MANILA, Philippines – Japeth Aguilar will showcase his talent in Europe after he was invited to play with the Sta. Barbara Breakers in the Groninger Basketball Week in Holland.
Chris McGarry, Aguilar’s US-based Fil-American agent, broke the news to Philstar.com/NBA Philippines via email yesterday.
Aguilar took a break from his practice player duties in the NBA D-League’s Sta. Cruz Warriors to join the Breakers, who recently won the title in the West Coast Basketball League.
McGarry was able to hook up with Breakers coach Curt Pickering, who was a former New Jersey players’ scout and assistant coach to several NBA summer teams that included Dallas, Seattle, Boston and Cleveland.
Pickering liked what he saw and invited Aguilar to join them in the all-expense paid trip to Holland, where they were invited to play in the tournament against other teams from Bosnia, Croatia, Lithuania, the Egypt national team and host Holland.
“Japeth is in high spirits. He understands that he just have to continue to work hard and always stay in his best shape. A call up can happen anytime,” McGarry said in the email.
While the Warriors were on a 10-day road trip, Aguilar stayed at McGarry’s house in Phoenix for a couple of nights where he played some hoops with former NBA player Mike Bibby and some of the D Leaguers from the area.
Aguilar then proceeded to Chicago to be with his family before returning to Sta. Cruz to be with the NBA D-League affiliate of the Golden State Warriors as a practice player.
McGarry is hoping that Aguilar will do great in the Groninger Basketball Week to open up more doors as he continue to pursue his dream to become the first Filipino to play in the NBA.