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Saigon Heat
2024 Saigon Heat season
Founded	2011; 14 years ago (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.com
Home Away

Active teams of Saigon Heat
ABL (formerly)	VBA

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

• 2011–12 Original logo
• 2013 season logo
• 2014–present logo

Season-by-season record

Home arenas

• Tân Bình Stadium (2012–2013)
• CIS Sports Arena (2014–present)

2023 roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Saigon Heat roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age F 0 Jeremy Combs (WI) 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 29 – (1995-11-24)24 November 1995 G 1 Evan Gilyard (WI) 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) 77 kg (170 lb) 26 – (1998-08-04)4 August 1998 G 3 Khoa Tran 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 75 kg (165 lb) 27 – (1997-01-21)21 January 1997 F 6 Nguyễn Phúc Vinh 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 22 – (2002-09-11)11 September 2002 G 7 Dư Minh An 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 31 – (1993-08-11)11 August 1993 F 10 Hassan Thomas 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 30 – (1995-01-01)1 January 1995 G 11 Võ Kim Bản 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 24 – (2000-03-24)24 March 2000 C 12 Nguyễn Huỳnh Phú Vinh 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 26 – (1998-05-07)7 May 1998 G 13 Nguyễn Anh Kiệt 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 22 – (2002-02-24)24 February 2002 F 15 Jarius Holder (WI) 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 30 – (1994-08-24)24 August 1994 F/C 30 Tim Waale (C) 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 26 – (1998-07-30)30 July 1998 G 47 Huỳnh Trực Nhân 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 22 – (2002-08-24)24 August 2002	Head coach Matthew Van Pelt Assistant coach(es) David Grice Vũ Thế Cang Athletic trainer(s) Legend (C) Team captain (WI) World import (AI) ASEAN heritage import Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Jeremy Combs	Nguyễn Huỳnh Phú Vinh
PF	Jarius Holder	Tim Waale	Nguyễn Phúc Vinh
SF	Hassan Thomas	Võ Kim Bản	Nguyễn Anh Kiệt
SG	Khoa Tran	Huỳnh Trực Nhân
PG	Evan Gilyard	Dư Minh An

Head coaches

• Robert Newson (2012)
• Jason Rabedeaux † (2012–2014)
• Anthony Garbelotto (2014–2017)
• Kyle Julius (2017–2019)
• Kevin Yurkus (2019–2022)
• Matthew Van Pelt (2022–present)

References

1. "SSA Saigon Heat Joins the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League". ABL News. 20 October 2011. Archived from the original on 27 December 2011.
2. ^ Hodge, Harry (4 March 2016). "Vietnam is getting a pro basketball league". saigoneer.com. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
3. "Home". FIBA Asia. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
4. "Saigon Heat disqualified from 2013 ABL Champs". vietnamnet.vn. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
5. "Saigon Heat defeated in 12 consecutive games". vietnamnet.vn. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
6. "American coach of Vietnam's Saigon Heat dies of accident, aged 49". tuoitrenews.vn. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
7. "Coach Tony: "Coach Rab would have been very proud at what the club has achieved"". xle.vn. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
8. "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

• ASEAN Basketball League teams
• Basketball teams established in 2011
• Basketball teams in Vietnam
• 2011 establishments in Vietnam