Now dreaming: Pinoy in NBA

In this country, we came to love one sport first before any other. Long before Pacquiao sent us to pay-per-view venues, our Filipino cheerers had already crazed over the historic rivalries between Crispa Redmanizers and Toyota Tamaraws. Even before football enthusiasts were mesmerized by the way the Younghusbands banged to goal that round, checkered thing, we had already stormed Araneta and Ultra to support Robert Jaworski or Mon Fernandez, all in the name of one game—basketball.

The sport is probably the most popular in the country. In fact, it’s more popular than our national sport sepak takraw or the country’s very own martial arts arnis-de-mano. Go, for example, into the nooks and crannies of villages and you’d never fail to catch that basketball ring stalled in every corner. Either you see it nailed on wood, sometimes even on concrete, or on tree trunks, every basketball ring provides an instant source of recreation for people across varying ages.

And this should not surprise us to a bit. After all, our country is home to the PBA, Asia’s first professional basketball league and second oldest in the world next to NBA. What should shock us however is the fact that no single Filipino player has ever made his way to the NBA even after almost 40 years of well-established local basketball league here that showcases promising talents year after year.

By the look of it, our neighboring countries such as China, Japan and Taiwan seem to have reeled their runs in the courts of NBA while we, the original best dribblers and shooters of the continent have lost our niche in the international arena.

The closest a Filipino had ever come to being in the NBA was point guard Johnny Abarrientos. At the peak of his career in 1997, the then-Charlotte Hornets actually offered him a contract but he allegedly turned it down (it was the classic choice of being a big fish in a little pond versus a little fish in a big pond). He could’ve made history by being the first Asian to play in the NBA, beating Wang Zhizhi’s arrival by a full two years.

Okay, ErikSpoelstra is coaching the elite Miami Heat but he never actually played in the league. During his college basketball career, this player was on the squad for the University of Portland. Later, he went on to become Heat’s head coach, making him the first Filipino-American to ever hold such a position. Then we had Raymond Townsend and Ricardo Brown, half-Filipinos who were drafted in the NBA in the 80s or 90s.Currently, Warriors guard Nate Robinson is partly Filipino and just recently rumors have it that Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins is one-eighth Filipino.

Looking at their profiles, the most striking conclusion that can be derived from this roster is that these guys are not pure Filipinos. And much more vital to observe is that while a certain degree of being Filipino runs in their blood, we haven’t actually heard most of these guys go big in the NBA country. In contrast, we have famous Yao Ming, Asian Pacific islander Wat Misaka and of course, the recent NBA sensation Jeremy Lin making their marks in the prestigious league.

If these figures were able to get into the limelight, why can’t Filipinos? We may not be very much gifted when it comes to size but ours are players who are just as equally-athletic and fundamentally-sound. Besides, basketball is not always a size game. For so many instances in the court, history has proven that speed, a quality that’s very innate to our athletes, is as squarely important as height when it comes to hard-court action.

Really, I think it’s high time for our players to see the sights of the bigger pond out there. For what use is the title of Asia’s first basketball powerhouse if we can’t see a Filipino gunner surmount that mighty foreign NBA court? I mean that’s just a flagrant foul!

And above all, Filipinos can’t be playing basketball in dirty streets all their lives.