most surprising win of the ABL season.

Best Comeback of the Regular Season: KL Dragons

Hats off to the KL Dragons for not giving up and winning three straight crucial games against the Philippine Patriots, Singapore Slingers and Satria Muda BritAma, the top three teams in the ABL. Because of that, lady luck rewarded the Dragons, and they took the final playoff spot at the expense of the Brunei Barracudas.

Best Defensive Team of the Regular Season: Philippine Patriots

The Patriots held their opponents to 68.2 PPG (points per game) and held opponents to 37.6% shooting and 28.7% 3-point shooting to rank 1st, 1st and 2nd respectively in the three categories. It is a no-brainer that the best defensive team award should be given to the Patriots for it is a big reason why they led the ABL in the regular season.

Best Offensive Team/s of the Regular Season: Singapore Slingers and Brunei Barracudas

These two teams are very efficient at scoring. The Brunei Barracudas led the league in terms of scoring production with 78.9 PPG compared to the 75.5 PPG of the Slingers, but the Slingers shot slightly better than the ‘Cudas with 43.5% to 42.4%.

Only these two teams shot better than 40% for the season, and since their offensive production are very similar, both teams deserve to be given the best offensive team awards.

Best Crowd Support: KL Dragons fans

They were rowdy, loud and proud and filled the MABA Stadium when the Dragons played. No questions asked, the Dragons fans are the best in the ABL right now in terms of supporting the home team.

Editor’s Note: Have an entirely different opinion? If you would also like to share your review with the other Red Hoops readers, send your story to jan@redhoops.com

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?

If you think there are still players who deserve to be in the poll, let us know in the comments section.

Each reader will have 12 votes and you have to use your votes all at one go.

The player who has the most votes for that position (PG, SG, SF, PF, C) will be in the starting five while the player with the second highest number of votes for that position will make the Red Hoops all-star team.

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)

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

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.

We now know the identities of the four teams taking part in the 2009/10 post-season, but before the first match tips off on Sunday, January 31, here are some number-crunching information about all six teams.

You may know that Satria Muda’s star centre Nakiea Miller led the league in scoring, rebounds and blocks, but do you know which team is ahead in those categories?

The Patriots have clinched first position in the league (and home-court advantage throughout the play-offs), but which aspect of the numbers game are they the weakest in?

Stay tuned to find out all these, and much more, as Red Hoops brings you the first installment of the 2009/10 ABL statistical season review.

Knock yourself out.

Team Offence:

Let’s start with team offence. The Singapore Slingers led the league in field goal and three-point field goal percentage (although they took the least number of shots in both categories), but are second from bottom in free throw percentage, making only 55.9% of their league-high 338 attempts from the charity stripe. Steven Khoo and Al Vergara led the league in individual field goal and three-point field goal percentage over the course of the season.

The Brunei Barracudas were one of the better shooting teams in the league, ranking second in FG% and 3FG%, and third in FT%, but their accuracy will not be seen in the post-season as the team finished fifth, and out of a play-off spot.

Satria Muda BritAma paced the league in rebounds, steals and blocks per game. Miller was the runaway individual league leader in the rebounds and blocks, particularly in the latter category. He blocked more shots (41) than three teams could manage.

Miller also led his team in steals and was ably aided in this department by Alexander Hartman and Faisal Julius.

The Thailand Tigers finished bottom of the league and may have been hurt by their lack of ball movement and retaining of possession. They were last in assists and turnovers per game.

The KL Dragons made a brilliant late push for the play-offs and were rewarded when they won three of their final four matches. They ranked second in the league in free throw shooting accuracy (66.4%) and shot 81% (47 of 58) in those three vital victories.

Free throw shooting will definitely come into play during the play-offs and the Dragons will look to use their hot shooting from the charity stripe to their advantage. The flip side is that they will play a Philippine Patriots team that leads the league in this discipline.

The league leaders also had the most assists (14.7 per game), and racked up the most fouls in the league (21 per game).

Check back tomorrow when we will have the statistical breakdown of team defence.

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Offence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Offence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Offence

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.

The KL Dragons fan club is based online, reaching out out to fans via a blog and offering them special ticket rates. It was founded by Ahmad Salman Othman, Ahmad Taufek and Syed Zainal Aljunid. Most of the members are working adults and they have a current strength of over 200 members.

“It is made up of basketball fanatics in Malaysia,” Salman, 38, revealed about the fan club. He expressed his support for the ASEAN Basketball League as a platform for both Malaysian and regional players to gain more exposure and an opportunity for them to make professional basketball as a career.

Salman, along with Syed, 39, are two of the pioneers of basketball support in Malaysia. Basketball players usually start off playing for clubs or states and take part in leagues. Although it is a popular sport amongst the Chinese in Malaysia, other sports such as badminton and soccer still rank above basketball in terms of popularity.

“Prior to the ABL, most people (in Malaysia) thought that basketball was only in China, Philippines, US. The ABL gives players a chance to develop and expose them beyond national levelm” said Salman. He also beamed with pride when he share that two of the KL Dragons, Batumalai Guganeswaran and Chee Li Wei played for Swoosh Basketball Club, a club he manages.

“We can still have more support for basketball in Malaysia. There is also a lack of basketball facilities in Malaysia for players, such as indoor basketball courts,” Salman commented about the support for the sport in his country.

Among the KL fans was Muhammad Haziq Bin Muhammad Alif, 20, with some of his friends from Drumline, a percussion group which performs at games to encourage the team on. He pointed out Rudy Lingganay as his favourite player. “I like the way he plays and his performance on court!”

To travel to Singapore, each of the KL Dragon fan paid 30 ringgit for the coach and ticket, with the KL Dragons helping to organise and subsidize the trip. The KL fans arrived just in time for the game and returned by bus immediately after the game.

“It is out of our love for the game,” Salman quipped when asked why the fans spent the time travelling to Singapore for the basketball match.