SBP, NBA and broken-hearted Pinoys

Pato Gregorio made a rather strong statement against the NBA after the league forbid Cleveland Cavaliers player Jordan Clarkson from playing in the Asian Games.

Pato, now with the Philippine Olympic Committee, said the “NBA broke the hearts of 100 million Filipinos.” He added: “Your Philippine sports leaders worked ‘round the clock. So many sleepless nights. We were one clearance away.”

Such strong words. Problem is, two weeks before the NBA broke the hearts of 100 million Filipinos, Gregorio and the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas broke the hearts of 100 million Filipinos by saying it won’t send a team to the Asian Games.

I had hoped, of course, that Clarkson would get to play but I wasn’t surprised by the NBA’s denial. This isn’t football and Fifa, leagues like the NBA and the EuroLeague, whose clubs pays for the salaries of the super stars, have a bigger say on player availability for national team duty than their football counterparts. Just imagine the furor in football if, say, Manchester United prevents Pogba from playing for France in the qualifiers?

In basketball, the clubs and club owners get

As to Pato, who said the Filipinos will not forget what the NBA did, well, please don’t deflect the anger of the Pinoy basketball fan, who’d certainly forget what the NBA did come November. What they won’t forget soon, though, was SBP’s decision not to send a team in the first place.