Vietnam aims to shine at SEA Games basketball

Some of the Việt Nam national male basketball team. Some of the Việt Nam national male basketball team. thethao247.vn photo via Vietnam News

HANOI– The Vietnam national male basketball team and its core of naturalized overseas Vietnamese players are expected to bring home a medal at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games.

The naturalized players alongside eight native Vietnamese players are Đinh Thanh Tâm, Đinh Thành Sang, Trần Đăng Khoa, Justin Young and Chris Dierker. All of them showed their talent in the  Vietnam Basketball Association (VBA) League which concluded in September.

Leading the male team is American coach Kevin Yurkus of Saigon Heat. He was head coach and general manager of Cantho Catfish in the VBA. Yurkus is a two-time Coach of the Year in the VBA.

He led the Catfish to back-to-back finals appearances and a 2018 VBA championship before he was tapped by the Bangkok Storm to serve as their head coach and general manager.

According to Jurkus, because the host Philippines is very strong, Vietnam will fight for second or third place with Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Jurkus said as many players in the Vietnam team played together in the VBA they have good chemistry already.

In this Games in the Philippines, Vietnam will compete in four categories including men’s and women’s basketball team of 5×5 and 3×3.

Basketball will be played in Manila from December 1-10.