Michael Johnson is excited about the prospect of the ASEAN Basketball League tipping off in less than two months’ time.

By Vincent Lai

The Singapore Slingers general manager was on hand to co-host the Lion City's only pro basketball team's pre-season event with CEO Bob Turner and said that the September 1 launch of the Southeast Asian tournament was the culmination of a long-standing dream.

"This year's [rally] is most probably the most exciting of the three because we're letting people know about the ASEAN League," said Johnson during the event. "This as our goal when we first came here, Singapore didn't have a competition for a pro team to play in, the Australian NBL was the first platform, to get a team established, and the Slingers brand established."

"We initially hoped that in five years that we would have had an ASEAN League, but we've managed to do it in three, so we're excited about that, and it's an opportunity for the young guys to play, for the local kids to play, and I think it going to be a fun year for the Singapore Slingers."

The Slingers' GM did concede that the league would not be at its best at the get-go, and would need time for it to hit its stride and rival the competitions around the Asian region.

"The NBL (Australia's National Basketball League) to the ABL will be a slight standard drop," continued Johnson. "The Australian League has been around for thirty years, it's been a pro league for the best part of 20 years, and Australia's league is ranked in the top ten of the world."

"The ASEAN League is a new league. Having said that, I've seen a lot of the talent in the region; in the ASEAN countries and they have some very, very good players. And what they probably lack, which the Australian League has, is the day-to-day professionalism; being able to concentrate on practicing, and also playing tough international competition on a week-to-week basis in a pro competition."

"So that's what the ASEAN League will be for these kids; the local guys, and I think their standards will raise dramatically."

When asked about who Singaporeans should look out for when the exhibition season gets underway before the official start of the ABL, Johnson was rather hesitant at first, but did reveal two players that the Republic could be proud of.

"I don't really like to point out guys because it puts pressure on them, but the guy I'm looking forward to seeing is [Hong] Wei Jian," said Johnson. "He's an explosive, athletic player. Very, very young, has raw talent, and he'll do a spectacular play and then a spectacularly bad play. He'll need to find that happy medium."

"I'm also looking forward to see [center] Pathman Matialakan play this year. He's been with the program for three years, and he's steadily improved. The last six to eight months, when we played the Challenge Series, he got to play a lot more. His improvement's been dramatic. He's worked hard this offseason, so, I'm really looking forward to him and seeing his evolvement in this new league."