Dragon's positive spin off

2010/02/09

By Devinder Singh

Dragons coach Goh Cheng Huat, who has filled in as national coach for the last one year, believes the intense competition in the ABL was just what the national players needed for their development. KUALA Lumpur Dragons’ run to the Asean Basketball League (ABL) playoffs is expected to have a positive effect on the national men’s team.


“When we started the season, we had 10 locals and two imports which I thought was enough to match the rest of the teams. To my surprise, we were not up to that level and we added three Filipino players to the squad.

“It so happened that with the help of the imports, our locals then showed tremendous improvement.

Only by playing at a high level and getting used to the physical nature of the game can the players improve.

“But while the ABL has really helped, the locals still have a long way to go in improving their skills, game knowledge and physical and mental strengths,” said Cheng Huat after the Dragons ended their season with a 70-65 defeat to Philippine Patriots, who swept the semi-final series 2-0.

Patriots’ Warren Ybanez (right) tries to hold back Dragons’ Rudy Lingganay in their match last week. Patriots won 70-65.

B. Guganeswaran, Loh Shee Fai and Chee Li Wei stepped up at crucial stages during the regular season as the Dragons fought hard to make the playoffs with the aid of American Jamal Brown, Cameroon’s Chris Kuete and Filipinos Rudy Lingganay, Roel Hugnatan and Fadzmir Bandaying.

With the contracts of players and coaches ending this month, the Dragons management has yet to decide who will be retained for next season, which will see the ABL expanded to eight teams with the inclusion of a team from Vietnam and a second club from Indonesia.

The Dragons will hold selection trials in July before the start of the 2010-11 season in October.