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We kicked off the season with 8 players! Surprisingly, our boys beat Tunisia U21 after falling to a 12 point deficit in the first half. Phua Tse Heng was amazing in his debut, hitting 4 of his 5 three point attempts to score a game high 32 points. He also contributed with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Tan Yeng Shi had an equally good debut as well, with a statline of 27 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. He was also amazing at drawing fouls and making the opponents pay for that, as he hit all of his 12 free throws. Nathan Macklin and Phua De Keong also put on an impressive display, with the former finishing the game with a stat line of 22 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, while the latter had a fantastic 11 point 12 rebound double-double.

That said, our squad isn't exactly finalized yet, and I am looking to bring in a couple more players by this Saturday. That said, here is the provisional squad:

Back Court
Phua Tse Heng - Is he a sharpshooting guard or a utility man like Fong Kum Hui? Well, his box score in the last game seem to think it's the first. That said it will be interesting how he performs in future seasons.
Enamul Morshed - Dude's luck is forever bad. After falling into an inactive team, he got KOed in tonight's match and was forced to leave the game. Let's hope his luck gets better from here on.
Chang Jun Ying - He was supposed to be the 6th man, but torrid shooting seemed to plague him tonight. Yes, he scored double digits, but it was off a 30/10/50 split. That said, who knows, he might just be warming up. He featured for us prominently (12 games) last season, so expect him to be involved a lot.
Tan Yeng Shi - Is he Ang An Da's successor? Well, he looks promising.
Abdur-Razzaq Jalil - don't expect much from him really. He's not entirely ready, but pretty well balanced, which made me rate him over several richer players.

Front Court
Nathan Macklin - He's a ruthless scorer, watch him terrorize defenses again this year. Sadly, he only joined the team late last season, so if he wants to get on the all-time charts, he'd need to score another 300 points. Is that easy? For comparison, that's actually good for 2nd most points scored in a season.
Sim De Lai - This dude's a Montrezl Harrell. Undersized bigman. Don't underestimate him tho.
Phua De Keong - Last but not least, our most expensive player: Phua De Keong! I've been watching him closely since he got drafted, and oh boy he sure grew up well. He featured prominently in our matches last season (mostly as a sub) but never grabbed double digit rebounds before. Today, he picked up 12 rebounds - 1/3 of the amount he hit last season. Will he break the all-time rebounding list? Well, he'll need to hit triple digits in each of the next two seasons for that.

I'll be looking into bringing in several more players, with one of them being Kok Long An. I've finally got his manager to BB-Mail me, but let's see if he improves in game shape.

Last edited by BuzzRBeater at 05/22/2023 11:37:41

All the best!

Thanks! We don't have a clear cut star this season, so it looks like everyone has to pull their weight. Let's hope things go smoothly!

The enthusiasm reset has happened and our squad is finalized! The first training update didn't go too well. We have 3 players who overplayed - Tan Yeng Shi, Phua Tse Heng, and Sim De Lai. Kok Long An also overplayed - the manager tried to control his minutes by playing him as a sub in game 3, but he still broke 80 minutes. So with 4 players out - we brought in a few new faces to cover the gaps:

Xue Xiangjun - possibly the second coming of Fong Li Kum, but with his current training plans, I'm confident that he will develop into something more (at least at U21 level).

Loh Ah Heng - he is what I would call... The stereotypical Singapore U21 wingman - he's built exactly the way most of our wingmen are built as for the past two seasons. Brings nothing new, but solidifies our strengths and depth.

Loo Rong Liang and Li Wai Soon - remember me talking about our lack in post players because every MVP or higher potential player trains 1 on 1? Well these two (along with Phua De Keong) are the products of my efforts to solve the problem. As I only started it recently, these players are just 19 years old. Which means if everything goes according to plan, we have two solid post players for the next 3 seasons (and 3 of them for the next two seasons if we count Phua).

Well, we might not have our talismanic playmaker like Ang An Da and Wan Tong Lai, or our star bigman like Chua How Feng or Yang Keng Tze, but at least we have a squad of dependable players who are ready to step up when needed. Let's hope everything goes well!

all the key player left.. :(

Last edited by LDS at 05/28/2023 06:47:17

Our shorthanded boys fell to a 93-110 loss against Scotland U21 last night. They left us in the dust early on, and we couldn't claw back in the second.

Nathan Macklin had a great game, shooting 52% from field and 60% from 3 to finish the game with a 25 point 11 rebounds double-double. Enamul Morshed also had an impressive performance, scoring 25 points on 50% shooting. Phua De Keong was his usual reliant self, posting a 14 point 12 rebound double-double. He also dished out 6 assists. Would he transform into our Nikola Jokic and lead us to some wins?

We will be playing Wales U21 next. Stay tuned for more action!

We picked up a comfortable win against Wales U21 tonight. Superb defensive plays in the second and third quarter ensured that we left them in the dust - even a late rally by our opponents did little to threaten the deficit.

Phua De Keong was the hero of the night, scoring 23 points from 75% shot accuracy. He terrorized the post all night long, drawing tons of fouls in the process. However, he only hit half of his 10 free throw attempts. He was also just 1 rebound short of getting a double-double. While Phua was busy attacking the basket, Li Wai Soon backed him up by picking up 15 rebounds - 4 on the opponent's side. He also barely missed out on a double-double, as he only managed to hit 8 points. Seeing both of them duking it out in the post makes me excited of what's gonna come in these two seasons.

Our boys also put up a collective effort on offense, moving and distributing the ball well. Almost 2 thirds of our shots were assisted, and 3 of our 5 starters had at least 4 assists. Looks like they can all work together even without a dominant playmaker.

Our next match will be a tough one - Iceland U21. Let's hope our boys keep up the great work!

Failure to close out the game cost us this morning in a loss against Iceland U21. Our boys picked up a slim lead in the 1st and held it all the way heading into the final quarter, but I guess it was just too much for them.

This game marked the return of Tan Yeng Shi after he struggled with game shape early on in the season. He put up a decent display of 10 points and 7 assists, shooting 5 of 9 from inside the arc. However his outside shooting abandoned him completely as he missed all of his 5 shots from downtown. Even then, it was a pretty decent performance given how badly our team shot in this game. That said, Xue Xiangjun seemed like the only person having a decent time at the bucket, and our boys took advantage of that to run the offense through him. He scored a team high 28 points on 48% shooting, hitting half of his 3 pointers. Phua De Keong was his usual solid self as he picked up a 12 point 15 rebound double-double.

Our next game is against Portugal U21, who are hot favourites to win. Let's hope for a good game!

Let go! Phua De Keong looks like a solid monster

Yes indeed. He's trained locally by Changi Muscle Ball too! Maybe he is trying to emulate Jokic xD

Tonight's game saw Kok Loong An make a return to the U21! I managed to get his manager to play him for only 2 games per week, so he has finally improved in GS! Despite the loss, which was expected, he put up some pretty decent numbers, almost getting a double-double with 17 point 9 rebound effort. He forced his way to the line a few times by bullying opposite number Roberto Queirós, who had trouble keeping Kok in check. Xue Xiangjun followed up with his impressive performance in the last match with another impressive performance, once again leading our team with 22 points. He was also one rebound short of a double double and was aggressive on the offensive boards. Nathan Maclin also did pretty well, putting up an efficient game, hitting 50% of his field goals for 15 points.

It was great to see them stepping up in place of Phua De Keong, who, after an impressive run, suddenly fell flat and hit 13% of his shots. Missing even easy dunks and open shots under the basket. Ironically, he has the best game shape in the team. That said, he did pick up a couple of blocks and contribute on the defensive end.

Our next game will be against Bosnia & Herzegovina U21. It won't be any different from tonight's match tho. Stay tuned for more action!