Slingers revamp training in bid to halt ABL losing streak

By Les Tan/Red Sports

The Singapore Slingers lost their third straight game against Satria Muda BritAma last weekend in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). This dropped the team to a 5-4 win-loss record and third place in the league standings after a league-leading 4-0 start to the season.

This run of poor results has given Slingers head coach Frank Arsego and assistant coach Neo Beng Siang a lot to think about in terms of their training approach.

“We started changing things after the KL [Dragons] game. We’ve done evaluations, more video analysis. We’ve been trying to simplify things a little bit more. We’re looking at the whole range of things because we have to respond,” said Arsego.

“You got to do something. We’re not changing plays or trying out offenses, but we’re trying to prepare them, their thought processes, how they’re thinking of playing the game of basketball. So we’re working hard on that.”

Starting point guard Al Vergara, who hasn’t been the same since he got injured in the home game against Satria Muda on November 1st, had only three points in the game against Satria Muda, shooting 14% (1/14) from the field and missing all three of his three-point attempts.

With regards to Vergara’s injury, Arsego said: “You can only pass judgment on that through medical evaluation and the athlete himself. As far as we know, it knocked him around a little bit, but at the end of the day, he’s told us he’s ready to go. We haven’t seen anything different in the last two games. So if he’s not up to speed, then it’s not the injury, it’s something else.”

Vergara’s teammate, forward Michael LeBlanc, also had an off day – he missed all 14 of his field goal attempts and was 0 for 4 from three-point range. All of his six points came from the free-throw line. He ended up spending the last six minutes of the fourth quarter on the bench.

Marcus Ng was marginally better with seven points but it was only centre Kyle Jeffers, despite a heavily strapped ankle, who offered an offensive threat, finishing with a game-high 21 points and 16 rebounds.

Arsego had words of praise for the co-captain’s performance.

“Jeffers was fantastic. You wouldn’t have know it (his twisted ankle), would you? He’s still got a slight problem but he’s managing it the best he can. How can someone with three-quarter of a leg, give you the game that he gave, and no one went along with him and supported him? I was pretty fired up after the game when someone like that could do that and the rest couldn’t support him,” said Arsego.

Kyle Jeffers though, was modest about his contributions.

“I don’t think so,” said Jeffers when it was put to him that he had a standout performance for the team. “I shot 40% from the field, 50% from the free-throw line. Defense was ok but it could have been a lot better.”

On the team’s performance, he said: “We didn’t finish the easy opportunities that we had. We had some good opportunities near the basket, all of us, but we just couldn’t. I think we shot 65 times, and we converted 28%. If we had converted 35, 40%, it would have been a different game.

“It’s not like we were missing NBA three-pointers or something like that, or contested shots. Not to mention the times we were under the basket and we turned the ball over without making the right decision. I think the effort was there but we couldn’t get over the edge to convert on our chances,” said Jeffers.

“This is a team game, and we just have to come together as a team. This is not just one thing that is a problem. It’s a mix of issues that we have to deal with. It’s just up and down with different things and so I think it’s something we have to work on in the team and everybody has to rise and get better because everybody else is getting better in the league and that’s the important thing we need to understand,” added Jeffers.

The contributions of the bench – Hong Wei Jian (7 points), Wong Wei Long (4), Desmond Oh (4), Pathman Matialakan (2), Steven Khoo (2) – could not make up the gap.

“This is their first season, especially all the young kids,” said coach Neo, referring to the local boys. “I think they are finding it hard to adapt. Morning, afternoon and night practise, three times a day or maybe twice a day. In their free time, they are supposed to take a rest and recover, get back their energy, but I don’t know what’s happening with their individual programme [on their day off].”

Although some of the boys – Michael Wong and Wong Wei Long – have day jobs, the Slingers are not holding that up as an excuse for their poor run of form.

Said coach Neo, “If you want to, you can say ‘I have work, I have to come for practise and next day, early in the morning, I have to go back to work again. But I think you can fix your schedule.”

Fitness is also not an issue, with the local Slinger boys passing the Yo-Yo fitness test with flying colours.

“Desmond Ho broke the Singapore record running the Yo Yo Test (also known as the Beep Test). Wei Long is good as well, just a couple of laps behind him. All the Singapore boys did well in that. So fitness wise, there should not be a problem,” said Neo.

The coaching staff are looking at the prospect of the long Christmas break with mixed feelings. After their game against the Tigers on Thursday, December 17th, they don’t play again until January 6th against the Philippine Patriots.

Said Arsego: “Probably the worst thing to happen is the long break between the Thailand [Tigers] game and the Philippine [Patriots] game. Everyone is in the same boat. The season has this little recess. Good or bad? Don’t know. Can they come back stimulated and their minds fresh? That would be fantastic.

“Will they come back still carrying the burdens of other issues? We won’t know until we meet. But when they come back, it won’t be the same programme. It will be different.”

The local boys still have a lot to learn about making in game decisions, according to coach Neo.

“In the game, decision making is important for our local boys. In yesterday’s game [against Satria Muda], [Hong] Wei Jian and Desmond [Oh], they had a couple of open shots. It comes back to the decision that they make – whether they will take the open shot or are they going to drive in?

“They make a couple of turnovers and that’s it. It comes down to the decisions they make. They want to score but they don’t feel confident [enough] to take the open shot. I think they are trying too hard to perform. They want to prove they can play well but they don’t,” said Neo.

The game against the bottom-dwelling Thailand Tigers now takes on a lot of significance for the Slingers, noted Arsego.

“I think the game on Thursday [against the Thailand Tigers] is going to have a big bearing on how the future goes for us through to the end of the season,” said Arsego.

Echoing probably what every coach in the world feels when watching their team from the sidelines, Arsego said: “Now coach Neo and I, we can’t shoot the ball. We can’t shoot the free throws, we can’t take the lay up, we can’t take the open three. That’s their job.”

Singapore Slingers 2009/10 ABL schedule