Saigon Heat
The Saigon Heat is a Vietnamese professional basketball team based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Since the 2014 season, the Heat's home games are played at the CIS Arena on the campus of the Canadian International School in District 7. This is the first professional basketball team based in Vietnam.[1]
| Saigon Heat | |||
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 2023 Saigon Heat season | |||
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| Leagues | ASEAN Basketball League | ||
| Founded | 2011 | ||
| Arena | CIS Arena | ||
| Capacity | 1,300 | ||
| Location | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | ||
| Team colours | Red, Yellow, Black | ||
| President |  Connor Nguyen | ||
| Head coach |  Matthew Van Pelt | ||
| Website | saigonheat | ||
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| Active teams of Saigon Heat | ||
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| ABL | VBA | |
The Heat also operates a developmental team that plays in the Vietnam Basketball Association, Vietnam's first professional basketball league.[2]
History
The Saigon Heat are the first professional basketball team in Vietnam based in Ho Chi Minh City. They were officially announced as a member of the ASEAN Basketball League in October 2011. The team was formed by the Saigon Sports Academy, a multi-sports training academy launched in January 2009 and located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.[3]
In their inaugural season, the Heat finished sixth in the ABL with a regular season record of 8–13. The Heat did not qualify in for the 2012 ABL Playoffs. The Heat followed up their inaugural season with another disappointing sixth-place finish in an injury plagued 2013 season, highlighted by a twelve-game losing streak.[4][5]
Thirteen games into the 2014 season, head coach Jason Rabedeaux suddenly died, the main cause of death was traumatic brain injury.[6] Coach Rabedeaux's assistant Anthony Garbelotto was named the new head coach.[7] The Heat finished the season in fourth place, clinching their first ever playoff berth.[8] The Heat were swept 0–2 by the Westports Malaysia Dragons in the 2014 ABL Playoffs.
Following the completion of the 2015–16 season, the Heat announced the formation of Vietnam's first professional basketball league, the Vietnam Basketball Association, where they would field a developmental team.[2] The Heat VBA team consists of local players, with several of the ABL side's players being distributed among the other VBA teams for league parity purposes.
Logos
2011–12 Original logo
2013 season logo- 2014–present Current logo
Season-by-season record
| Season | Coach | Regular Season | Post Season | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| 2012 | Robert Newson | 0 | 7 | .000 | |||||
| Jason Rabedeaux | 8 | 6 | .571 | ||||||
| Combined | 8 | 13 | .581 | 6th | Did not qualify | ||||
| 2013 | Jason Rabedeaux | 4 | 18 | .182 | 6th | Did not qualify | |||
| 2014 | Jason Rabedeaux | 6 | 7 | .462 | |||||
| Tony Garbelotto | 3 | 4 | .429 | 0 | 2 | .000 | Semifinalists | ||
| Combined | 9 | 11 | .450 | 4th | |||||
| 2015–16 | Tony Garbelotto | 9 | 11 | .450 | 4th | 0 | 2 | .000 | Semifinalists |
| 2016–17 | Tony Garbelotto | 8 | 12 | .400 | 4th | 0 | 2 | .000 | Semifinalists |
| 2017–18 | Kyle Julius | 10 | 10 | .500 | 6th | 0 | 2 | .000 | Quarterfinalists |
| 2018–19 | Kyle Julius | 14 | 12 | .538 | 5th | 1 | 2 | .333 | Quarterfinalists |
| 2019–20 | Kevin Yurkus | 3 | 11 | .214 | 10th | 0 | 0 | – | Season cut short due to COVID-19 |
| 2023 | Matthew Van Pelt | 11 | 3 | .769 | 1st | 3 | 3 | .500 | Runner-up |
| Totals | 65 | 98 | .399 | - | 4 | 13 | .235 | Best Results: Runner-up | |
Home arenas
- Tân Bình Stadium (2012–2013)
- CIS Sports Arena (2014–present)
Roster
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.
| Saigon Heat roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Head coaches
Robert Newson (2012)- Jason Rabedeaux † (2012–2014)
- Anthony Garbelotto (2014–2017)
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Kyle Julius (2017–2019)- Kevin Yurkus (2019–2022)
- Matthew Van Pelt (2022–Present)
References
- "SSA Saigon Heat Joins the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League". ABL News. 20 October 2011. Archived from the original on 27 December 2011.
- Hodge, Harry (4 March 2016). "Vietnam is getting a pro basketball league". saigoneer.com. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
- "Home". FIBA Asia. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
- "Saigon Heat disqualified from 2013 ABL Champs". vietnamnet.vn. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- "Saigon Heat defeated in 12 consecutive games". vietnamnet.vn. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- "American coach of Vietnam's Saigon Heat dies of accident, aged 49". tuoitrenews.vn. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
- "Coach Tony: "Coach Rab would have been very proud at what the club has achieved"". xle.vn. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
- "Vietnam's Saigon Heat reach first ASEAN Basketball League semi in history". tuoitrenews.vn. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
External links
- Official website (in Vietnamese and English)
- Saigon Heat on Facebook (in Vietnamese and English)
- Saigon Heat at ASEANBasketballLeague.com
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