Lessons from SEA Games, Draft and NBA
TWO important hoops events just commenced: the 2019 PBA Draft and the South East Asian Games. The draft was rather anti-climactic, since many gamechanging talents decided to forego their chance at a pro-career, but there were some who did not have a choice.
This is probably the best SEA Games in our history with the most number of gold medals, far and away the overall winner. We also swept the basketball events, with the inaugural 3x3 event and first gold medal in Women’s basketball.
The NBA continues, while the Filipino basketball fans are always in awe of the world’s best basketball league, there are examples we can emulate.
2019 PBA Draft
Height still matters. Aside from Mike Nieto, Isaac Go had the least impressive numbers from all the Special Draftees, but he was taken
behind Ange Kouame, who has improved vastly, and Ateneo had a stern system that is the key behind their success.
Blackwater was willing to gamble on Maurice Shaw, a 6’8 Harlem Globetrotter, who had all the red
not. There was a lot of proven talent on the table, but their window of impact is low.
Is Shaw a part of the Elite’s “Euro-style” shift? Playing as an import in Thailand, Shaw is hardly the best candidate if they were really veering towards that direction. Conspiracy theorists will think that this is a pick for another team, or the whole Euro- pronouncement is a ruse — or both.
To be fair, the Elite dumped all
a need, albeit a need they could
the Erram trade, or the Tratter trade for that matter.
Reputation matters. Talent will always be the primary consideration, and scoring 20+ consistently in the D- League and UAAP is always impressive. However, teams are looking for more, like the possible impact on a team.
Scorers are a dime a dozen. We have had legendary scoring performances in major high school leagues, but among Jeron Teng, Louie Vigil and Keith Agovida, only Teng has the guarantee of being a PBA star, or even having a long career.
Chauca has been branded as a chucker, and analysts found his play as one of the causes why the Adamson Falcons failed to make the Final Four, even if this year was one of the most competitive.
That does not mean scorers are a plague, but it does take a
traded by TNT, and no other team was interested in giving up solid assets for him, except for San Miguel Beer. The Beermen and Romeo made everyone pay for passing on him, and perhaps this is the reason why the Tropa took Chauca.
SEA Games 2019
Sending an all-PBA team has its advantages. The players are in peak condition since they have been regularly competing — as Coach Tim Cone has pointed out. Even Indonesian Coach and former Gilas mentor Rajko Toroman noted that this was a better team than the World Cup squad, even though they played against polar opposites in terms of talent.
There were a lot of circumstances in Cone’s favor: Lassiter and Wright were relaxed and healthy and the most obvious, Cone used players not eligible for FIBA. Standhardinger was the best big man outside June Mar, but we couldn’t afford to give him the solitary naturalized slot in FIBA events.
Chris Ross would have helped the WC team, but he is also not allowed—so he showed his wares in the SEA Games and played like a man among boys with every trick in the book. Despite the masterful performance, there will always be critics. That’s a lesson in itself.
The Houston Rockets are not a likable team outside their fan base, but I notice them ending games with a lineup that has PJ Tucker at center. NBA players boost their heights, so Tucker, Harden, Westbrook, House and Rivers are probably all below 6’ 6.
In our hunger for tall prospects, maybe we should pursue developing players who play taller than their actual heights. We already have them, actually.