NBA, PBA and FIBA roundup

Credit to Author: MICHAEL ANGELO B. ASIS| Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2019 16:17:57 +0000

MICHAEL ANGELO B. ASIS

Latest news for Team USA has Kyle Kuzma getting a sore ankle, and now he is skipping the World Cup. He became the final cut for Coach Gregg Popovich.

At this point, the talent level has plateaued and there’s hardly any concern on whether the team got better or worse. It is what it is, and they lost a practice game to Australia after beating them the first time.

I would not put too much weight on practice games since even the best Team USA incarnations have lost or struggled in their tune-up games. The purpose of these games are varied—to practice, to see the team’s flaws, to entertain the crowd (note that they were playing in front of almost 50,000 Australians) and maybe avoid embarrassing yourselves. Somewhere in that mix is winning.

Nevertheless, this is the least talented team that Team USA is sending since they allowed pro players to carry the flag. Only one All-NBA team player on the roster, and a host of second and third options on their team.

Gilas guard carousel
The trademark of any Gilas team is quality guards. The current iteration shows a hint of the next generation guards—taller and more athletic, less of a defensive mismatch in international play. Robert Bolick and Cj Perez have proven their worth and it was a breath of air after the team lost Marcio Lassiter and could not get Ray Parks’ commitment.

However, the safe bet is that only one of them could make it. Mark Barroca is simply indispensable—he’s a smart defender and a clutch shooter. RR Pogoy just came off a stellar Finals stint, even though they lost. Kiefer Ravena needs this, and he showed it.

Paul Lee and Matthew Wright are also Gilas veterans—I think all five would make it, leaving room for just either Bolick or Perez. My bet is that they’ll go for shooting and Bolick would make it.

PBA rumors
Alaska made the overhaul, but they changed the coach, not trading players. The move buys some time for disgruntled players—they might try to test Jeffrey Cariaso first. That’s one way to douse water on an impending house fire.

Big men are still rare commodities in the PBA, that’s why the rumor mill is rife with centers. Greg Slaughter, Christian Standhardinger and Mo Tautuaa are all supposedly in play.

Quality big men have often moved from lower-ranked teams who drafted them to teams that belong to the empires. Lately, Raymond Almazan moved from Rain or Shine to Meralco, a season after JP Erram was shipped from Blackwater to NLEX. Now the MVP teams have their young big men—save for TNT, which is their flagship team.

Trust that the Pangilinan group will not take this sitting down. They actually traded Tautuaa for Terrence Romeo, who was eventually traded for Brian Heruela and David Semerad. That was truly a puzzler of a trade since TNT did not have a solid center but they had Jason Castro and RR Pogoy. Watching Big Mo develop in Northport must be painful for them.

FarmVille
The fans may have to wonder, which teams are actually competing in the PBA, and which ones are just “farm teams?” In the NBA, there are teams that act similarly to farm teams, but only because they hit a dead end and would need to rebuild. The idea of actually trading a player in exchange for monetary favors is likely unheard of now, because the NBA has financially stable owners.

The discrepancy between the companies in the PBA has caused this great divide. SMC is the biggest corporation in the country, and they are competing against companies like Blackwater, which is part of the Deoceldo Sy group that thrived in the amateur leagues, or Columbia, which had unstable ownership issues.

The PBA would be powerless to thwart this system unless they change the membership. If all the team owners would have enough money, they can compete and not “sell” their players as alleged in certain forums. While they play to win in actual games, they do not have the long-term planning needed to really build a contender.

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