By Jan Lin and Koh Yizhe/Red Sports.
Rumoured to captain the Singapore Slingers, local lad Pathman Matialakan demonstrated his maturity in the Slingers’ final pre-season match against San Miguel Beermen last weekend. (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
Contrary to what the local paper, Today, has reported, there is not a hint of certainty as to who will captain the Singapore Slingers in their first ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) campaign tipping off this weekend.
Straight from the horse’s mouth, Slingers’ head coach, Frank Arsego, insisted that the captaincy decision is far from finalised, while the players responded to the captaincy rumour with bewilderment.
24-year-old local Slinger Hong Wei Jian revealed that he had only learnt about the captaincy decision from the local paper yesterday.
“It was reported in Today. It's Pathman!” Wei Jian shared excitedly about his unorthodox discovery of his team’s captain. “He's a local and he is the longest serving Slinger so it's only fitting.”
But neither Wei Jian nor the rumoured team captain, Pathman Matialakan, was aware of this decision before Today “spilled” the beans.
“I am totally clueless about it! The coach has not said anything to me about it,” remarked Pathman.
The 29-year-old Singaporean added: "But if it is really me, I guess it would be based on seniority and the experience that I have gained with the Slingers. I’m also aware of their vision and we share common ambitions. Choosing a local would also give the club and supporters a sense of belonging as well.”
Pathman has just come off an impressive game last weekend against the San Miguel Beermen scoring 13 points for the team, which placed him the second highest scorer last weekend on par with American import Kyle Jeffers and just one point behind top scorer Michael LeBlanc.
He broke out of a previous game slump, in which he had only two points on two shots and a single rebound, with 13 points and four boards, and attributed it to his teammates and coaching staff for the turnaround.
“Coach and my teammates had a talk with me,” Pathman revealed. “They were concerned with my offense and rebounding, and said that I had to be more assertive and demand the ball.”
That he did to great effect last weekend. Pathman was a vital cog in the wheel, which contributed to the morale-boosting win for the Slingers last week and it would seem that he is but the logical choice to captain the team.
Yet it remains uncertain whether Pathman, who was not in the starting five last weekend, would feature in the starting line-up when the Slingers take on the Brunei Barracudas in their opening ABL match this Sunday.
The Slingers’ Australian head coach, Frank Arsego, who had sung praises of his starting five players of Kyle Jeffers, Michael LeBlanc, Al Vergara, Marcus Ng and Hong Wei Jian, maintained the likelihood of keeping this effective line-up.
“I thought we had a pretty good group that started last Sunday, it gave us a little more court balance within the substitutions, and it just sends a little message to the group that nothing is a certainty,” Arsego said.
He added: “If you are constantly improving and putting pressure on yourself, I would like to be a coach that reward players for their effort. But yes I already have a starting five line-up in my mind. We are pretty organised. I don’t think it would be much different from last Sunday.”
Yet when asked about the decision of the team’s captain for the ABL season, Arsego’s eyes lit up as he responded with a cheeky smile.
“Its a secret,” Arsego said with a sparkle in his eye. “It is only discussed within an inner circle. The players have no clue. No one has a clue about this!”
He then explained: “Because thing is, it has not been decided upon amongst us! We’ve been undecided on this, we had a few possibilities in mind but it just kept changing with various things happening, and we are yet to finalise the decision.”
“But it will be a good choice I can assure you,” he said firmly. “We want to choose the right person to captain the team for the first ABL season, that is very important.”
To thicken the suspense, Arsego concluded with an ever so assuring smile: “We will find out on Sunday. It should come as a surprise.”
“It’s a secret,” Slinger head coach Frank Arsego said with a smile, referring to who would captain the team. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)
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@Bates
Al Vergara cannot be a team captain for the slingers, he is too passive when he is not playing. The team captain must be charismatic both in and out the playing court..
Experience definitely, floor general, no doubt, but from what I see of Al, he’s not a vocal kind of leader, more of a “lead by example” person. Emm, we’ll find out tomorrow I guess
No one can beat Al Vergara in terms of experience and leadership! It should be Al….
Hong Wei Jian’s new mix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX-YyrTJYrY
Pathman’s mix vs San Miguel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeK8529nDO4&feature=related
The Slingers themselves have been calling Pathman “The Indian Chief”. Looks like they really do look to him for his leadership and experience. Really hope that Pathman will be captain.