The Upheaval by: joey villar It used to be that the only way to get a Filipino to play in the National Basketball Association, the best league in the whole constellation, is to pray for someone like Raymond Townsend or a Jordan Clarkson to emerge from the ashes. Of course, Townsend is the first with Filipino blood to ever play in the NBA while Clarkson, another Fil-Am, could become the second assuming he doesnt get cut by the Los Angeles Lakers come the first day of the 2014-15 regular season. Never had we seen that a Filipino player born in the Philippines, grew up and blossomed on our own basketball courts, lands in the NBA. Japeth Aguilar tried and failed. Bobby Ray Parks, Jr. and Kobe Paras are trying. But in our latest count, none so far have made it that far. # # # Thanks to Gilas Pilipinas historic effort in the FIBA World Cup in Spain, the long wait could be over. This is because the Filipinos caught the imagination of the world, and perhaps, the NBA, after mesmerizing everyone with a gutsy performance. An effort for the ages. Yes, our team finished only with a win--an 81-79 overtime victory over Gorgui Dieng-led Senegal--in five games but their general performance should warrant a second look from other countries. Why not? We lost to World No. 16 Croatia, 78-81, in OT. We should have lost by a single digit to No. 5 Greece before the Greeks eventually won it, 82-70. We came a few shots and a good break away from beating No. 3 Argentina before suffering an 81-85 heart-breaker. Finally, we led by double digits and blew what could have been a second round-clinching win over No. 17 Puerto Rico after JJ Barea happened and we lost, 73-77. # # # But averaging just six points in our four losses? Thats pretty impressive if you ask me. Iran also has one win, which came against a team that we also beat in a tune up game days before the World Cup--Egypt. And the Iranians lost by an average losing margin of 19.25 points. South Korea was the worst among Asian teams. A team American writers expertly ranked higher than us before the tournament even started, the Koreans didnt even get a single win or come close to it, ending up a fodder by teams they played and ended up losing a whopping average of 21.6 points. Wow. So yes, Gilas has the attention of the world now. Hopefully, Filipino players get it too. # # # As Gilas ready to go home to a heros welcome, the world could be asking, who are these Filipinos? And when they do, theyll start looking deeper into the Philippines, which we hope will lead them to our pro-league, the Philippine Basketball Association, one of the oldest leagues in the world, and then. If we get luckier, the collegiate leagues like the UAAP and NCAA could grab some piece of the attention. And if they look farther South, they may find Cebus Cesafi where The Kraken, Junmar Fajardo, first learned his hoops. And then they will start to realize that we have gems in the desert. If they can start a Kyle Korver, Im sure theyll find better players here. And were not even talking about the Kiefer Ravenas, the James Yaps, the Chris Tius, and the Mark Barrocas among others. # # # So we thank Gilas Pilipinas for this upheaval were expecting to happen in Philippine basketball and for opening the door for the future generation of players who could reap the fruits of their labor. And we could stop praying for a Townsend or a Clarkson to be born and just look around right here on our local soil. admin R.U ph.nba/writers-content/453/the-upheaval#.VA3XyMKSy-B
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 16:27:46 +0000
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