Big J plays active role in national squad

Robert Jaworski, the living legend of Philippine basketball, welcomed the opportunity to help Philippine basketball as he accepted an offer by national coach Yeng Guiao to be part of his advisory council.

Mentor of the RP team that won the silver medal in the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, Jaworski promised to support Guiao in the effort to gain a slot for the country in the 2010 World Championship in Turkey.

“It’s an honor to be asked to contribute in our own little way through our experience, knowledge, and insights from past tournaments,” said Jaworski.

“I understand that we’ll be asked to drop during practice from time to time, and also to list down our so-called Dream Team for Yeng’s consideration. We’ll probably look at it together and maybe come up with a team that everybody believes is the right group,” Jaworski said.

Jaworski, whose charisma and aggressive brand of play made him the face of the PBA for decades, said he might attend PBA games every now and then to scout candidates he may include in his list.

He may not be physically present in the PBA games for some time but insisted he’s attuned to what’s going on in and around the league.

Air21 president and team manager Lito Alvarez earlier reported talks are ongoing for Jaworski to coach the Express. Jaworski confirmed those talks but said he has some other current business matters to attend to first.

“They (Express) are wonderful people, and we’re talking about something that’s closest to my heart, basketball,” he said. “It’s just that at this time of my life there are a couple of small things I’m putting together, so I don’t know.”

He was also unsure about his plans for the 2010 elections.

“If there’s going to be some honest-to-goodness electoral reforms and I could pool all athletes and sports people together then I think I will venture into politics again,” said Jaworski who has served a term as senator.

The plans to acquire a naturalized seven-footer to beef up the national team and tap the services of a foreign coach drew negative reaction from Jaworski.

Instead of naturalizing a foreigner which would “always involve a question of law,” Jaworski suggested that a search be made for a tall foreign player with Filipino lineage that would make him eligible to “vote and play basketball” under the Dual Citizenship Law.

Jaworski also is not keen on the hiring of a foreign coach to handle the national team.

“It’s a little way off. I don’t have anything against foreign coaches, but we have to have some degree of pride,” he said.– Nelson Beltran