NAIROBI, Kenya, December 4 – Nairobi City Thunder point guard Garang Diing has credited his coach and teammates for making him a better player.
Diing says encouraging words from his boss, Brad Ibs, and prodding from his peers has enabled him improve on various aspects of his play.
“The answer to that is just my coach and teammates. They always encourage me even when I was not shooting at my best in practice. They always encourage to always take it when I have an open shot. They kept my confidence going and I came to the tournament with my confidence high,” the South Sudanese import said.
Diing starred for the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) Premier League champions at the just-concluded Basketball Africa League (BAL) Elite 16 East Division.
Thunder rumbled their way to the prestigious competition – the first Kenyan side to do so – and capped that historic feat with a 99-86 win over Cape Verde’s Kriol Star in the final on Tuesday.
Diing topped the scoring charts for his team, sinking 20 points, to add to his seven rebounds, and three assists.
Reflecting on his performance, Diing attributed it to a positive influence within the playing unit.
“It’s really good I made those four out of five (three-pointers). I’ve seen my teammates make more than that…a good example is Ken Wachira. At practice we always compete with each other…we always shoot with each other. It helps us improve as a team and they have confidence in me as I take that shot,” he said.
As he takes in his new success and that of his team, Diing is only too aware of the lofty standards they will have to measure up to at the continental showpiece.
“Moving to the third stage of the BAL is really motivating to us. We’ll just keep going in this BAL tournament. I’d say we need to work on our defence, seeing we are running team and are able to lock teams on our defence. We shall improve on it and also working on our offense. Just improving one per cent per day and by the time we get to the conferences, we’ll be okay,” he said.
The 23-year-old will be hoping for more nights like December 2 and 3 as they chop it up with the crème-de-la-crème of the African basketball in the new year.
