Reid grateful to Pumarens

Hong Kong’s 6-8 center Duncan Reid paid tribute to Filipino coaches Derick and Dindo Pumaren for their efforts in improving the national team’s level of play at the 27th FIBA-Asia Championships which ended here last Sunday.

Reid, 23, is half-Chinese and a fresh graduate of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He was born and lives in the former Crown Colony. Even when he attended school in Ontario, Reid said he would go home to Hong Kong during holidays. His Canadian father is a merchant who has lived in Hong Kong for over 30 years.

“I played two years for my school in Canada but sparingly as I was in and out of the lineup because of injuries,” he said. “We got together to practice for the FIBA-Asia Championships only two or three weeks. No one is a full-time player. We’ve got firemen, policemen, students and teachers in our team. We practice at night after they put in their hours at work.”

Reid said the Pumarens were mainly in contact with the Hong Kong coaching staff. “They’re very knowledgeable about the game,” he said. “They suggested things to work on at practice, our offense and defense. I learned a lot from them. During our game against Bahrain, they advised us to pound it inside, to take advantage of our size instead of taking too many outside shots. I think it worked because we beat Bahrain. They wanted us to go to our strengths.”

The Pumarens were recruited by Hong Kong businessman David Hui to act as coaching consultants for his commercial club Winling three years ago. They fly in and out of Hong Kong to conduct drills, clinics and scrimmages. When Hui took over as the national team manager, he asked the brothers to help out.

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“We’re not directly involved with the team,” said Derick. “But because of our close relationship with Mr. Hui, we try to teach things that might improve the team. We don’t even sit on the bench.”

Reid said Hong Kong’s top player, 5-10 sharpshooter Lo Yi Ting, skipped the FIBA-Asia Championships to train with his Chinese Basketball Association club Fujian Quanzhou Bank in the mainland. Lo paced Hong Kong to a 76-73 win over Mongolia at the East Asia qualifying tournament in Incheon last May and the win was enough to earn the ticket to Manila. In the playoff for third place, Hong Kong lost an 87-71 decision to Japan.

Reid said he’s looking around for playing opportunities. The league in mainland China is an option. He joined the national team at the East Asia qualifiers and made heads turn after compiling 13 points and eight rebounds in Hong Kong’s 105-62 loss to South Korea in the semifinals. In Manila, Reid collected 12 points and 19 rebounds as Hong Kong gave the Philippines a scare before dropping a 67-55 verdict. Reid held his own against Gilas’ Marcus Douthit and Japeth Aguilar in the middle.

“I was surprised with my numbers,” said Reid. “I didn’t expect it. When I looked at the stats sheet, I told myself, did I do that?” Reid averaged 11.7 points and 8.4 rebounds in seven games but in his last three outings, outdid himself, hitting at a 16.7 clip and norming 13 boards. He was a tower of power in Hong Kong’s 87-79 upset of Bahrain, delivering 20 points and seven rebounds.

Reid said he was excited to play against the Philippines. “It was a wonderful experience playing before a really enthusiastic crowd and competing with highly skilled players,” he said. “We went out there just to do our best.”

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China national team coach Panagiotis Giannakis of Greece is reportedly asking for more time to straighten out kinks with his players after failing to bring the 15-time FIBA-Asia champion to the semifinals of the tournament in Manila. Last May, he was signed to a four-year deal to call the shots for China until the 2016 Olympics but it isn’t guaranteed.

Giannakis, 54, broke out of his pact with the Limoges club in the French league to move to China. Limoges reluctantly released Giannakis for “severe misconduct” then sued the Greek for breach of contract and is seeking damages of the equivalent of P120 Million. China isn’t paying the damages which will be determined in court if Limoges wins the case. So Giannakis needs the China contract in case he has to pay Limoges off.

A China team insider said there is confusion within the team not only because the players communicate with Giannakis through an

interpreter and his instructions are often lost in translation but also the coach hasn’t earned the respect of the veterans and newcomers alike. “Giannakis may not know it but those who understand Mandarin will tell you the players are grumbling on the bench and don’t like him,” said an insider. “He’s trying to run China like his Greek team before but he doesn’t have the material to do it.”

The insider said China’s loss to Chinese-Taipei in the knockout quarterfinals last Friday will be difficult to live down because of the strained political relations between the two archenemies. The speculation is Giannakis may be terminated sooner than later.

“There are four wildcards for the FIBA World Cup and China wants to buy its way in,” said the insider. “They’re not happy with what happened in Manila. Giannakis wants to prove himself and is asking for one more chance. Let’s see if he lasts. His problem is he doesn’t understand Asian mentality. He rubs his players the wrong way.”