ASEAN Basketball League
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ASEAN Basketball League
Current season or competition: 2012 ABL Regular Season |
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 ABL logo since the 2nd season with AirAsia as the title sponsor. |
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| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country(ies) |  Brunei (on leave) Indonesia Malaysia Philippines (2) Singapore Thailand (2) Vietnam |
| Continent | FIBA Asia (Asia) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Chang Thailand Slammers (1st title) |
| Most titles | Chang Thailand Slammers Philippine Patriots (1 title each) |
| TV partner(s) | 8TV PTV-4, GMA News TV JakTV pan-Asia: ESPN International: GMA News TV |
| Official website | www.ASEANBasketballLeague.com |
The ASEAN Basketball League, often abbreviated to the ABL, is a men's professional basketball league in Southeast Asia. Six clubs from six different countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) competed in the league's 2009 inaugural season.[1] The league was proposed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and launched on October 1, 2009.[1]
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Contents
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History
Formation
Basketball luminaries from 6 ASEAN nations gathered at the Renaissance Hotel, Makati City in Metro Manila, the Philippines on September 1, 2009 to officially begin a new era of Southeast Asian basketball. In addition to the local basketball leagues in their respective countries, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have all contributed to setting up a diverse basketball league with passionate country-to-country rivalries.
Teams that participated in the inaugural season were the Brunei Barracudas, Kuala Lumpur Dragons, Philippine Patriots, SM BritAma, Thailand Tigers and former National Basketball League team, the Singapore Slingers. Mirroring the Euroleague in the west, the ABL has its own set of rules in terms of its roster makeup and salary caps. Teams are permitted two imports of non-ASEAN citizenship, two ASEAN imports, one player with one Southeast Asian parent, and seven local players. Teams are allowed to field a team of all local players if they wish to do so.
League expansion
In the ABL Internship Program Press Conference held on March 11,2011, ABL CEO Kuhan Foo reported that 3 teams are on talks for a possible entry as expansion teams, 2 of them are from the Philippines, one of them is San Miguel Corporation and another a Cebu-based company, the other is from Jakarta, Indonesia.
On July 6, 2011, the well-known PBA team, the San Miguel Beermen will bring their winning tradition to the ABL, when they joined the league in a signing ceremony at the San Miguel Corporation office in Mandaluyong. Bobby Parks has been named as the team's head coach. This will be a different team from the original PBA team that is currently named as the Petron Blaze Boosters.
On August 5, 2011, Bangkok Basketball Holdings joined ABL in a signing ceremony at Golden Tulip Sovereign Hotel, the team is owned by Tom Griffin and Jeffrey Premer. The team will be known as the Bangkok Cobras for the upcoming season.
On September 22, 2011, the Brunei Barracudas has announced that they had bow out of the third season of ABL after participating for 2 seasons. This was stated by Barracudas owner Nadzaty Azma Azeez. No reason was announced on their pull-out.
On October 20, 2011, the Saigon Sports Academy officially announced the participation of SSA Saigon Heat into the third season of ABL, making them the first ever international professional basketball team to represent Vietnam.
League format
ABL announced that the tentative start of Season 3 is on January 2012, this is due to FIBA Asia's calendar of tournaments for 2011 (FIBA Asia Championship 2011 and 2011 Southeast Asian Games). From then on, ABL will start in January and ends in June coinciding with FIBA calendar of tournaments. Prior to the 2012, the season started on October and ended on February.
The league is held via a home and away format; a team will play either 8 or 7 games at home and either 8 or 7 games on the road. Each team faces the other team 2 or 3 times per season; the number rotates every season. At the end of the regular season, the four teams with the best records qualifies for the playoffs. In the best-of-three semifinals, the top 2 seeds will have the home court advantage against the lower seeds and will host the first and third (if necessary) games; the higher-seeded team will possess the home court advantage in the best of three Finals, also hosting the first and third (if necessary) games. On the first season, the finals was in a best-of-five format, with the higher seed hosting the first two and the fifth (if necessary) games.
The champions are supposed to represent the Southeast Asia Basketball Association (SEABA) in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup. However, since the tournament only limits one club per country, the 2010 champions Philippine Patriots were disallowed from participating since the Smart Gilas Philippine team had already qualified. In 2011, the Chang Thailand Slammers were supposed to represent SEABA but the Thailand federation was then suspended by FIBA; this caused the Westports KL Dragons to represent SEABA, as the runner-up Patriots' slot was already taken by Smart Gilas.
Current clubs
| Team | City / Region | Arena (Capacity) | Founded | Joined ABL | Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AirAsia Philippine Patriots |
Metro Manila | San Juan Gym, San Juan (2,000) Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig (3,000) Filoil Flying V Arena, San Juan (5,000) |
2009 | 2009 | Glenn Capacio |
| Bangkok Cobras |
Bangkok | Chulalongkorn University Gymnasium, Bangkok | 2011 | 2012 |  Joe "Jellybean" Bryant |
| Chang Thailand Slammers |
Bangkok | Thai-Japanese Association Gymnasium, Bangkok (6,000) | 2009 | 2009 | Felton Sealey |
| Indonesia Warriors |
Jakarta | The BritAma Arena, North Jakarta (4,000) GOR C-Tra Arena, Bandung (5,000) |
1994 | 2009 | Todd Purves |
| San Miguel Beermen |
Metro Manila | Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig (3,000) | 2011 | 2012 | Bobby Parks |
| SSA Saigon Heat |
Ho Chi Minh City | Tan Binh Stadium | 2011 | 2012 | Jason Rabedeaux |
| JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers |
Singapore | Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore (8,126) | 2006 | 2009 | Beng Siang Neo |
| Westports Malaysia Dragons |
Kuala Lumpur | MABA Stadium, Kuala Lumpur (2,000) | 2009 | 2009 | Ariel Vanguardia |
Former teams
- Brunei Barracudas - Will sit out 2012 season
Champions
The finals was a best-of-5 (2–2–1) series in 2010 and a best-of-3 (1–1–1) series since 2011.
| Season | Finalists | Semifinalists | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Champions | Result | Country | Runners-up | Country | Semifinalist | Country | Semifinalist | |
| 2009–10 | PHI |
Philippine Patriots^ | 3–0 | INA |
Satria Muda BritAma | SIN |
Singapore Slingers | MAS |
Kuala Lumpur Dragons |
| 2010–11 | THA |
Chang Thailand Slammers^ | 2–0 | PHI |
AirAsia Philippine Patriots | MAS |
Westports KL Dragons | SIN |
Singapore Slingers |
| 2012 | |||||||||
- ^ finished regular season with the best win-loss record.
Awards
| Season | Most Valuable Player | Best Import Player | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Player | Team | Nationality | Player | Team | ||
| 2009–10 | THA |
Attaporn Lertmalaiporn | Thailand Tigers | USA |
Jason Dixon | Philippine Patriots | |
| 2010–11 | INA |
Mario Wuysang | SM BritAma | USA |
Nakiea Miller | Westports KL Dragons | |
| 2012 | |||||||
Import players
2012 Season
ASEAN
- Alex Angeles = Chang Thailand Slammers
- Rex Leynes = Chang Thailand Slammers
- Don Dulay = Singapore Slingers
- Christopher Vaughn Canta = Singapore Slingers
- Jerick Cañada = Indonesia Warriors
- Allan Salangsang = Indonesia Warriors
- Stanley Pringle = Indonesia Warriors
- Patrick Cabahug = Westports KL Dragons
- Chris Pacana = Westports KL Dragons
- Nic Belasco = Westports KL Dragons
- John Smith = SSA Saigon Heat
- Robert Sanz = SSA Saigon Heat
Non-ASEAN
- Nakiea Miller = AirAsia Philippine Patriots
- Anthony Johnson = AirAsia Philippine Patriots
- Chris Garnett = Chang Thailand Slammers
- Calvin Williams = Chang Thailand Slammers
- Kyle Jeffers = Singapore Slingers
- Louis Graham = Singapore Slingers
- Steve Thomas = Indonesia Warriors
- Evan Brock = Indonesia Warriors
- Tiras Wade = Westports KL Dragons
- Brian Williams = Westports KL Dragons
- Nick Fazekas = San Miguel Beermen
- Duke Crews = San Miguel Beermen
Travis George = Bangkok Cobras
- Jahmar Thorpe = SSA Saigon Heat
- Jonathan Jones = SSA Saigon Heat
Imports/Players with multiple clubs
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Previous coaches
- ABL Season One
- From Chuck Davisson to Mawinporn Soonpornthont (Thailand Tigers)
- ABL Season Two
- From Geraldo "Bong" Ramos to Ozell Wells (Brunei Barracudas) (before ABL Season Two began)
- From Ozell Wells to Geraldo "Bong" Ramos (Brunei Barracudas)
- From
Frank Arsego to Beng Siang Neo (Singapore Slingers) - From Fictor Roring to Ocky Tamtelahitu (SM BritAma)
- ABL Season Three
- San Miguel Beermen named Bobby Parks as head coach
- SSA Saigon Heat named
Robert Newson as head coach (Before ABL Season 3 began) - Bangkok Cobras hired Joe "Jellybean" Bryant as head coach
- From Raha Mortel to Manit Niyomyindee (Chang Thailand Slammers)
- From Louie Alas to Glenn Capacio (AirAsia Philippine Patriots)
- From Goh Cheng Huat to Ariel Vanguardia (Westports KL Dragons)
- From Ocky Tamtelahitu to Todd Purves (Indonesia Warriors)
- From Robert Newson to Jason Rabedeaux (SSA Saigon Heat)
- From Manit Niyomyindee to Felton Sealey (Chang Thailand Slammers) (during ABL Season 3)
Notable former imports
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Notable domestic players
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Trivias
Sopheoun Oeun became the first ASEAN import who is not Filipino (Some ABL Teams have Filipino players as ASEAN imports),when he suit up for SSA Saigon Heat during ABL Season 3.- Chang Thailand Slammers had the most imports playing in the ABL (USA/ASEAN combined) with 27 (as of 2012 ABL Season).
External links
References
- ^ a b "FIBA Asia – ASEAN Basketball League takes off". FIBA. http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/arti.asp?newsid=29263. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
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