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Let's take a look at what the roster is looking like!

Fabian Pöll: when I first came on boksburg said he was going to turn Pöll into the best big man in all of Africa. He is well on the way to fulfilling that promise. Offensively he is far and away our best inside presence, this season I hope to see him round out his inside skills. Though he did see a OD pop this week so it looks like he's getting some cross training.

Jabulani Manzini: our other big man is no where near as skilled offensively. But he does have a nice mix of skills. Mixing up his inside skills is going to make him a great complement to his teammate above. No initial movement coming into the season but I'm sure pops are imminent.

Sean Dunker: a season of 1v1f training has him in a great position. Conventional wisdom says work on OD, but I can see also he could be trained in inside or outside scoring skills. I look forward to what his development holds. HA pop to start off, evening up his DR, great point to start working other aspects.



Jabulani Makeba: JR pop this week, interesting distribution of skills. At some point however a season always needs to be spent on the 1v1f training, I think this would be a great time to do so, for at least half the season, but let's see where his manager wants to take him.

Beau Bleek: JS pop this week though he looks like he got significant 1v1 last season . but he has a good distribution of other skills. Question now is, pound OD for this year and hope for a couple of pops in shooting or try to mix in training.

Mxali Matomelaa: far and away the best OD on the team. Now give him a season of 1v1 and I think he will be in great position. No pops to start, but going the 1v1 route will yield huge dividends.

Ad Hayden: JS pop this week. Needs some 1v1 but could be mixed in with inside skills as well.

Ngwazi Khomane: DR and HA pops and both are to a acceptable point. OD is low so I think focusing on his scoring skills takes him to his best current potential.

Khaya Nkosi: good cross section of skills. I would say go 1v1, but also rotating inside skills might get him going strong. No pos this week.

Ayize Mini: projects as a SF but is 7' tall! I think focusing ID and SB could pay off huge.


Uuka Jaga: has interesting IS and JS, good distribution elsewhere, but truly think a season of 1v1 will be quite helpful!

Sipho Molefi. Kinda stuck in a rut

Kopano Mase: DR and IS pops, another interesting case, 6'9 PG who actually trends to being more of a PF or C. I think another half season or so of 1v1 then going to inside skills is the recipe.

The online scout has not updated properly so it's impossible at the moment to see what's in the pipeline. Hopefully this will be fixed, and hopefully we will continue on the path we have traveled the last two seasons.

SPRINGBOKS SNAP SKID, BLAST BAHAMAS 116-86

In front of Coach Lambini's home fans in the basketball Mecca that is the legendary Greensboro Coliseum a record crowd of 11,539 saw the baby boks batter overmatched Bahamas on Monday evening. Fabian Pöll paced seven boks in double figures with 24 points to go with ten boards. The hot shooting South Africans hit on over 60% from the field as a close contest after one period steadily got out of hand. "First off ONE ticket went unsold, I want to know exactly who that skinflint was" a smiling Lambini smirked afterwards. "It was nice to get to show my people this team, a couple of weeks back when we faced the Russians we played hard but came up just short, so it was nice to get us back in the win column. But overall there is still a long way to go, but I am confident in the managers these players are matriculating under that by the end of Afro Basket '48 we will be where we want to be"

Next up is the opener in AB '48 as the Boks will face Al Jazair.

Good luck!

The goal of this season is real simple. Win the gold, but there is one big hurdle standing in our way with Misr. However we have shown the ability to give them trouble . Two seasons ago we did steal the matchup in the 2nd phase and last season we stunned them in a scrimmage. But the farming system in place with their manager and his pal is very strong so it will take a collaborative effort from us all to build to a point where we can be able to pull this caper off.

This week Al Jazair whom I expect no issues from. Now for your weekly update.

Fabian Pöll . Robust strong GS, a nice DMI and a JS pop where he is now hitting elasticity . Very nice start, still would like to see his inside defensive skills and rebounding pumped up or maybe seeing 1v1 training to make him more effective going to the hoop but I will take what I can get!

Jabulani Manzini no pops this week and he played way too many minutes so his GS is terrible. More minutes does not train faster gentlemen! All it does is leave your players worn out.

Sean Dunker again another guy getting way too many minutes. JS pop which is nice, needs OD.


Jabulani Makeba a JS pop which gets him to elasticity. Needs 1v1 and OD training. GS and DMI are in line.

Beau Bleek IS pop which is good. Would like to see 1v1 to make his shooting more effective, also OD is a trait that has potential to hit elasticity this season as well. GS and DMI are fine.

Mxali Matomelaa no pops, acceptable GS and DMI. He can be taken in a lot of directions but either 1v1 or shooting skills are what serves him best in terms of his development. Of course his OD skills ensure he will be a big part of the plan.

Ad Hayden GS and DMI are acceptable. No pops, needs movement in 1v1, OD and shooting skills so it will be interesting to see if there is an attempt to balance all his needs or if there will be a concentration in a specific area of his game.


Ngwazi Khomane he didn't get his minutes on his club team so no pops and a downgraded GS and DMI. Has the potential to be developed in a major scoring threat but it all comes down to his manager committing to that path.

Khaya Nkosi no pops but the only proficient GS for the week, which means a heightened DMI! Probably best served long term by some 1v1, short term by hitting the inside skills. Let's see where his manager takes him.

Steve Johnson with the online scout not updating the database of players scouting has to be done by hand. So far this gentleman is the best I've come across plus he belongs to a manager in Crazy Bob who is committed to the cause. How well he mixes and can be concentrated on in relation to Bob's other trainees is the question. But he has loads of potential for this squad. No pops this week, but acceptable GS and DMI.

Uuka Jaga another guy getting too many minutes! No pops, needs 1v1.

Molefi and Mase are filler and a project resoectively. I just do not have expectations for the former though I still hold lots of hope for the latter even though he is a true long term project for his manager.

I took a look at the various teams by hand seeking possible recruits, but if there is someone I missed who may be able to develop please let me know!



Last edited by Coach Lambini at 11/30/2019 09:39:21

Interesting report! ;)

SPRINGBOKS SUBDUE AL JAZAIR 91-46

Beau Bleek scored 23, Jabulani Makeba added 18 off the bench and Fabian Poll filled the stat sheet nicely with 13 points to go with 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 blocks as the baby Boks cruised to a 91-46 victory over Al Jazair in opening day action in Afro Basket '48. Al Jazair struggled all night against the smothering Springbok 3-2 defense shooting a paltry 22% from the field while the RSA hit the mark at just a hair under 50% for the evening. " Not our smoothest offensive outing, but the defense made it so that we did not need to be at peak efficiency" Coach Lambini said afterwards.

In other Afro Basket action....

Nigeria thumped host Tunisia 109-93
Defending champion Egypt cruised past Al Maghrib 100-76
and Senegal got a 50-0 walkover against Ghana


Next up is a date with Al Maghrib

This weeks reports from the trainers is promising!

Fabian Pöll: a double pop this week! Yet ANOTHER inside shot pop, and a handling pop! GS is borderline and DMI is in accordance with that. Got 77 minutes in his club games, which is about 20 more than a guy with his poor stamina needs to log.

Jabulani Manzini: a inside shot pop and a improved DMI and game shape has him on the right track.

Jabulani Makeba: Handling pop, fine reset on GS and DMI

Sean Dunker: No pops, good GS, ok DMI, but he will be seeing movement soon

Beau Bleek: Solid GS and DMI reset, had a FT pop which is always nice, developing right on schedule

Mxali Matomelaa: ANOTHER OD pop, which is great to see, solid reset on GS and DMI.

Ad Hayden: No pops, decent reset.


Ngwazi Khomane: not getting enough minutes on his club team.No pops this week, might be time to reach out to the manager holding this players.

a couple of other pops here and there. Al Maghrib should be pretty easy. Keep plugging along folks!

SPRINGBOKS MOVE TO 2-0, OUTLAST AL maghrib 103-90

Paced by 32 points from Ad Hayden and another double double from Fabian Pöll (20pt 10reb) the SPRINGBOKS bolted to a big halftime edge and survived a sub par second half to upend Al maghrib 103-90.

In the post game presser coach Lambini had this to say...


" we did some things very well. But there were some focus issues in the second half. And give our opponent a lot of credit, they kept fighting. The good thing about these first two games is that we have been able to get a look at a lot of different people. However there is a lot of smoothing out still to be done"

In other action

Tunisia got the free lap on Ghana


Senegal squashed Al Jazair 122-66

And Misr had no issues with Nigeria 119-80


Next up, Nigeria


Last edited by Coach Lambini at 12/10/2019 07:57:24

It's a good start!

The problem is, storm clouds are on the horizon.

Nigeria is going to be a tough match, but they did use a CT on opening night against Tunisia so we will have a enthusiasm advantage. (302421.1)


This week's update...

Fabian Pöll: no pops, too many minutes and a missing manager. The issue with minutes will self correct as his club team is out of the cup. Now we got to hope boksburg is just on holiday and hasn't abandoned his team.

Jabulani Manzini: no pops, but issues with too many minutes was addressed by his club manager. We will need his game to step up as the competition progresses.

Sean Dunker: OD pops, solid reset

Jabulani Makeba: driving pop, good reset

Beau Bleek: no pops but a solid reset

Mxali Matomelaa: no pops, really good reset so he's ready for the rigors.

Ad Hayden: another guy with no pops but still reset in a useful manner.

Khaya Nkosi: not great dmi and gs but did get HA and DR pops so his minutes Monday should be useful.

Ngwazi Khomane: stamina pop! Reset is acceptable but not exemplary.

Ayize Mini: and another guy the same can be said about! Of course a guy who is 7'0" MVP potential but who is listed as a PG is a very interesting training proposition.

And the rest of the roster has some issues with GS that I will need to bring up with their clubs.

All things considered we are OK, but we should be progressing better. Fortunately there is some time to figure it out. I will check to see if there is anyone in the pipeline we can add but with the NTSO site not processing last I checked it makes the task difficult.




Last edited by Coach Lambini at 12/13/2019 07:40:44

SPRINGBOKS STUFF NIGERIA 126-80

Fabian Poll paced six Baby Boks in double figures with 31 points to go with 13 rebounds 5 assists and a pair of blocks as everyone who was dressed scratched the score sheet in a resounding 126-80 rout of Nigeria to move to 3-0 in the first phase of pool competition. Coach Lambini said afterwards, " After last weeks sluggish second half effort I let it be known that more was expected this week. And that message was well headed by virtue of this performance:" The Boks dominated all phases shooting 62% for the evening and holding a 61-33 rebounding edge.

In other Afro Basket action....

Misr got the walkover forfeit win over Ghana


Tournes thumped Al Jazair 92-75

and Senegal survived against Al Maghrib 88-86

Next up is a essential Bye against Ghana (walkover), followed in two weeks time with a test against the big bullies on the block in Misr. "we have got a long way to go to match those guy, it will be very interesting to see how much of gap there will be."

Last edited by Coach Lambini at 12/16/2019 18:13:06