Before the VBA Premier Bubble Games 2021, Cantho Catfish made a revolutionary move by accepting the transfer of Tam Dinh to Hanoi Buffaloes for the 2022 VBA in exchange for William Tran.
With Tam Dinh’s departure, the Cantho Catfish formation that won the 2018 VBA was left with only Le Hieu Thanh, marking their new beginning to conquer the VBA.
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| Cantho Catfish’s Le Hieu Thanh breaks through Thang Long Warriors players. Photo: VBA |
New names, new hopes
Cantho Catfish selected William Tran as their first choice after Tam Dinh.
Although it was obvious that William Tran needed more time to fill the void left by Tam Dinh in his first season with the Catfish, the Vietnamese-Canadian player’s potential and efforts were noticeable, with a diverse scoring ability, according to experts.
As for foreign players, Jared Sam and Javis Summers are both quality shooters.
Unfortunately, Summers suffered a serious injury early on, so he could not make much contribution.
Despite that, Cantho Catfish fans still have every confidence in the two foreign players’ performance for the new season.
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| Cantho Catfish’s Jarvis Summers holds the ball against a Thang Long Warriors player. Photo: VBA |
Domestic players yet to unleash full potential
Two years ago, Cantho Catfish was considered one of the strongest teams at the VBA despite losing to Saigon Heat in the 2019 VBA finale.
But at the 2021 VBA, they only played better than Nha Trang Dolphins, who had no wins throughout the season.
A transformation to bring back their past glory is definitely the target of Cantho Catfish’s coaching board right now.
Cantho Catfish has relatively quality domestic players under the command of captain Le Hieu Thanh.
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| Cantho Catfish’s Nguyen Van Vinh drives past Nha Trang Dolphins players. Photo: VBA |
However, what they showed was not commensurate with the audience’s expectations.
A few bright spots such as Nguyen Van Vinh’s 22 points in 23 minutes against Nha Trang Dolphins at the 2021 VBA did not help rectify the overall situation.
Le Hieu Thanh proved to be the most enthusiastic and high-caliber Vietnamese player, whose contributions were sometimes not reflected in the statistics but in favor of tactics and gameplay, in the entire experimental series this year.
Therefore, there is no question about the continual presence of Thanh in the Cantho Catfish lineup as a leader and an anchor for other players in the future.
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