We must improve, says Power captain

By Charles Mutebi

TigerHead Power captain Joseph Ikong believes “things have to change” within the club if the five-time champions are to make amends for their humiliation in this year’s National Basketball League Finals.

Power lost the best-of-seven Finals 4-0 to the City Oilers, who also thumped them 3-1 in the 2013 playoff semi-finals.

Ikong, who was the only senior Power player to admit that being swept was “embarrassing”, promised that his club will make the necessary administrative changes needed to catch-up with the backto- back NBL champions.

“Things have to change,” Ikong told the New Vision in the wake of Power’s demolition, which disappointed neutrals who had been praying for a competitive climax to the season.

“We need to become more professional and if some people are not ready for it, they should leave.”

Some senior Power players voiced their happiness with the team’s first appearance in the Finals since 2011and club coach Bernes Ankunda pointed out that his team was not as fluid as the Oilers because major preseason signings like Abdullah Ramadan and Phillip Ameny were still fitting into the team’s style of play.

But Ikong could not find any consolation from Power’s no-show, convinced his team would have been more competitive if they had had the same internal organisation that’s the trademark of the Oilers.

Next year will mark four seasons since Power won the NBL title, eight seasons since the Krishna Falcons last championship and three years since the Stanbic Warriors lifted the crown.

But regardless of what playerchanges those three NBL powerhouses make in the offseason, all three understand stopping the Oilers starts with a step towards professionalism that starts in the boardroom.