Vietnam's representative in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), SaigonHeat, seems to have found the right blend of local and foreign playersto reach the play-off stage for the first time.
The team had aperfect start to the season with a convincing 72-56 victory over lastyear's runner-up Indonesia Warriors in the opening match on their newhome ground at the Canadian International School in District 7.
Americancoach Jason Rabedeaux said the win was not a fluke and that he and theclub's president Connor Nguyen had built a good team with the ability toreach the last four.
"We started with the players that we havebuilt the team with, beginning with Vietnamese players, who have beenpractising together for the past six months. Then we worked to puttogether the best collection of imports that we could — Americans,Filipinos, Vietnamese Americans and local players," Rabedeaux toldVietnam News during the team's training on July 22 night.
"Wethink we have done that and we have a really solid group. We played wellSaturday and we looked at the videotape and there are still many thingswe can get better at," Rabedeaux said.
With a mediocre record inthe last two seasons, finishing sixth in the first and bottom in thethird, there's still doubt about the Vietnamese side's ability, butRabedeaux insists that he has a team that is different from those of thelast two years and is confident that it has the capability to maintainits winning streak and reach its goal at the end of the season.
"Wecan [reach the play-off] if two things happen. One, if we continue tostay healthy and second, if we continue to improve and maintain a veryaggressive and positive attitude throughout our posts," the Americansaid.
Of two world imports, Justin Williams and Dustin Scott,Dustin put up a decent performance in the opening game but Justin was alittle bit disappointing.
Rabedeaux said that Justin was a bitrusty and had not played as much as Dustin, who has just come out of aleague in New Zealand, but he believes Justin will soon regain his formwith practice.
Vietnamese players made a modest contribution to the opening win and they admitted that they needed to improve themselves.
"Wehave not been good enough to earn trust from the coach, but we areworking hard to improve ourselves to get on court as much as possible,"Phan Tran Man, the best local player on Saturday (July 22), said.
Theteam has also recruited two good regional players, Froilan Baguion andLeonidez Avenido, both Filipinos. Their ability and experience in theleague has earned them a great deal of respect from the coach. Theydisplayed a strong performance in the opening game.
"They are very smart, very quick. They understand the game and understand the league," Rabedeaux said.-VNA
The team had aperfect start to the season with a convincing 72-56 victory over lastyear's runner-up Indonesia Warriors in the opening match on their newhome ground at the Canadian International School in District 7.
Americancoach Jason Rabedeaux said the win was not a fluke and that he and theclub's president Connor Nguyen had built a good team with the ability toreach the last four.
"We started with the players that we havebuilt the team with, beginning with Vietnamese players, who have beenpractising together for the past six months. Then we worked to puttogether the best collection of imports that we could — Americans,Filipinos, Vietnamese Americans and local players," Rabedeaux toldVietnam News during the team's training on July 22 night.
"Wethink we have done that and we have a really solid group. We played wellSaturday and we looked at the videotape and there are still many thingswe can get better at," Rabedeaux said.
With a mediocre record inthe last two seasons, finishing sixth in the first and bottom in thethird, there's still doubt about the Vietnamese side's ability, butRabedeaux insists that he has a team that is different from those of thelast two years and is confident that it has the capability to maintainits winning streak and reach its goal at the end of the season.
"Wecan [reach the play-off] if two things happen. One, if we continue tostay healthy and second, if we continue to improve and maintain a veryaggressive and positive attitude throughout our posts," the Americansaid.
Of two world imports, Justin Williams and Dustin Scott,Dustin put up a decent performance in the opening game but Justin was alittle bit disappointing.
Rabedeaux said that Justin was a bitrusty and had not played as much as Dustin, who has just come out of aleague in New Zealand, but he believes Justin will soon regain his formwith practice.
Vietnamese players made a modest contribution to the opening win and they admitted that they needed to improve themselves.
"Wehave not been good enough to earn trust from the coach, but we areworking hard to improve ourselves to get on court as much as possible,"Phan Tran Man, the best local player on Saturday (July 22), said.
Theteam has also recruited two good regional players, Froilan Baguion andLeonidez Avenido, both Filipinos. Their ability and experience in theleague has earned them a great deal of respect from the coach. Theydisplayed a strong performance in the opening game.
"They are very smart, very quick. They understand the game and understand the league," Rabedeaux said.-VNA
