NBL Season Tips-Off

The National Basketball League (NBL) welcomes its first-ever Asian team to the Philips Championship when the 2006/07 regular season tips-off tonight.

The Singapore Slingers have been given the honour of opening the new Philips Championship season when they host Brett Maher and the Adelaide 36ers at the Singapore Indoor Stadium tonight at 8:00pm local Singapore time.

Placing a team in Asia is a big step for the Philips Championship, but it has already started to pay dividends with the announcement today of a television deal with Singaporean cable network, StarHub.

Whilst the Slingers will be debuting as a team tonight, they have plenty of NBL playing and coaching experience on their roster. They will be coached by former West Sydney mentor Gordie McLeod, whose experience in helping coach the Razorbacks in their debut season back in 1998 should be a major asset for the fledgling franchise.

McLeod told media on Tuesday that establishing a team from scratch in the Lion City was a very different prospect to what he had faced with West Sydney.

"This has been a lot ... a lot different to getting the West Sydney Razorbacks up and running," McLeod said on the eve of tonight's historic tip-off against the Adelaide 36ers,” McLeod told the Australian’s Peter Kogoy.

"Adjustments have had to be made.”

"We've all been on a sharp learning curve having to adjust to living in a bustling, vibrant Asian city like Singapore.”

"But it is all part of the joy of what we do.”

"The hurdles we've had to overcome in working at the coal face in Singapore in establishing a basketball environment has been a challenge.”

"But I believe we will be competitive from the get-go, otherwise I wouldn't have taken on the job in the first place."

On the floor, McLeod’s Slingers boast a talented and experienced line-up that includes exciting import Mike Helms, floor veteran floor general Brad Davidson, the mercurial Aaron Trahair and one of the best front-lines in the league in the form of Ben Knight, Pero Vasiljevic, Ben Melmeth and Larry Davidson. Whilst Vasiljevic will miss the opening match due to a knee injury, debutante import forward Marquin Chandler will bolster the Slingers in the paint and should be a player to watch.

Despite having to educate the Singaporean public as to what the Slingers are all about, early estimates have suggested a strong crowd of around 6,000 will attend tonight’s season opener.

"There is a real buzz about having the first professional team playing on a regular basis outside this city, state, nation," Slingers Managing Director BobTurner told The Australian.

"This is a story not just for Australian sport, but for Singapore, the national league and basketball's controlling body FIBA."

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