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greenarrow

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    Team Pilipinas Basketball

    in Basketball

    Posted · Edited by greenarrow

    Jamal Sampson issue builds buzz; import answers Rajko Toroman

     

    The ongoing Jamal Sampson saga has created some buzz even in the mainstream media: both the Manila Standard Today and GMANews.TV picked up the story last Thursday, while Patricia Hizon’s (always excellent) column for Standard Today last Friday carried the only reaction from an SBP official so far, from newly-minted Smart Gilas team manager Frankie Lim. Yesterday, Abante Tonite’s Zaldy Perez also mentioned the blog post in his column.

     

    (It’s weird though, I always figured that if an Abante Tonite column was going to run my stuff, it would be for Dear Xerex. Especially on the eve of Valentine’s. But I digress.)

     

    Also, this morning, Beth Celis’ whole column in the Inquirer was basically lifted from the blog (without giving any credit, unfortunately). Still, the issue made it to the Sunday edition of the country’s biggest broadsheet, so hopefully it would encourage the SBP leadership to issue a statement on the matter.

     

    Of course, in light of Coach Rajko Toroman’s scathing email against him, it was only natural for Sampson to want to respond. I almost didn’t want to run this, because it detracts from the original issue at hand (the contract situation with the SBP), but in the interest of fairness, here’s the latest from Jamal Sampson:

     

    I’m going to take a sec and respond to coach’s comments. One, let’s see, coach mentioned a tournament with Zain where I hurt my back, and could only play some minutes the rest of the tournament, and China, [where] I got hurt in my second season. Both are true. [With] Zain, I got hurt for a tournament, but continued to play, but limited some of my minutes. But I still played, and we won the championship with me playing 30 minutes in the championship hurt. In China, I played with a torn hamstring but tried to play through it, but [the injury] limited how effective I was, not being able to run and jump. But yet again, I played, just not as well as I could if healthy.

     

    He named 2 injuries. Well, I’m 26 years old, and turned pro at 18. In college, I played and started all 34 games, I think, for my college career. I have been a pro for 8 years now, and he named 2 injuries prior to this team, both where I still attempted to play. In a sport where injuries are frequent, to name 2 for a player in 9 seasons sounds pretty lame to speak on.

     

    Have I had some injuries? Sure. What athlete or player hasn’t? Look in the NBA, from Dwyane Wade whose career was hampered in the beginning due to injuries, to a player people associate with me, my cousin Ralph Sampson, who most people consider one of the top 3 college players ever and a guy who was first pick and only got to play like 6 NBA seasons, or Bill Walton, an NBA great who only played about 3 full professional seasons due to bad injuries.

     

    I’ve managed 9 seasons so far, and he named two injuries I tried to play through. Does that sound justified?

     

    Two, I’ll respond to coach’s comments, on assistants. Well, guess what, the words came from coach himself: he hates how he was given and made to take those assistants and not allowed to pick his own, and none of them know what they are doing. That’s what coach stated before. Also, it’s been stated he got stuck with Coach Allan [Gregorio, brother of Smart Sports head Pato Gregorio] only because his brother is high up in the Smart business, or whatever program sponsors the team. These are all facts I couldn’t know unless told, obviously. They said none of the coaching staff had any prior coaching credentials.

     

    Regarding my knee not being swollen, well, both doctors I went to said it was swollen. One thought it was a mild sprain, but wouldn’t know without an MRI. The other thought it was capsulitis, which causes swelling in the back of my knee, and wanted me to take an MRI though to make sure, because it could be a few other things. [Coach Toroman] never attended either visit to the doctor, nor does he have any info on my contract, or how I was paid, or if things were handled.

     

    Also, another point made by coach about missing a game against San Miguel, well that actually helps prove one of my points. He stated someone came for me an hour and a half before the game. Well, the game was at 10 AM, I landed at 11 PM the night before, because I had been back home for a week and a half.

     

    Why I didn’t know about the game, and they had to try to send someone, is because I had no cellphone. This game took place in January, I signed a month earlier in the beginning of December, where it clearly states in my contract I was supposed to get a Filipino phone and SIM card right after signing the contract, so I could contact people and get contacted. A month later, I still had no phone. Ironically, a team named Smart Gilas, ran by Smart, a cell phone company, can’t get me a phone for over a month.

     

    (Editor’s note: Sampson furnished the blog with a receipt for a cell phone connection dated January 6, a day after Smart Gilas’ tune-up game against San Miguel which Sampson missed.)

     

    Noli apologized and said [the phone] got held up for some reason, and he took responsibility for me missing the game because I wasn’t informed about it, because I had no phone.

     

    Also, about me not playing and refusing to play in the first 2 games, my agent told them I wouldn’t play until I signed a contract, because he wouldn’t risk injury without me being under contract and covered medically and everything. That’s standard procedure, plenty of players won’t play for a team until they signed a contract, unless it’s a player desperate for a job and has no other options, and has to do it that way.

     

    Some players [on Smart Gilas] keep me in the loop about what’s going on. I guess Coach Toroman didn’t know about me sleeping on the floor without a bed and stuff, and asked some players if any of that stuff was true, and they confirmed it. I don’t like to mention any of the players though, because they’re under contract for 2 more years, and I don’t want to cause any friction for them.

    Team Pilipinas Basketball

    in Basketball

    Posted

    why is it that smart gilas is having a hard time in getting naturalized xagers? first, it was cj giles, then jamaal sampson, then this third guy. am just wnodering why is this is so? in the ncc days, naturalized cagers are a plenty. it gives the impression of the kind of program smart gilas is. it seems it is poorly managed.

     

    and now, this tnt/mvp walkout. is this the basketbal program that we have. is mvp. after this classless act, still deserves to be the sbp top honcho? should we now trust this kind of person to handle, managed our national basketball program?

     

    mvp is no ecj!!!!

    Barangay Ginebra Kings

    in Basketball

    Posted

    What is frustrating and disappointing in all these fiasco is that MVP, the head of SBP, ordered/allowed his team TNT to walk out. It clearly shows lack of professionalism and sportsmanship on the part of MVP. In the end, us basketball fans are the losers in this situation. Maybe it's time to assess our basketball program, as it now becomes cloudy under MVP, a man who showed lack of class in his actions. Clearly, MVP owes us basketball fans, at the very least, an apology.

    Burgers

    in List of Restaurants, Coffee Shops, Milk Tea, etc

    Posted

    I would like to call your attention to your current promo re UAAP bottles with coca-cola. How come the DE LA SALLE bottle does not contain the name of the school mascot, in this case Green Archers, while the other uaap schools have their mascot name on it? How come the DE LA SALLE logo is only arrows? The school mascot is the Green Archers.

    Admu Vs. Dlsu

    in UAAP

    Posted · Edited by greenarrow

    Going back to Franz Pumaren. He should have stepped down after the 2005 season. After his team lost to FEU, DLSU acknowledged that they fielded ineligible players in Benitez and Gatchalian. Dapat doon pa lang nagresign na siya. Coach siya kahit papaano alam niya educational background ng mga players niya. Usually coach din ang involved sa recruitment ng mga players galing sa high school. But he claimed na wala siyang alam doon which is hard to believe hahaha.

     

    DLSU is not the same old team of yesteryears. Last year they were still able to reach the finals because Casio and Maierhofer carried them. Second their vaunted pressing defense can now easily be broken. Third they really don't have a big man in this team so they usually rely on that pressing defense to cover up the absence of a dominant inside player. Fourth, they have 5 or 6 rookies in this team. If they meet up with Ateneo, I believe that Ateneo can beat them twice this season again.

     

    Ateneo just lost Yuri Escueta , Chris Tiu and Jobe Nkemokolam. They still have Ryan Buenafe, Rabeh Al Hussaini, Noy Baclao etc. I wouldn't even be surprised if DLSU could not reach the final four. The last time the Green Archers had a weak team according to Pumaren was way back in 2003. During that tournament. They lost to Ateneo twice in the eliminations. They won a game in their matchup against Ateneo. But they were definitely defeated by the Eagles. That 2003 team was much stronger. They had Jerwin Gaco, Araña, and Casio. That team still had Mac Cardona and Joseph Yeo. This is a much different team for the archers. James Mangahas would definetely be the guy carrying this team.

    Allow me to reply on your post.

     

    1. Franz did resign.

     

    2. Your second paragraph is somewhat confusing.

    Re pressure defense: DLSU no longer has the right materials to implement this type of defense. Players like Cardona, Yeo Gaco & Arana are a perfect fit to this type of defense.

    Big men - DLSU ever since, even during the NCAA days has always been guard oriented. Well known players who came from DLSU are mostly guards from Bilbao, Beng, Eduque, Casio, to name a few.

    I agree with you that with 6 rookies for this season DLSU will be hard pressed to even reach the final four. This is a rebuilding year for the Green Archers. This year's Green Archers will have to mature fast to be able to be competitive.

     

    3. ADMU is a strong team this season. In fact I would even dare say that this year's ADMU team is much better, than last year, in the sense that it now has championship experience. But next year will be a different story. ADMU's young players will have to develop and mature fast, if they will still be competitive next year. But, we are getting ahead of ourselves.

     

    Green is the color of hope!

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