| Singapore Slingers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leagues | ABL (2009-present) NBL (2006–2008) |
|||
| Founded | 2006 (NBL) | |||
| History | NBL: Canberra Cannons (1979-2002/03) Hunter Pirates (2003/04-2005/06) Singapore Slingers (2006/07-2007/08) |
|||
| Arena | Singapore Indoor Stadium | |||
| Location | Singapore | |||
| Team colors | Red, White, and Gold |
|||
| President | Bob Turner | |||
| Head coach | Neo Beng Siang | |||
| Championships | {{{championships}}} | |||
| Website | Singapore Slingers | |||
| Uniforms | ||||
|
||||
The Singapore Slingers are an Asian basketball team that formerly competed in the Australian National Basketball League. They were the first - and so far the only - Asia-based club to compete in the NBL when they joined at the start of the 2006/07 season.
In 2008, the club left the NBL and currently compete in the "Singapore Challenge Series". In this series the Slingers compete against a range of teams from the Philippines, China, Indonesia, India and Australia.
The Slingers are one of the inaugural teams that began competition in the ASEAN Basketball League in October 2009. The Slingers play their home games at the Singapore Indoor Stadium (SIS)
Contents |
The franchise was known as the Canberra Cannons from 1979 to 2003, winning 3 championships in 1983, 1984 and 1988. The Cannons began to struggle and relocated to Newcastle for three seasons and were known as the Hunter Pirates for the 03-04, 04-05 and 05-06 seasons. The team again relocated to Singapore before the start of the 2006-07 season. However, they also played occasional home games in Newcastle.
The club was the brainchild of NBL stalwart Bob Turner, the Slingers' CEO. The NBL believed the club would open the league to wider audiences and greater revenue. Due to the distance involved the team agreed to cover all travel costs of teams who played them in Singapore.[1] However, the club had only averaged crowds of only 3500 at its home games during the last season.
The National Basketball League announced on 29 July 2008 that the Singapore Slingers had decided to withdraw from the competition permanently due to the dramatic increase in international travel costs. NBL interim Chief Executive Officer Chuck Harmison said the Slingers had determined the future focus of the team needed to be on participating in competition within its local Asian region, rather than weekly games in Australia and New Zealand. “The Slingers have undertaken a comprehensive internal review of its entire program over the past few months in consultation with its major backer, the Singapore Sports Council,” said Harmison. “The outcome determined that the future of the Slingers lay closer to home, rather than in a league based thousands of kilometres away."[2]
The team participated in the startup of the ASEAN Basketball League[3] which began play in 2009.
| Title | Winners | Runners-up | 3rd Place | 4th Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABL Regular Season | 2009-10 | |||
| ABL Grand Finals | 2009-10 (Semi-Finals) |
| Year | ABL Regular Season Position | ABL Grand Finals Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2009-10 | 2nd Place | Semi-Finals |
| 2010-11 | 4th Place | Semi-Finals |
The Slingers ended the season with a league second best 10-5 win-loss record and a league's best 4-3 away record.
The Slingers lost the semi-finals series 1-2 and were eliminated from the playoffs.
The Slingers ended the season with a league fourth-best 7-8 win-loss record.
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Roster • updated 29 November 2011 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||