Making the bottom line

The RP Cebuana Lhuillier basketball team came under fire two days ago, in reaction to its second-place finish at the National Basketball Conference pre-season tournament at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. Their runner-up finish to the Parañaque Jets, a new team with a veteran NBC coach in Jun da Jose, touched off outrage among high sports officials, tantamount to a verbal public stoning, the way criminals were punished hundreds of years ago.

Calls for the resignation of head coach Boyzie Zamar and the replacement of the entire team filled the sports pages. In essence, the experiment was considered a failure even before the team actually made it to any real competition.

Historically, when the team was first formed, Zamar and Dong Vergeire — both past coaches of Southeast Asian Games gold medal teams — were appointed by the Basketball Association of the Philippines to train the squad and form its strategy. However, it was not made clear who would act as head coach between the two. This caused some confusion at the critical starting phase. Nevertheless, Vergeire assumed command, and Zamar, an excellent scout in his own right, took the back seat. After a massive nationwide open call for players, the backbone of the team was formed around present and former collegiate players who did not have any Philippine Basketball League teams. It was difficult to find schools and commercial teams that would lend their tested players for the national cause.

Jean Henri Lhuillier, the team’s patron, provided all the resources, including building an impressive training facility in a secluded village in Las Piñas. The team’s mission is two-fold: place in the top two of the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) tournament in Singapore in June to open the door for the PBA Philippine team to enter the FIBA-Asia tournament and, hence, earn an Olympic berth; and defend the SEA Games title.

In January, the team entered the Sinulog Cup, which featured a six-team line-up that included two URBL selections, a college team from Korea, a provincial team from China, and the host M. Lhuillier. After winning their first three games, RP Cebuana needed to win their fourth to make it to the finals, or at least, not lose by more than 16. But, in that game, and out-of-shape Jeff Flowers, playing for a hastily-formed Quezon Huskers, played impeccably and deflated the national squad. They were relegated to the battle for third, but in the process, became the only team without an import to place.

But during the tournament, an embarrassed Vergeire offered to resign, changing his mind the next day. Things seemed back to normal when the team resumed their training in Las Piñas. Then, immediately before the presentation of SEA Games athletes to sponsoring San Miguel Corporation, the BAP decided to make Zamar the head coach, after which, Vergeire promptly stopped attending practices and tune-up games. That was barely a month ago. Since then, the team lost its starting center and leader, Ricky Calimag, to the Sta. Lucia Realtors, and its starting point guard, Egay Echavez, to the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, to fill the void left by the injured Jayjay Helterbrand. Suddenly, the team was without its two of its most potent contributors.

But, all throughout, RP Cebuana has been playing against — and mostly defeating — top PBL and college teams in frequent practice games.

"We hope to have at least 35 competitive games before the SEABA," Zamar said at the start of the NBC event. "That is our program. The NBC tournament is a big help to us."

At the start of the NBC joust, point guard Dennis Madrid, a calming influence and veteran of international competition as well as the defunct MBA, sprained his ankle, and was out for the rest of the tournament. Back-up BJ Manalo did not play, as he was still on his honeymoon. The team’s guard corps was depleted.

Still, the nationals blew out all their opponents in the elimination round, only encountering rough sailing in the final, where the Jets’ older players used their experience in fashioning a close win. Since then, the team has invited other players to bolster its line-up.

Unfortunately, the RP Cebuana Lhuillier team is like an anti-terrorist squad: the only time people can say you’ve done a good job is if nothing goes wrong, even if there are so many ways it could. They are like a security force escorting a priceless treasure, whose job is only accomplished once the treasure has reached its destination. In other words, they must preserve the status quo.

The bottom line for the unsatisfied is this: the RP Cebuana Lhuillier team has to start proving it can win, regardless of the conditions it finds itself in. They have to restore confidence in their system, and let their playing do the talking. In whatever other tournaments they join, they have to start bringing home gold, not silver or bronze. That is the status quo that people have been used to. And they knew this when they took on the job.

* * *

Catch this week’s episode of The Basketball Show on ABC 5 at 3 p.m.