I was just totally going to ignore this story, but a whole bunch of people – including a couple of guys connected to Smart Gilas – kept bugging me about TMZ showing clips of Smart Gilas and Chris Tiu after their loss a couple of days ago to the LA Slam of the ABA. The whole TMZ episode is available online (click on the 4/27 ep) and Gilas appears about a few minutes in.

Continue reading "Smart Gilas and Chris Tiu’s pretty face make it to TMZ"

After running roughshod over not-too-elite competition in Australia and getting their asses handed to them by excellent professional teams in Serbia, Smart Gilas took its act to the United States to play several minor league teams from the American Basketball Association. A couple of days ago, Gilas began its campaign by going up against the ABA team based in San Diego (which of course in German means whale’s vagina). It was an exciting match, with birthday boy Mark Barroca sinking a three-point shot with 4.3 seconds left to lead the Filipinos to a 94-93 victory.

Continue reading "Smart Gilas planning to join shitty American minor league"

Remember that whole issue with Jamal Sampson? Well, it turns out that he still hasn’t been released from his contract by Smart Gilas. Last week, he wrote in with some bad news:

Continue reading "Jamal Sampson’s shadow still looms over Smart Gilas import search"

So the rumors are true: Greg Slaughter, the 6’11” star center of the University of Visayas Green Lancers, is now redshirting for the Ateneo Blue Eagles to be eligible for the 2011 UAAP basketball tournament, Quinito Henson reports in his Philippine Star column. While Quinito downplays Slaughter’s transfer to Katipunan, instead playing up the center’s improvement while training with the Smart Gilas program, the story may have far-reaching implications.

Slaughter first flew to Manila to train with Gilas, a team bankrolled by SBP chairman Manny Pangilinan, who’s also the top patron of the Blue Eagles. It couldn’t have been coincidence that Slaughter chooses to transfer to the same school sponsored by his Gilas principal. Pangilinan pours huge money into Ateneo sports – “between P10 million to P12 million” a year, according to one Inquirer report – and it’s not hard to imagine him or his minions exerting influence on the SBP to steer Slaughter into making the “correct” decision.

Continue reading "Holy crap, Greg Slaughter really is transferring to Ateneo"

Last Thursday, in the wake of Dwayne Jones signing with the Phoenix Suns, I wrote about some other D-League prospects that Smart Gilas might want to check out. Scott Schroeder of Ridiculous Upside singled out former University of Wisconsin center Greg Stiemsma as a promising player that should interest the Gilas brain trust.

Continue reading "Another Smart Gilas prospect, Greg Stiemsma, signs with the Minnesota Timberwolves"

Rafe Bartholomew makes an excellent point in the comments section of the previous post about Smart Gilas’ search for an import:

Continue reading "Import search remains the biggest challenge for Smart Gilas"

You almost have to feel sorry for Frankie Lim, who has worked tirelessly since taking over the management of Smart Gilas lining up import prospects for national team coach Rajko Toroman. Lim, if various newspaper reports were to be believed, was days away from coming to terms with prospect Dwayne Jones before the D-League’s best rebounder was called up by the Phoenix Suns.

Lim’s import search had been extensive, so much so that the excellent D-League blog Ridiculous Upside even wrote a snarky post titled, “Want to play for the Filipino National Team? Be tall, play in the D-League.”

Continue reading "Smart Gilas import search continues after prospect Dwayne Jones signs with the Phoenix Suns"

Boy, it was a busy Easter weekend for news, wasn’t it? Heathens who didn’t take the time to reflect for their sins (or who couldn’t book a trip to Boracay) and were stuck on Facebook all weekend have heard the flap over Manny Pangilinan’s commencement speeches. Pangilinan was actually invited to speak at two graduation ceremonies for the Ateneo de Manila University, one for the School of Science & Engineering and the School of Management, and another for the School of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Continue reading "Manny Pangilinan quits Ateneo over graduation speech flap, but Chris Tiu doesn’t know how to quit him"