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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 5/28/2023 6:47:17 AM

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!

Our boys struggled in offense last Monday as they were served their biggest defeat in a very long time by Bosnia & Herzegovina U21. Almost everyone shot blanks most of the time, as we only hit an abysmal 24% of our field goals, and 6% from 3. Chan Jun Ying was the only one who had an efficient night, hitting 4 of 5 of his shots.

However our boys relentlessly attacked the basket and managed to force our opponents into sending them to the line. It did help, gifting us 21 points from 32 attempts, although I should say our accuracy from the charity stripe can still be improved on.

Kok Loong An once again put up a decent display. Despite his horrible shooting percentage of 14%, he provided hustle on both ends of the floor, ending the game with 10 points and 19 rebounds. Phua De Keong was still plagued by offensive problems which suddenly hit him in the last game, scoring only 1 of 7 and losing the ball 3 times. However he made himself useful on the defense with 2 steals and a block, and also grabbed 11 rebounds. Hopefully this signals the end to his decline.

We will be facing another superior opponent in the form of Ukraine U21 next. Let's hope we can improve on today's game and put up a decent fight.

I've always preached about the importance of game shape, and tonight's game was a testimony to it. Pakistan U21 were visibly superior to us - two 20k players and two other players earning more than 15k... Our highest paid player, Phua De Keong, earns less than 5 of their players. However, we managed to come out tops thanks to our superior game shape. Of course, a tactical masterclass by me saw us go into garbage time after 3 quarters, but it was only possible thanks to their good game shape.

Speaking of tactics, what happened in our last 2 games was part of a much bigger plan which started from the start of the season. After scouting all our opponents, I realized that other than Wales U21, every other team had more quality than us, meaning that on paper, we would only have 1 win. But games aren't won on paper. We were lucky to have a favourable schedule - Ecuador U21 and Pakistan U21, two of the weaker opponents (again not counting Wales U21) were coincidentally scheduled to face us in the last 2 games. This meant 2 things - we could save up our enthusiasm all season long and unleash it on them, and I could also play LI throughout the season to bait Ecuador U21 (which I deemed the stronger of the two) into setting their GDP to counter us (and hopefully also run 2-3).

Sadly, Ukraine U21 put them on alert by hitting us with GDP, which made me decide to not do any post game writeups, as I was hoping no one would notice that and cause Ecuador U21 to expect another offense from us. Sadly they did. If the GDP didn't happen against Ukraine U21, I would have ran reverse patient (which I used tonight) against them then hit Pakistan U21 with RNG. But since they might suspect that I would change up my tactics as a knee jerk reaction to the Ukraine U21 game, I decided to go RNG against them in hopes that they would still run 2-3 despite not going forward with GDP. The move paid off as Xue Xiangjun torched them with 46 points as our boys pulled off a massive win in OT.

Xue was also impressive tonight with 37 points in 28 minutes, shooting 54% from field and 67% from 3. Defense definitely carried us the whole night, as their players dominated the posts to pull down 19 rebounds in our half - there was even one point where they had 6 consecutive possessions, only for it to end in naught. Our boys forced them to turn over the ball (8 steals and causing 14 TOs), swatted away their shots (11 blocks), and forced them to take desperate heaves near the end of the shot clock. We were so dominant that we had to empty our bench for the whole 4th quarter - even then their starters had trouble dealing with our subs.

Well, that spells the end to our journey in the Consolation Tournament. In overall, I am pretty satisfied with our game record. Despite having to call up extra players throughout the season to cover for game shape deficiencies, we still managed to pull through in the end.

Moving forwards, I will begin to scout for next season's squad, as well as keep a few other players on the team as thanks for their services. Let's have fun and enjoy the scrimmages in the coming weeks!