Mike’s Back

And then there were ten….. Almost a roster! Back in the warmth of Singapore Mike Helms arrived this week to commence training with the Slingers. Looking at his 6 foot 1 frame this year round he looks like he has found a few pounds in his time not playing. As stealthy as he is, he still has his explosive prowess around the basket.

Seeing the group training together gives the feeling of a very interesting season ahead. A young group, but a immensely talented group this new batch of Slingers has the potential to mix it with the very best the NBL can throw at them.

Again there will be a dynamic duo of import in Mike Helms and Rod Grizzard a much more formidable pairing compared to last season’s duo in Chandler and Helms. Look to see Grizzard handle the ball this season too as the 203cm frame has the versatility that will prove to be a hard defensive assignment.

A welcome addition to the group and court general for the Singapore National Team is Michael Wong. Making the adjustment to banging away with the big boys has been no problem for Michael. Just in training he has shown he can step up and it will be an interesting season for him as he will get to refine his skills even further.

More to come……

Our Team, Our players, Our Pride.

The Season Ahead….

Well back again after a long absence.

Finally after months of not knowing, the Slingers are glimpsing the first ray of light shining though what was turning out to be the long dark tunnel of the off-season. Going up against challenges seem to be the norm for the NBL’s only asian-based team and moving into the second season has shown no sign of smooth sailing.

For now the Slingers are full steam ahead and working towards making an impact in their second season in the Australian National Basketball League.

With the roster still being finalized the Slingers are shaping up to be as competitive if not better than last season. With the likely return of All-star Mike Helms and the possible addition of a second round NBA draft pick the Slingers should have the firepower to match any offensive package the league has to offer. Not to mention the day in day out, grinding away, work ethic of Ben Knight and the addition of a few familiar faces the Slingers should be on track to make a solid stand this season.

Travelling to Brunei to the 7th annual Brunei Cup invitational, the Slingers will have the least amount of pre-season training than any other team. The nine day tournament will give the team some much needed game play and provide a good platform for the new group to feel each other out and gel as a cohesive unit.

With head coach Gordon Mcleod away on Australian National Team duties and the loss of Dean Vickerman to New Zealand, Assistant Coach Neo Beng Siang will be stepping up to fill the role with NBL Hall of Famer Michael Johnson backing him up.

Traveling on 13 separate trips last year the team struggled to gain some sort of consistency whilst on the road. Showing promise this season with only 8 road trips gives the team less of the long hauls between Singapore and Australia or Singapore and New Zealand. We’ll only have to wait and see if this has an impact on improving the Slingers poor road record.

The next couple of weeks will see some interesting announcements from the Slingers camp as the final touches get put on a roster set to compete in the 2007/08 NBL Championship.

Our Team, Our Players, Our Pride.

Sling City

It has been a season of firsts for the NBL’s newest team. Having faced the toughest schedule a team has ever had to face the Slingers have come up trumps winning the two crucial games on the road. Struggling all season to post a good away record the Slingers have won just four games on the road. 3 games 4 days: This is the second time the Slingers have had such a tight trip an both times the Slingers have come out on top. Going 2 and 1 in their first outing and now an impressive 3 straight. For any player blaming travel on their performance, think again. The benchmark has been set.

With Marquin suffering potentially a season ending knee injury, the Slingers have shown no signs of destraction. If anything there has been signs of focus and commitment as the players have pulled together with players like Aaron Trahair stepping up to take some of the load. You may ask yourself, “where has this form been?” A 14 year veteran of the league that clearly has a few more seasons left in him. Possibly the best passer on the team, guys like Aaron now need to consistantly step up and show their experience.

Combine this firepower with the rebounding machine Ben Knight and the explosive finesse of Mike Helms the Slingers position themselves for some surprising upsets.

The Brisbane Bullets have been the team to beat this season as they have gone a phenomenal 15 games straght without a blemish. It is now time for the League leaders to make the trip to the Lion City. Taking recent form into account the Slingers are of great chance to cause an upset and show the Bullets that Slingapore is a force to reckon with.  

Time for the playoffs….

Our Team, Our Players, Our Pride.

SLINGERS CREATE HISTORY FOR SINGAPORE

NBL LEADERS BRISBANE NEXT – WEDNESDAY, February 7th -
SINGAPORE INDOOR STADIUM 

The Singapore Slingers have created history to reach the Philips Championship playoffs in their first season by defeating Adelaide at home on Wednesday 105-100, Wollongong on the road last night 96-93, and tonight the South Dragons in
Melbourne 114-100, to solidify their position in the top 8 with two regular season games to go.  Making the task even more remarkable is the fact the Slingers pulled off the three wins without the services of second leading scorer and key import Marquin Chandler, 19.1 points per game, who injured his knee in the opening game of the series and did not travel with the team on the road.  Aaron Trahair has been the ‘Man of the Moment’ to score 27 points against Adelaide, 19 against Wollongong including the game winning shot, and 28 points against the Dragons to celebrate his 31^st birthday in style.   One of the most traveled teams in world sport today, the Singapore Slingers showed no signs of fatigue as they gained in strength over the four days to totally dominate the South Dragons tonight in
Melbourne.  Trahair led all scorers but he was well supported by Ben Melmeth, Ben Knight and Mike Helms who all collected 19 points each.  Larry Davidson added 12 points while Brad Davidson controlled the flow of play with 12 assists.  Leading 59-58 at the half time break, there were six lead changes in the early part of the third stanza, until the Slingers surged to a 92-78 advantage at the last change and denied the Dragons from staging any sort of comeback in the fourth quarter.  The Slingers showed few ill-effects from their gutsy victory over
Wollongong the night before and played some outstanding second-half defence to suffocate the Dragons and pick up the victory. 

Singapore host the League leading Brisbane Bullets in their last regular season home game on Wednesday, February 7^th at the
Singapore Indoor Stadium.  The Bullets have defeated the Slingers in both previous encounters but with the confidence
Singapore are showing at the moment the Indoor Stadium will be rocking on Wednesday night.  Game time is 8pm. Slingers coach Gordon McLeod was delighted to be in the final, particularly after a tough final month of the season and with the injury to import Marquin Chandler.  “We’re so pleased about what we’ve been able to achieve. We’ve had to come a long way in a very short time,” McLeod said.  The Singapore Slingers had a horrendous schedule in January with ten games, five at home and five on the road, averaging a game every three days.  “The association and expertise of the Singapore Sports Council High Performance Team has certainly made a difference to our travel schedule and coupled with the commitment of the players it has been a phenomenal achievement to reach the playoffs in less than seven months of operation” stated Coach McLeod.  “We look forward to Brisbane on Wednesday at home and hope that
Singapore backs the Slingers like they have done recently with the Singapore Lions.  The guys truly deserve it,” added Mcleod.

Can’t beat the Heat!

It has been rumoured that the Singapore Indoor Stadium is a formidable challenge to any opposing team. The Sydney Kings showed that it’s not just a physical game but mentally it takes a little bit extra to compete in the Island Nation.

3 time NBL Champions the Sydney Firepower Kings left their guard down as they let the humid conditions disrupt their preparations. Trading blows each time down the floor the visitors would never see the lead the entire game. Singapore would emerge victorious in what would become the Slingers most satisfying win of the season.

Now with two days in the Queensland tropics the Slingers have dispatched the Cairns Taipans in an effort to go two straight on the road.

Two days after their motivating win over the Kings the Slingers only gave up a one point lead to the hometown Cairns team late in the third quarter. Fighting back quickly they took control and re-established the lead to emerge victorious by twelve points.

Moving to Townsville now, Saturday will see Singapore play their third game in four days. Home of the fouth placed Townville Crocodiles the Slingers will attempt to take the series win 2-1 as they complete their Queensland roadtrip.

Being a familiar roadtrip to Mike Helms, Singapore’s import guard will be a concern to the hosts. This trip last season Mike took weekly honours and was awarded player of the round as he scored a game high 42 points against the Crocs.

The Slingers have now moved into eight spot, giving the team a realistic glimpse of the playoffs.  Two big games for the NBL’s newest team to watch is the Hawks V Crocs and the Breakers V 36ers. Both the 36ers and the Hawks will be competing along with the Slingers for that vital playoff position.

Bringing home the ‘w’ tomorrow night will place the Slingers two games clear of both 36ers and Hawks going into round 18. With just four rounds left after Townsville the Slingers play top eight teams 5 time out of their remaining eight games.

The challenge is on to to take the Island Nation to the big dance.

 Our Team, Our Players, our Pride.  

Slingers Come Up Short.

Two straight is all the Slingers could manage as the 36ers put an end to the Singapore’s winning ways. Being a team that struggled to find their rhythm earlier in the season Adelaide have recently found form and managed to lead from the onset causing Singapore to mount a late comeback which would prove to difficult to overcome.

Posting 25 for a game high, Brett Maher lead the visitors to the victory. Having a quiet night on the court both Marquin and Mike managed to sneak in 20 points each but it still wasn’t enough to come away with the ‘w’.

Looking at the stats for the game you could almost mistake it for a different outcome as the Slingers out shot out rebounded and the hosts. The telling factor was the urgency to take care of the ball. With a total of 8 turnovers for the game the Adelaide 36ers would narrowly escape with the upset as the visiting Slingers’ total was 15 for the match.

Next stop is West Sydney as the Indoor Stadium will play host to an improving squad of Razorbacks. Again this will be a tough match as West Sydney, sitting dead last on the ladder will have nothing to lose and will come out firing on all cylinders.

Time to Shine.

Looking like a different team the Slingers put on a display unseen to the Singapore Indoor Stadium crowd this season. A sense of cohesion seemed to surround the Slingers as they marched off to a seventeen point lead at the first break. Another milestone was reached as the Slingers and Breakers hosted the first non-Australian clash of the NBL’s history and both teams were up for the challenge. Top scorers for the Breakers was Carlos Powell as he posted 43 for the match and a game high scoring record. Fortunately the Breakers could not stop the onslaught of well executed offence as the Slingers showed that they would not be intimidated and took command for the get go.

 Marquin Chandler and his recently found form was unstoppable. The Slingers swingman backed up his player of the week honours and showed the Singapore crowd what they missed out on just three days prior.

After beating Wollongong on the road the Slingers put themselves in a must win situation against the Breakers. New Zealand are a strong team in their home arena as they sit in playoff postion but are comparable to Singapore on the road as they have struggled to find their footing posting 1 win and 6 losses.

Likewise for Singapore this game was about pushing for that playoff birth. A win was not good enough. For the basketball fans it was about how the Slingers were going to win.

Showing their potential, the Slingers gave the home town fans a glimpse of what could be a season turn-around. Both Mike Helms and Marquin were instumental in this team win. With the imports playing well, enables the defence to be drawn out creating easy opportunities for the big guys. This also allows good open looks for the long range specialists which have up until now been under-performing.

All of a sudden the League’s smallest team is now showing that they can work together and the results follow. The focus now centres on Adelaide who after struggling the past few games have now strung two wins together including a win on the road against 3rd placed Sydney Kings. Losing the inaugural opener to the Slingers, the 36ers will look to even up the club series and deny Singapore a third straight win.

Our Team, Our Players, Our Pride.

100 for Coach Mcleod.

Gaining his 100th win as Head Coach Gordie Mcleod can be pleased with his teams effort last night at the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong. A game that has been in the making all season, showed the true potential of a team that has recently broken a five game losing streak.

 Beating Wollongong in Wollongong is a tough ask and they have been a top team in the league for some time now. Combining for 46 of the Slingers’ total Marquin Chandler and Mike Helms showed that they can be the import combination that was so eagerly speculated about earlier in the season. Brad Davidson outdid himself as he posted 20 points 10 rebounds and 6 dimes. 

Having two imports which can get to the hoop as good as anyone in the NBL poses the new question now… consistancy! Can this pair work together night in and night out drawing the biggest defensive asignments in the League? If so it opens the court for everyone else to step up and show their potential. As a team the Slingers have under-performed and as individuals i believe it may have sunk in that in order to achieve each player needs to look at themselves and work on each aspect that has made them better players in recent seasons.

 Following the upset in Wollongong, the focus now turns to New Zealand in what will be a must win home game Wednesday night at the Indoor Stadium. The NZ Breakers are coming off a loss to Perth. They head into one of the toughest road trips in the regular season as they will be in Singapore on Wednesday then travel to Melbourne to take on the Dragons and then the Tigers.

With the 26 point upset in Wollongong the Slingers have the potential for a mid-season swing in fortune setting themselves up for a string of wins. The key here is to go out all guns blazing, for Wednesday could very well be the biggest game of the season for the Slingers so far. With the numbers on paper it is no doubt the team packs a punch… it is now a time for consistancy!

Our Team, Our Players, Our Pride.

If a tree falls in the woods…

Here is the conundrum… If an All-Star is carving up the rest of the league all season long but there is no one there to see him, is he still an All-Star? You bet he is! But that is the problem Singapore’s very own 2006 NBL All-Star, Mike Helms is facing. Undoubtedly one of the most talented imports to grace the courts of the NBL this side of the millenium, Mike Helms has been single-handedly causing headaches for every opposing coach the Singapore Slingers have faced. Quite simply, there is no player in the league that can stop him. Averaging 22.8ppg, Mike has proved he has it all. Hops: he can sky with the best of them (refer to pic). Shot: he can shoot the 3 with deadly accuracy. Speed: He can blow past his defender with ease. And finally and probably most importantly: He has the ‘fro. All this lead to Mike being a unanimous selection as a World All-Star in the annual 2006/07 NBL All-Star game to be played in Adelaide, Australia on the 25th November 2006. Yet still there are many in the Singaporean basketball community that do not know who Mike Helms is? Now there are many reason why this could be. And I am not even going to touch on this long-winded saga, but what is clearly apparent is the fact that Mike Helms is the best basketball player in Singapore. Watching Mike Helms totally dominate on the basketball court is like watching Tiger Woods dominate the golf course, David Beckham dominate on the football field or Fernando Alonso dominate on the race track. The only difference is, the Singaporean public can watch Mike Helms dominate his sport live at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, unlike the other 3 examples, who will probably never ever enter Singapore to showcase their talents. Dont believe me Mike Helms is the best player in Singapore? Check him out… The next Singapore Slingers match on the 13th December 2006 is against the New Zealand Breakers, a team sporting their very own All-Star in Carlos Powell, the most explosive power forward in the league at the moment and Brian Wethers, a former league scoring leader. The Breakers look like they will be the team fighting hardest to keep the Singapore Slingers from reaching the playoffs in the first year in the league, so this match-up will be one that will go down to the wire. This will be yet another opportunity for the Singaporean community to witness the phenom called Mike Helms.

No longer the ‘Hammer’ but now the Axe

Coach killer Shane Heal formally known as the ‘Hammer’  has now axed his way through another tribunal hearing. After dicing his way through All-Star NBA player Mark Price, Shane Heal has moved back into a familiar role in the NBL - being a trouble maker. With enough coaching time under his belt equivalant to the broad range of non-EPL related sport programs in Singapore the newest player/coach in the NBL has gone out and decided to set another great example for his team the South Dragons.

Firstly - if you don’t like a guy (especially if he’s acomplished 100 times more than you as a player) ,  don’t fight it, take his job!

Secondly - If your team can’t get their shit together, why not start a fight?

And finally - Don’t worry about any tribunal hearings because we’ve got rules for this and we won’t tolerate it.

The following is partly from www.nbl.com.au in regards to the Shane Heal - Sam Mackinnon on court incident at the Vodafone Arena Melbourne  

And of course the opinions expressed are solely those of the author and in no way represent those of the National Basketball League.

“given his (the Axe’s) previous record in appearing before the Tribunal (we know you’re a pain in the ass but we know how to deal with your shit now) and his being marginally more(you started it again) responsible for what happened on the floor - fined $1,000.

 $1000 bucks for a repeat offender. please. suppose it’s a better look than suspending a player/coach for the first time.

Keep up the good work coach!