While Joe Betancourt, the former Charlotte Hornets scout who nearly brought Johnny Abarrientos to the NBA in 1997, is busy investing his millions in the stock market, guaranteed commercial paper and IPOs, he’s not losing sight of what makes him tick – his love for sports.
Betancourt met with then-Alaska coach Tim Cone, FEU team owner Anton Montinola and Abarrientos in his Manila Peninsula Hotel suite to negotiate a 10-day contract for the Flying A. It was almost a done deal until Betancourt returned to Charlotte only to find out coach Dave Cowens had plugged the hole in the point guard position by trading for David Wesley. Betancourt will never forget what could’ve been and now that he’s working to buy an NBA franchise with Asian and Middle East partners, his vision is to still bring in a full-blooded, home-grown Filipino to the league nearly 30 years after the Abarrientos experience. Betancourt’s sights are on Kai Sotto.
“We’re in the chase to obtain an NBA franchise,” he said. “It’s a very exclusive club of only 30 NBA team owners. A former top NBA coach is advising us. For the moment, if this option to buy the team fails, we have other options even though it has been a long wait, it’s par for how long it takes to close on an option like this. Winning in the NBA means willing to delve strongly in the luxury tax and we’re willing and we have deep, deep pockets to go there when we prevail. We have never lost faith that we can pull it off.” Once the deal is finalized, Betancourt will be the managing partner with a 10 percent investment or about $270 million.
Betancourt said he’s closely following Gilas’ exploits. “Gilas has a tough road in Riga but never say no,” he said. “I agree with Tim that sky’s the limit for Kai. I’m not easily impressed but Gilas has impressed me. What a job Tim has done. He’s like fine top of the line wine.”
Betancourt was once the Saudi Arabian and Mexican national coach. He won championships in Venezuela and in 1997, took the US team to the Jones Cup throne. A coaching legend in Texas where he’s from, Betancourt has conducted clinics all over the world, working with former Los Angeles Lakers coach Del Harris, Bill Walton, Jim Valvano, George Gervin and other stars. He recently established a Mexico-based foundation called Instituto del Basquetbol with stations in four cities to expose youth and senior players to high-level coaches in camps as a way of giving back to the game.
Football is another sport that’s close to Betancourt’s heart as he’s a Real Madrid fan, following the team wherever it plays. And tennis is also close to his heart with his daughter Tiffany, 21, about to make her WTA debut as a wild card entry at the Cincinnati Open on Aug. 11-19. Tiffany was born in Valencia, Spain like her mother Rachel Goldstein, a former model. She’ll be the first tennis player wearing Prada and her other sponsors are Saudi Aramco, Wilson for rackets and Nike for shoes.
“I followed the script of ‘King Richard’ where the Williams sisters played no tournament and I brought up Tiffany that way,” said Betancourt. “Hopefully, we’ll drop a pleasant surprise once she starts playing the circuit. The concept was to stay under the radar and surprise the WTA. She’s been home-schooled with a teacher from the Sorbonne and traveling the world with me, an education in itself. Besides being a great tennis player, Tiffany is intelligent and kind. I’m very fortunate with her. By the way, we’ve seen Alex (Eala) play and she has great potential.”
Tiffany is now training at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy with the Jumeirah Group in Dubai. Her early mentors were former world No. 12 Steve Denton and former world No. 1 Gustavo (Guga) Kuerten. “Steve and Guga told her she had the talent and mentality to make it in the WTA,” said Betancourt. “The old adage was to put tennis girls out there at 14 but 80 percent burned out early or walked away as they didn’t have the maturity and personal skills to handle the rigors of the WTA. We plan on visiting Chris Evert as she is the model that we want to follow and emulate. At 21, I feel Tiffany is prepared to handle the pressure and has learned quite a bit about the sports world being around me.”
Betancourt said while he turns 74 in November, it’s like he’s 54. “The biggest blessing from God is health,” he said. “I know lots of ultra-wealthy individuals who wish they had less money and more health.” There’s still a lot on Betancourt’s plate moving forward and he said what drives him is his life motto: “Quoique ce soit, on va gagner” – whatever it is, we’ll win.”