Saigon Heat

The Saigon Heat is a Vietnamese professional basketball team based in Ho Chi Minh City. 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.

The Heat currently plays in the VBA, Vietnam's first professional basketball league.

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.

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.

Thirteen games into the 2014 season, head coach Jason Rabedeaux suddenly died, the main cause of death was traumatic brain injury. Coach Rabedeaux's assistant Anthony Garbelotto was named the new head coach. The Heat finished the season in fourth place, clinching their first ever playoff berth. 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. 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

Season-by-season record

Home arenas

2023 roster

Saigon Heat roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.Wt.Age
F0United StatesJeremy Combs (WI)2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)82 kg (181 lb) 29 – (1995-11-24)24 November 1995
G1United StatesEvan Gilyard (WI)1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)77 kg (170 lb) 26 – (1998-08-04)4 August 1998
G3United StatesVietnamKhoa Tran1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)75 kg (165 lb) 28 – (1997-01-21)21 January 1997
F6VietnamNguyễn Phúc Vinh1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)82 kg (181 lb) 22 – (2002-09-11)11 September 2002
G7VietnamDư Minh An1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)80 kg (176 lb) 31 – (1993-08-11)11 August 1993
F10United StatesVietnamHassan Thomas2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)98 kg (216 lb) 30 – (1995-01-01)1 January 1995
G11VietnamVõ Kim Bản1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)80 kg (176 lb) 25 – (2000-03-24)24 March 2000
C12VietnamNguyễn Huỳnh Phú Vinh2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)90 kg (198 lb) 26 – (1998-05-07)7 May 1998
G13VietnamNguyễn Anh Kiệt1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)82 kg (181 lb) 23 – (2002-02-24)24 February 2002
F15United StatesJarius Holder (WI)2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)82 kg (181 lb) 30 – (1994-08-24)24 August 1994
F/C30DenmarkVietnamTim Waale (C)1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)100 kg (220 lb) 26 – (1998-07-30)30 July 1998
G47VietnamHuỳnh Trực Nhân1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)82 kg (181 lb) 22 – (2002-08-24)24 August 2002
Head coach
  • United StatesMatthew Van Pelt
Assistant coach(es)
  • United KingdomDavid Grice
  • VietnamVũ Thế Cang
Athletic trainer(s)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (WI) World import
  • (AI) ASEAN heritage import
  • InjuredInjured

Depth chart

Pos.Starting 5Bench 1Bench 2
CUnited StatesJeremy CombsVietnamNguyễn Huỳnh Phú Vinh
PFUnited StatesJarius HolderDenmarkVietnamTim WaaleVietnamNguyễn Phúc Vinh
SFUnited StatesVietnamHassan ThomasVietnamVõ Kim BảnVietnamNguyễn Anh Kiệt
SGUnited StatesVietnamKhoa TranVietnamHuỳnh Trực Nhân
PGUnited StatesEvan GilyardVietnamDư Minh An

Head coaches

  • EnglandRobert Newson (2012)
  • United StatesJason Rabedeaux † (2012–2014)
  • EnglandAnthony Garbelotto (2014–2017)
  • CanadaKyle Julius (2017–2019)
  • United StatesKevin Yurkus (2019–2022)
  • United StatesMatthew Van Pelt (2022–present)

References

Uses material from the Wikipedia article Saigon Heat, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.