In the end, Juruni will have to pick 12 players, and with the four coming in as reinforcement, the locally based lot must fight for eight slots.
City Oilers have won eight straight games to start the new National Basketball League season.
Mandy Juruni’s charges are in top form early in their search for a ninth straight championship, but that will continue until later in the year.
The immediate concern for the Ugandan champions at the moment is being in the right state for the Basketball Africa League Nile Conference action that tips off on April 26 in Cairo, Egypt.
The Ugandan champions will make their BAL debut against Petro de Luanda of Angola.
League action and daily training are what head coach Mandy Juruni expects to put the team in the best shape for the BAL regular season.
“The preparations have been good. I think we have been preparing for the last one month,” Juruni told Pulse Sports after the team’s training session at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium Tuesday night.
“We are playing in the league and preparing for BAL, and so far so good,” he added.
“I like what I’m seeing. We continue getting better and getting more guys that are coming in.”
From the team that made it through the qualifiers, Oilers will retain most of the players on the roster, including Americans Germaine Roebuck Jr., and Falando Jones and South Sudanese Ngor Barnaba.
A new addition James Justice Jr. will join the team and is expected to add scoring to the side.
The Oilers will also have a player from the NBA Academy who will join the team in Egypt.
Fight for places
With four additions to the team, locally based players have to fight for the remaining slots on the team.
New signings Fayed Baale, Titus Lual, and Michael Ngut have all been in top form for the Oilers in the league and will fancy their chances of making the final cut.
“For us, we know we are in a competitive world. You have to compete. You have to earn the spot,” Juruni noted.
“It’s never easy to leave someone behind, but they have to understand that this is going to happen.
“Depending on how players take it, sometimes if you are left behind, you want to prove a point to the coach, and you work even harder so that next time you are seen first.
“If you look at it on the negative side and you give up, then you don’t deserve to be in the team.”
Seasoned campaigners like Jimmy Enabu, James Okello, Ben Komakech and Tonny Drileba have been waiting for the moment to feature at BAL.
Caesar Kizito, Edrine Walujjo, Abdihakim Ghedi, Henry Mulira, Ruai Ruak and Ivan Muhwezi are all trying to impress the coaches for slots.
In the end, Juruni will have to pick 12 players, and with the four coming in as reinforcement, the locally based lot must fight for eight slots.
The team is expected to leave for Cairo on April 22.
Al Ahly, CVF Beira, Cape Town Tigers, Petro de Luanda and Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club are the teams Oilers will face in the regular season.
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