issue 49 - AsiaLIFE Magazine

The Saigon Heat, the country’s first professional basketball team, is attracting thousands of local fans andbringing a much needed addition to the sports scene in Saigon. By Chris Mueller. Photos by Fred Wissink.About 2,000 fans are ontheir feet as the hometeam gets the reboundand the 2.10m (6ft 9in) centremakes a fast break, beating thedefenders to the other end ofthe court and dunking the ballhome. As the crowd erupts withcheers, it’s hard to believe this isa professional basketball gamein Vietnam, and with a mainlyVietnamese crowd.Basketball has long takenthe back seat to most sportsin Vietnam, with football andvolleyball the more popularoptions. But once you see thereaction of the fans at Tan BinhStadium, it’s clear that basketballis here to stay. The SaigonHeat is Vietnam’s first professionalbasketball team and thenewest club to join the AseanBasketball League (ABL).It’s been a tough season forthe Heat so far, but one that hasled to a perpetually packed-outstadium with excited local fansfilling nearly all of Tan BinhStadium’s 2,300 seats.By the end of March, the Heathad finished over half of theirscheduled games with a weak4-9 record, putting them in lastplace in the eight-team league.The top four teams move to theplayoffs. In February the teamsaw some drastic changes whenthey released their top scorer,former NBA player and ABLleading scorer Julius Hodge,and bumped up Jason Rabedeauxto head coach. Since thenthe team has stabilized.“Every game for us is anenormous challenge,” says Rabedeaux.“We don’t go into anygame as a favourite.”Under ABL rules, teams areallowed two imported playersfrom countries that are notAsean members and most teamsbring in players from the UnitedStates. Teams are also allowed tobring in three more players fromany of the 10 Asean countries.The rest of the players must befrom the team’s home country.There are no rules that say localplayers must be played a certainamount of minutes per game.Technically a team doesn’t haveto play locals at all, but as Rabedeauxsays, “The team wouldhave no depth.”Two Americans and oneAmerican-Filipino lead theHeat’s lineup. Jonathan Jones,from the US state of Georgia isthe team’s leading scorer andis one of the top five scorers,rebounders and blockers in theleague. The newest memberof the Heat is Jahmar Thorpefrom New Jersey, who has beena good addition to the team,28 asialife HCMC