PBA Legends share thoughts on FIBA Asia
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 05 Feb 2013
MANILA (PNA) - The manner of selection for membership in the national team is one of the key factors that must be considered in the Philippines? bid for a decent finish in the coming FIBA Asia men?s championship the country is hosting six months from now.
Three members of the 1973 team when the country last staged the biennial tournament and in the process regained the respect of the international basketball community ? Robert ?Sonny? Jaworski, William ?Bogs? Adornado, and Manuel Paner? believe that to accomplish the projected goals, the Third Conference of the PBA?s current season, which will coincide with the FIBA Asia championship, be moved after the biggest basketball conclave the country is hosting in years. The trio even went to the extent of expressing their belief that the team still to be formed is capable of, not only finishing inside the top three in the standing to qualify for the 2014 World Championship, but, likewise, win back the crown and recapture PH?s status as the basketball capital this part of the world.
Depending, of course, on what kind of team will represent the host and how it is going to be prepared.
Jaworski and company also suggest that the criteria imposed by then Basketball Association of the Philippines president, the late Lito Puyat, be observed, particularly those in regards to players' character in and out of the playing court, comportment and desire and interest by way of attendance.
?Years 1973 and 2013 are 40 years apart and basketball, Philippine basketball at that, has changed a lot,? Jawoski told People?s Journal in a telephone interview last week. ?With the presence of Fil-foreign players, we have an abundance of tall and big players as candidates to be chosen to compose the national team.?
?Hindi naman sa kinukuwestyon natin ang patriyotismo ng mga bago nating kababayan, pero dapat malaman nung mga pipili ng mga kandidato kung handa ba talaga nilang mahal ang bayan at mag-sakripisyo alang-alang sa bayan ,? the former Toyota mainstay in both the amateur and professional ranks and playing coach of popular club Ginebra San Miguel in the PBA said.
?Reason why I believe that the selection process is crucial in order for us to accomplish what we want to accomplish in hosting the event,? the former playing coach of popular club Ginebra San Miguel in the PBA explained.
?Then, all players wanted and, in fact, were dying for inclusion in the national team and proudly wear the country?s tri-colors. Choosing candidates wasn?t that difficult actually, ? Jaworski, ?Jawo? or ?Big-J? to local cage community recalled.
?Kaya nga lang dapat ingatan ang pagpili at,ihanda ang team the best possible way it should be. Moving the Third Conference a little later is a good idea,? the former ?King Warrior? of the University of the East said.
?Not only that, are the team owners and coaches where players will come really determined and patriotic enough to lend the players that are needed in the team? ?Adornado, for his part, butted in. ?I ask this kasi ngayon pa lang me mga usap-usapan na may mga team owner na ayaw magpahiram ng kanilang manlalaro kasi madi-jeopardize and kanilang kampanya sa PBA third conference.?
?In fact, if I understand the PBA commissioner (Chito Salud) right, tig-isang player lamang ang maipahihiram ng bawat team sa Philippine team. I don?t think that gesture is not enough considering our target in bringing the FIBA Asia championship to this shore,? the 1973 ABC MVP added.
?So, para nga makuha lahat ng player na kailangan to form a strong team, i-postpone muna ang PBA Third Conference,? Adornado, who concocted the idea of moving the Governor?s Cup to a later date, said. ?If they will heed that proposal, they won?t have to shorten the conference and loss the projected income there from.?
Paner, hero of the championship game between the Philippines and South Korea, agreed with his two teammates saying the organizers should not waste the rare opportunity at hand to once again prove to the whole world not only the country?s organizational skills but the Filipinos? basketball prowess.
?Tama si Sonny at si Bogs, kung mananalo tayo, sinisiguro ko Filipinos will accord the team a hero?s status so that our basketball-crazy countrymen will again troop to the stadium to watch PBA games,? Paner said. ?Once more the PBA will be our countrymen?s favorite entertainment show as it had been before."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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