And the Japeth Aguilar issue threatens to (again) tear the Philippine basketball world apart
A few hours ago, Rey Joble tweeted this interesting little nugget: "After the Japeth Aguilar incident, the PBA is now ready to rock the boat of the SBP"
And rock the boat they did. Tonight, incoming PBA chairman and Burger King team manager Lito Alvarez said he was planning to revisit the PBA's national team commitment:
Just when the Philippine Basketball Association is about to give way to Smart-Gilas in representing the country in major Asian tournaments, controversial rookie Japeth Aguilar suddenly made the league’s new chairman change his mind.
Burger King team manager Lito Alvarez, who succeeded Joaqui Trillo early this month as the PBA’s new chairman, is now soliciting the support of the board to revive the league’s active involvement in major Asian basketball tournaments.
Here's what the SBP by-laws say:
How are national teams formed for elite international competitions?
The Corporation authorizes the representatives from the professional sector to form, prepare and enter the men's Philippine National Team to elite international competitions such as the Olympics, the World Championships, the FIBA Championships and the Asian Games including the qualifying tournaments for such competitions, subject to such applicable rules and regulations and accreditation requirements.
Curiously, the original representatives to the board of trustees from the professional sector were Ely Capacio of San Miguel, Ricky Vargas of Talk N Text/Smart Gilas, then-PBA Commissioner Noli Eala, and Tony Chua of Barako Bull. However, there were elections held last year with current Commissioner Sonny Barrios taking Eala's place as the professional representative on the board. Eala, however, still sits on the board in his capacity as Liga Pilipinas president.
There’s a raging discussion on the Japeth Aguilar issue all over the Internet, and at the Interbasket forums, my last piece on Japeth was posted on the thread. Anyway, one of the commenters, Patay-Butiki, who I assume runs the excellent Patay ang Butiki blog, had this to say:
well, firequinito does know his reporters. i'll give him that. but i just don't get the analogy with rabeh/ateneo. it's like comparing apples with oranges.
and the problem with blogs (unlike regular sports columns) is that you can hurl accusations and jump to outlandish conclusions and pass them off as facts.
Well, first, let’s tackle the Rabeh/Ateneo analogy. The PBA and the UAAP are both stakeholders of the SBP, which runs the Smart Gilas program. I’m not clear about the agreement between the SBP and the UAAP regarding the participation of the league’s players in the program, but we can deduce implicitly that participation with the varsity teams during the UAAP tournament is prioritized; Dylan Ababou, Mark Barroca, JR Cawaling, and Aldretch Ramos stopped training with the Gilas team to concentrate on the UAAP, while Ateneo stalwarts Rabeh Al-Husseini and Ryan Buenafe have deferred participation in the Gilas team’s international training last summer to concentrate on their commitments to Ateneo.
Meanwhile, prior to the Japeth saga, there were talks that the PBA was going to be willing to lend their players to the Gilas team in the future, pending some agreements. Gabe Norwood, Jared Dillinger, and Aguilar were reportedly being considered by Gilas coach Rajko Toroman to reinforce his team.
All that, of course, went to hell went Aguilar decided not to accept Burger King’s contract offer, and stated that he intends to play for Gilas full-time instead. BK manager Lito Alvarez asks the SBP to speak on the issue, but they prefer to keep mum. At this point, Aguilar and his agent Ronnie Nathanielsz say that it’s a unilateral decision on their part, and they have not spoken with the SBP.
Now, what if Rabeh Al-Husseini, the reigning UAAP Most Valuable Player, unilaterally decided to follow Japeth’s path, quit Ateneo, and play for Gilas exclusively? After all, Gilas had previously expressed interest in tapping his services, and surely it must be a greater honor to wear the Pilipinas jersey than a jersey of just one UAAP school. Will the SBP still maintain a hands-off stance?
The comparison is not apples to oranges, but Burger King apples to Ateneo apples.
Second, let’s talk about “hurling accusations” and “jumping to outlandish conclusions.” Here’s the gist of what I said in my previous post:
1. Ronnie Nathanielsz has been known to be less than truthful if it advances his agenda.
2. Nathanielsz has a good relationship with Ricky Vargas, who happens to be vice-chairman of the SBP.
3. Rick Olivares, a writer known to have close ties with the SBP, broke the news of the meeting between Aguilar (with Nathanielsz) and Alvarez shortly after it happened on Wednesday.
4. Noli Eala, the SBP executive director who loves to grandstand in the media, has been mum on the issue.
5. Word from the SBP on the issue would settle this whole thing quickly, especially if Aguilar’s camp is being truthful that his decision to refuse the BK offer was done without the SBP’s knowledge.
I don’t see any accusation or outlandish conclusion.
I also take issue over the idea that “regular sports columns” never hurl accusations or jump to outlandish conclusions. I can point you to Olivares’ latest column, which is full of innuendo regarding Yeng Guiao’s performance in Tianjin – whether it’s true or not is another matter – or you can Google the term “Ronnie Nathanielsz” and see that the first result is a message board thread about him being a liar.
By the way, message board people, I don’t mind if my stuff is copied-and-pasted everywhere, but I would really appreciate it if you guys linked to the article along with the post. Thanks!
actually I have not seen the full text of the MOU but Beth Celis is correct, it is a
MOU between the BAP and the PBA that was only continued by the SBP.
So without a new MOU between the PBA and SBP I am not sure what Mr Alvarez can now review. As we all know it was the PBA who had earlier said that they would cease in lending players to the National Team, and with that it resulted with the PBA not keen at that time for a new MOU. So without a SBP-PBA MOU, the SBP has created a Long-term Development Program with Rajko Toroman as Project Director. The POWERADE National Team was a stop-gap solution as the Short-term National Team since the SMART GILAS National Team was deemed to be not ready yet to take-up the responsibility as the Senior National Team for this year.
actually I have not seen the full text of the MOU but Beth Celis is correct, it is a
MOU between the BAP and the PBA that was only continued by the SBP.
So without a new MOU between the PBA and SBP I am not sure what Mr Alvarez can now review. As we all know it was the PBA who had earlier said that they would cease in lending players to the National Team, and with that it resulted with the PBA not keen at that time for a new MOU. So without a SBP-PBA MOU, the SBP has created a Long-term Development Program with Rajko Toroman as Project Director. The POWERADE National Team was a stop-gap solution as the Short-term National Team since the SMART GILAS National Team was deemed to be not ready yet to take-up the responsibility as the Senior National Team for this year.
What I am quite concerned about is if the PBA would try to grab the task of forming the nat'l team away from the SBP by using the SBP's bylaws against them. Does this mean that only a new SBP-PBA MOU will authorize the PBA in forming the nat'l team?
without a MOU between the PBA and SBP, the PBA has no right to send their NT to Fiba accredited tournaments being not recognized by Fiba as a member organization. The forming of the NT will still be the responsibility of the SBP
without a MOU between the PBA and SBP, the PBA has no right to send their NT to Fiba accredited tournaments being not recognized by Fiba as a member organization. The forming of the NT will still be the responsibility of the SBP
Thanks for clearing that up doc. I was just confused when firequinito said that the PBA might use this line in the SBP bylaws:
The Corporation authorizes the representatives from the professional sector to form, prepare and enter the men's Philippine National Team to elite international competitions such as the Olympics, the World Championships, the FIBA Championships and the Asian Games including the qualifying tournaments for such competitions, subject to such applicable rules and regulations and accreditation requirements.
If you were Japeth, would you prefer playing for Burger King in 2 or 3 conferences and be allowed to join the SMART GILAS Team only on the PBA off-season or in-between conferences or be part of this well planned SMART GILAS program?
Do you think with the kind of schedule that the PBA has, do you think they would be able to implement a year-long training plan as stated below:
SBP bares Smart-Gilas plan up to Asiad 8/31/2009 | National Team Program
source: Joaquin Henson | philstar.com
It’s a long, hard road to Guangzhou but SBP executive director Noli Eala said yesterday there’s no short cut to success in disclosing the tough Smart-Gilas program that will culminate in coach Rajko Toroman’s Asian Games debut with the national team next year.
Eala said the ultimate goal is for the Philippines to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics and that will mean topping the FIBA-Asia Championships the year before. Manila is bidding to host the FIBA-Asia conclave but faces stiff opposition from Jordan and Lebanon.
Jordan was supposed to host the FIBA-Asia tournament this year but was bumped off by China in a late decision. Jordan’s consolation was finishing third in Tianjin and earning an outright ticket to the World Championships in Turkey next year.
Smart Gilas team @ PAL Centennial Airport (thanks to Chris Tiu for the Pic)
Eala said he is now preparing a power-point summary on the hosting details to be presented to the FIBA-Asia Executive Board before the year ends. Aside from the opposition from Jordan and Lebanon, Eala said Manila has to convince FIBA-Asia that there will be no repeat of the disastrous hosting of the 2005 Champions Cup here by the defunct Basketball Association of the Philippines.
Toroman, who earned for Iran a ticket to the Beijing Olympics, has kept busy conducting practices for the Smart-Gilas players not involved in any collegiate league at the moment. They are Chris Tiu, Jason Ballesteros, Jayvee Casio and Mac Baracael. The practices are held jointly with the PBA club Talk ‘N’ Text.
C. J. Giles, a candidate for naturalization, will arrive in Manila either today or tomorrow to join Toroman’s workouts.
The first stop in the long, hard road is a game against the Singapore Slingers, who play in Australia’s National Basketball League, in the Lion City on Sept. 23. Giles, Tiu, Ballesteros, Casio and Baracael will play in the exhibition contest with Talk ‘N’ Text practice cagers Gec Chia, Gilbert Lao, Emerson Oreta and Jonathan Aldave. Japeth Aguilar will be invited to play for Smart-Gilas in Singapore.
Eala said he is also arranging a game against the Singapore national team for Smart-Gilas during the trip.
In October, Smart-Gilas will play as a guest entry in the PBA Philippine Cup. By then, Eala said Toroman’s lineup will be reinforced by collegiate recruits. Eala said the varsity players expected to suit up for Smart-Gilas include Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Junmar Fajardo, Greg Slaughter, Paul Lee, Mark Barroca, Dylan Ababou, J. R. Cawaling, Aldrech Ramos, R. J. Jazul and Rey Guevara.
In December, Eala said Smart-Gilas will compete in the prestigious international invitational Haarlem tournament in Amsterdam. A high-qualtiy US team usually participates in the meet along with pro clubs from Europe. Then, there is another international competition featuring West Asia and Gulf nations in Dubai early next year.
In March, Smart-Gilas will set up training camp in Australia where Toroman hopes to arrange scrimmages with NBL teams. Melbourne-based FIBA president Bob Elphinston and former Australian national coach Brian Goorjian, now an assistant with China, have assured Eala of their cooperation in arranging the camp. That will also be the month when Fil-Ams are expected to enlist. Marshall University senior Chris Lutz, who was here for several weeks recently to join Toroman’s practices, is definitely playing for Smart-Gilas. Other Fil-Ams in the radar are Sean Anthony of McGill University, Stanley Pringle of Penn State and Nico Monachini of Trinity Western.
“We were planning a trip to Australia in April but Mr. Elphinston suggested to advance our trip to March so we can catch the NBL teams still fresh out of their season,” said Eala. “Coach Rajko is interested in learning more about Australia’s defense which is probably the best in international competition today.”
From Australia, the team will relocate to Serbia where Toroman plans to work on offense with crack local squads. Then, it will move to the US for strength and conditioning at Joe Abunassar’s gym. In October, Eala said he hopes to put together a US college Midwest tour similar to what coach Tim Cone arranged for the Centennial national team in 1998.
“Our target is to expose the team to 40 to 50 international games before Guangzhou,” said Eala. “It’s a tall order but that’s what it takes to get ready for the big guns in Asia.”
Eala revealed that if the Powerade team finished at least fourth in Tianjin, he would’ve recommended to the SBP Board to continue with the PBA route for international representation, provided Toroman is the national coach.
“But that would have also meant the PBA agreeing to a season from September to March so April to August could be freed up for international exposure,” explained Eala. “We would’ve been ready to talk to the PBA on a long-term basis except it would’ve meant a radical change in its schedule.”
Eala said six years ago, the idea was broached of the PBA representing the country in international tournaments on a continuing basis if it could alter the season calendar and operate a one-conference format.
“We admire the PBA’s talent level which is the best in Asia but we also realize there are inherent constraints in the PBA representing our country in international competitions,” said Eala. “Of course, now that Smart-Gilas is in the hotseat, there’s a lot of pressure for the team to deliver.”
too cool things down since alvarez is hellbent on dragging SBP into the issue. The SBP can issue a statement that we will "punish" and not accept aguilar until things are settled with finality between BK and aguilar within a period of say 6 months to 1 year. SBP should further say, we encourage aguilar to work out an arrangement with BK and hence we are giving both aguilar and BK 6 months or 1 year to settle or to work out a contract even though aguilar already made it clear that he wants to be with Gilas. After 1 year of SBP punishment to aguilar, aguilar will then be free to join SBP. its almost like a moro-moro(charade), but this way alvarez cannot say that SBP was silent and did not try to encourage aguilar to settle with BK
This is like a compromise on SBP's part. However, giving in to alvarez demand that SBP kick out aguilar totally or forever is i feel too much and is like the old moneyed boys sticking together and beating up a kid.
This is my suggestion as SBP's fall-back option if this issues spirals out of control. For now, SBP is doing right to keep silent and hands-off since they have nothing to do with this issue(at least officially).
This brings out the question of a hypothetical scenario wherein what if the SBP also bans aguilar forever( this is just hypothetical ok ! ), can smart gilas still be a good team without aguilar ? my answer is yes, because Gilas is a tall team already specially if they get rabeh, lutz and Fajardo and Giles.
The reason I brought up this scenario is that , if you remember, we have all already given up on Aguilar because we all thought, he already signed up with BK so if the SBP sides with PBA and bans aguilar for 6 months or a year, it does not really matter(except of course to the poor kid) since we all thought aguilar already went to BK......so I was thinking, that SBP should see how things play out, and if it looks like PBA will be a pain in the but_ and back Alvarez , then SBP will just drop aguilar as well( I know --> poor kid) , at least for 6 months or 1 year, then wait and see what PBA's reaction will be, and if PBA wants aguilar's head and wants the SBP to ban him for life too then SBP will do so and if critics attack SBP then SBP will point to PBA as the one who insisted. This is all in the name of SBP unity.
Im sure though that due to fan backlash, the PBA will eventually relent and say that japeth can come back to the PBA and by extension to the SBP as well. I know this an ugly compromise or suggestion, but its some thing to think about if hell boils over.
However, I think the reason SBP is adopting a wait and see attitude simply because it is observing if alvarez can get enough votes from the PBA teams to ban aguilar. My bet is that alvarez will not get enough votes because i am sure the other teams specially Danding cojuangco's teams want aguilar
so SBP is making the right move to see how this issue will play out in the PBA board meeting.
wow! this thread is moving as fast as Japeth changes his mind
the PBA is just trying to salvage some pride/face. Try putting yourself in their shoes and see if you'd not act "like a woman scorned"
Anyways, I see an amicable resolution to this issue, expect a joint press conference any day now...Alvarez: "we wish Japeth all the best in his stint with our National Team, and a special thanks to Mr Pangilinan for bankrolling the PBA Coliseum...finally, the PBA will have a place to call home....you are all invited to the groundbreaking ceremony of the PLDT-PBA Arena. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!".
And they all lived happily ever after...the Japeth saga ends.
wow! this thread is moving as fast as Japeth changes his mind
the PBA is just trying to salvage some pride/face. Try putting yourself in their shoes and see if you'd not act "like a woman scorned"
Anyways, I see an amicable resolution to this issue, expect a joint press conference any day now...Alvarez: "we wish Japeth all the best in his stint with our National Team, and a special thanks to Mr Pangilinan for bankrolling the PBA Coliseum...finally, the PBA will have a place to call home....you are all invited to the groundbreaking ceremony of the PLDT-PBA Arena. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!".
And they all lived happily ever after...the Japeth saga ends.
Yes some sort of compensation i believe will do. That's how businessmen thinks.
Or a press release (for the sake of objectivity) like this:
Mr. Alvarez: After the meeting with the PBA board, we have decided that the league is responsible and by mandate of the SBP by-laws for elite competitions, we will be forming and sending teams for international competitions in the future.
But to respect the current SBP program, which is Smart Gilas through 2012, we believe it is their turn to train and form the team until then. This will give us a lot of time to re-arrange our schedule for international meets and other changes.
As mentioned by co-board member Ricky Vargas, and of course TNT owner Manny V. Pangilinan, we are in this together--- the SBP, PBA and hopefully other leagues as well.
As for the Japeth Aguilar issue, while the board considered banning him, we thought that was too harsh and respect Aguilar and his decision. However, to protect our business interest, the board has decided to give us the right to sign Japeth when he comes back to the league--- on the assumption, of course that he decides to play again in the league. That will at least give us the first crack to sign Mr. Aguilar.
The bottomline behind all of alvarez's actions is to force japeth to go back to BK so if SBP will call alvarez' bluff and agree that SBP will ban aguilar if PBA will ban him too in the interest of unity, then the reason behind Alvarez' action will evaporate into thin air if aguilar will dig his heels in the ground and will not back down.
So the question now is will PBA really ban aguilar ? my guess is NO simply because other teams want aguilar specially the cojuangco teams not to mention fan backlash so one scenarios in my head is that alvarez will end up backing down and ask for rights to aguilar 3 years from now after the 2011 fiba-championships.
Yes some sort of compensation i believe will do. That's how businessmen thinks.
Or a press release (for the sake of objectivity) like this:
Mr. Alvarez: After the meeting with the PBA board, we have decided that the league is responsible and by mandate of the SBP by-laws for elite competitions, we will be forming and sending teams for international competitions in the future.
But to respect the current SBP program, which is Smart Gilas through 2012, we believe it is their turn to train and form the team until then. This will give us a lot of time to re-arrange our schedule for international meets and other changes.
As mentioned by co-board member Ricky Vargas, and of course TNT owner Manny V. Pangilinan, we are in this together--- the SBP, PBA and hopefully other leagues as well.
As for the Japeth Aguilar issue, while the board considered banning him, we thought that was too harsh and respect Aguilar and his decision. However, to protect our business interest, the board has decided to give us the right to sign Japeth when he comes back to the league--- on the assumption, of course that he decides to play again in the league. That will at least give us the first crack to sign Mr. Aguilar.
The PBA is an institution, we must keep that in mind. All they're after now is to regain some respect back, and no self-respecting man (businessmen in the top echelon of our society'if i may say so) would just let this controversy blow over with the public perception that they got screwed. They are probably at their wits end trying to come up with a scenario that will make them look "respectable" in the eyes of the public...eventhough they know we know they got screwed
Whatever scenario they come up with, it's a win-win for both sides.
They are probably at their wits end trying to come up with a scenario that will make them look "respectable" in the eyes of the public...eventhough they know we know they got screwed
Yes. Public perception. BK knows it goes both ways. They were indeed screwed. But where there's a screwee there's a screwer so the public will perceive that too.
Aguilar's recent public statements is the first of the many damage control acts by he and his camp. Please do remember that it is his decision that has started all this, right? i am not surprised the SBP has not yet released anything yet but will do in due time--- because Noli Eala is a former commissioner of the PBA himself, he knows the nuances of the draft and respects it. He's finding ways that this not become a SBP vs PBA affair.
I have a suggestion. I don't know if this is in consonance with PBA laws but Japeth should join BK, but with this contract modification: he only gets to play 1 year for BK. A one year contract in other words.
In this case, not only will Japeth be honoring his being drafted in the PBA but he also won't be reneging on BK's draft rights on him. Furthermore, he gets to join Smart Gilas after a year.
If BK is not amenable to this, then this is an example of a contract negotiation bogging down, in which case the PBA's laws on a player having to sit out for a year or so as explained by Ronnie Nathanielsz would take effect.
I have a suggestion. I don't know if this is in consonance with PBA laws but Japeth should join BK, but with this contract modification: he only gets to play 1 year for BK. A one year contract in other words.
In this case, not only will Japeth be honoring his being drafted in the PBA but he also won't be reneging on BK's draft rights on him. Furthermore, he gets to join Smart Gilas after a year.
If BK is not amenable to this, then this is an example of a contract negotiation bogging down, in which case the PBA's laws on a player having to sit out for a year or so as explained by Ronnie Nathanielsz would take effect.
Yeah its a nice idea, but for me its not doably because he might injured intentionally, you know what i mean. Im just worry about japeth health since this issue become very complicated.
Japeth Aguilar's obsession with the national team is far from over and could only be quenched with another stint in one.
That is why he said he is foregoing an immediate stint with Burger King in the PBA and will try his luck getting a slot in the Smart Gilas team that has as goal the 2012 London Olympics.
"My decision is really a desire to help the country fight for a slot to the London Olympics," said the 6-foot-9 player yesterday during a special press conference held at the Kamayan-EDSA.
"We can beat the other teams but we were not ready since the team lacked chemistry and cohesion," related the 22-year-old, who was accompanied by personal agent Ronnie Nathanielsz, sister Micah and his uncle Alexander Vestal and his wife Tess.
"My teammates and I badly wanted to win and we were all disappointed as much as everybody that we couldn't get the job done," he added.
"I made the decision that I wanted to play again for the national team and help the Philippines regain its respect in the world sport."
Aguilar denied reports that he was unhappy being benched by national coach Yeng Guiao in Tianjin. "Sanay na tayo diyan," replied the man who spent more time in the sidelines than on-court during his two-year stint with Western Kentucky U in the US NCAA Division I.
"It has nothing to do with coach Yeng. Do I think that Gilas would have performed better in Tianjin? Hindi natin masabi yan. Different team and different coach," he pointed out.
"Powerade's mission is done. It's Smart Gilas' turn."
Aguilar stirred a hornet's nest by refusing to sign a contract with Burger King that made him the top pick overall in the PBA draft.
He is set to fly to the United States last night for a two-week vacation. He is also set to visit his Chicago-based parents and drop by his WKU alma mater to visit his fiancée, Jessica Magley, who plays forward for the Hilltoppers' women's basketball team. The two are scheduled to tie the knot next year.
When he returns, Aguilar hopes that the current row with the PBA would have been settled and that he can work out a contract with Smart Gilas. When asked if he is worried about being banned in the PBA, Aguilar shrugged and said, "I hope not. Sana hindi. Right now I just want to play for the country." Malaya Online Edition
I think Mr.Danding and MVP can only resolved this issue of japeth... They both hold the majority of the PBA Teams. Japeth will end up playing either in MVP's team or with SMC.
The PBA is an institution, we must keep that in mind. All they're after now is to regain some respect back, and no self-respecting man (businessmen in the top echelon of our society'if i may say so) would just let this controversy blow over with the public perception that they got screwed. They are probably at their wits end trying to come up with a scenario that will make them look "respectable" in the eyes of the public...eventhough they know we know they got screwed
Whatever scenario they come up with, it's a win-win for both sides.
Bros, I think the PBA erred because they approved the PBA draft application of Japeth. Take note that PBA has a rule that a player must have so many games played in either PBL or Liga Pilipinas before being drafted in the PBA. My conclusion: There was an anomaly during the pre-draft, that is, approving the draft application of a player who did not play for PBL or Liga Pilipinas prior to the draft.
