Nairobi City Thunder’s debut campaign at the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Nile Conference has laid bare the team’s inexperience and exposed the structural weaknesses of Kenya’s national league, after three consecutive losses in Kigali, Rwanda.

Now, Thunder have to salvage pride when they face Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli today at 5 pm.  

Inexperienced players 

After they narrowly lost 74-75 to South Africa’s Made By Basketball (MBB) team at BK Arena in Kigali during their third game of the ongoing BAL Nile Conference championship on Tuesday, May 21, Kenya National Basketball League (KNBL) Division One Lakeside basketball team coach Emmanuel Ochieng’ – who once coached Thunder – told People Sports that most NCT players participating in the championship in Rwanda are inexperienced. 

Per his observation, among Thunder players who featured in the game against MBB and arguably have minimal experience in FIBA international competitions are Eugene Adera, Garang Diing and Evans Ganapamo.  

Another player with limited international basketball experience is Ghanaian Nana Appiah, who did not impress during NCT’s opening BAL Nile Conference championship games last week against Rwanda Patriotic Army (APR) and Al Ahli Tripoli (AHT). 

Players with experience from various international basketball competitions who played on Tuesday include Albert Odero, Tylor Ongwae, Uchenna “UC” Iroegbu and William Sidney Davis II. 

However, Ochieng’ argued that the number and ratio of Thunder players with international basketball experience compared to those without is too low to afford the team adequate player rotation and substitutions during the ongoing BAL Nile Conference games. 

Ochieng’ also claimed that Thunder likely spent more money recruiting good and experienced players during the “Road to BAL” group stage and Elite 16 stage qualifiers held last year in Kibaha City, Tanzania, and at the Kasarani International Indoor Basketball Court in Nairobi, respectively. 

Low investment 

“Thunder should have strategically used the funds at their disposal to recruit experienced and potential players for the main BAL event, rather than investing heavily during the qualifiers,” Ochieng’ said. 

He added, “Thunder should have retained experienced import players like Abdoulaye Harouna and Majok Ater James, who have since left to play for Senegal’s BAL representative team in the BAL Sahara Conference. At the end of the day, a team that has qualified for BAL must recruit well and have the finances to offer lucrative contracts to retain quality and experienced players.” 

Technical bench blunder  

Ochieng’ also highlighted Thunder’s inexperience in international competitions, citing a misstep by the technical bench.  

“With only about 10 seconds to the end of the game against MBB, instead of calling a time-out and strategising how to close the game, the technical bench allowed the players to continue playing,” he recalled. 

“Calling a time-out might have limited MBB to just two points, tying the game at 74-74, and sending it into overtime, where NCT could have won. Instead, MBB earned a foul in the final seconds and scored a three-pointer, ending Thunder’s hopes,” he added. 

He emphasised, “How we manage end games is crucial in basketball. Thunder have focused too much on offensive scoring and neglected defence, which was porous in all three BAL Nile Conference games against APR, AHT, and MBB. A major problem with teams in the local league is that both the technical bench and team sponsors often fail to consider the bigger picture.” 

Weak national league 

The KNBL Division One Lakeside coach further stated that NCT’s three straight losses at the BAL have exposed the weakness of Kenya’s league. 

“The weak underbelly of our KNBL was evident during Thunder’s third BAL game against MBB. South African teams like Cape Town Tigers and now MBB have qualified for BAL through wild cards. Despite South Africa’s lower basketball standards compared to Kenya, MBB, who only qualified through a wild card, still managed to defeat Thunder,” Ochieng’ lamented. 

He noted that while Thunder may return to dominate Kenya’s men’s premier league, the reality is that our league is weak.  

On the other hand, Kenya’s national women’s team coach George Mayienga praised Thunder’s performance against MBB. 

“At least in the game against MBB, Thunder played better. There were notable improvements, though a few mistakes, such as wrong ball passes, were evident,” Mayienga said. 

He added, “Though Thunder have lost games at BAL, it is their first time competing at this level. Now they know what to do the next time they qualify.” 

“At the end of the day, Thunder is still a good team. They will return to Kenya, win the men’s premier league and get another opportunity to compete in BAL. I’m confident they will perform better in the next BAL championship,” Mayienga assured. 

In a separate interview, KNBL women’s premier league team Equity Hawks coach Ben Oluoch said it would take a miracle for Thunder to turn things around in Rwanda. 

“Thunder have lost three BAL games by large margins. For them to get back into contention in the BAL Nile Conference, they must win the next three matches by at least 35 points,” Oluoch said.