Apart from troubled pasts, infamous stints in the Philippines, and local columnists drawing knives after they left, there’s one more thing that Lee Benson and CJ Giles had in common: they signed more lucrative deals immediately after leaving the Philippines.

Right after his tumultuous stint with Sta. Lucia, Benson burned the hoops in China and Puerto Rico, without much incident. Meanwhile, Giles flew off to Lebanon to sign with club team Al-Riyadi, the richest team in the Lebanese league, to replace NBA veteran Mamadou N’Diaye.

The thing is, because the reports by Quinito Henson and Rick Olivares only reported one side of the story, we never know how true these reports were. Could it be possible then that these imports acted up because they were trying to get out of their contracts in the Philippines for better deals abroad? Could the bitter articles that followed be just mechanisms for our local clubs to save face?

I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, we’ll never know these things because of the way Philippine sports are covered.

For example, very little useful reporting has been done about how the current import search for a great replacement for Giles has been hard, because now the pool is limited to players who couldn’t get a deal in China, where players are paid up to $40,000 a month, or even more.

Instead, we get fluff pieces about the credentials of prospect Jamal Sampson, who’s in town trying to sign a deal with Gilas. No one reports, however, that Sampson was a cautionary tale for players leaving college to turn professional early – he left the University of California after his freshman year – and how that lack of seasoning has had disastrous effects on Sampson’s development; he’s already 26, and as Sham Sports noted: “Sampson is still a pretty awful offensive player, who spent last year in China, where he averaged 10.7 points and 10.7 rebounds for Liaoning. And if he can't score there, he won't score anywhere.”

But for whatever reason, no one is asking why Gilas has not brought (or cannot bring) in anyone else other than Sampson. Considering how critical an import is to the success of the team, you’d think they would tread more carefully, perhaps bring in more than, you know, one guy.

And now, apparently, Gilas is having trouble closing a deal with Sampson. There’s a curious trend that no one’s talking about, with Gilas having problems getting or holding on to players. Consider:

• Japeth Aguilar originally chose to join the PBA draft over signing up with Gilas. Of course, he reversed course, and we all spent months getting worked up over that stupid discussion.


• Top college prospects Rico Maierhofer and Ogie Menor also chose to go pro. It’s crazy, when you think about it: Maierhofer is now being “developed” by Ryan “The Genius” Gregorio instead of Rajko Toroman, while Menor is doing his Tubid 2.0 with Barako freaking Bull, which is just a step up from a Liga Pilipinas team. Both of them could have helped Gilas tremendously.


• 6-11 center Greg Slaughter trained with Gilas in the offseason, but refused to rejoin the team after leading the University of the Visayas to a Cesafi championship, saying he wanted to focus on his studies. Of course, focusing on his studies did not preclude him from playing for UV in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League.


• Rabeh Al-Husseini did not join Gilas in the team’s offseason training abroad, also saying that he wanted to focus on his studies. Of course, this did not preclude him from joining Ateneo’s offseason training in Las Vegas. After leading the Blue Eagles to a championship, Al-Husseini finally joined Smart Gilas.


• Despite love letters from Noli Eala, sensational University of the East guard Paul Lee and promising University of Cebu June Mar Fajardo have refused to join the team.


• When Gilas ran a recruitment camp in Las Vegas last summer, top Fil-Am prospects such as Stanley Pringle did not show up. Which might have been for the best, actually. Pringle is now playing for the Passe-Partout Leuven Bears in Belgium.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with what Gilas is doing to recruit players; team captain Chris Tiu detailed, in his usual articulate manner, the merits of the program and why it was the right decision for him.

But I’m curious to know is why all these other players refused. At the very least, there are interesting stories here beyond the usual lackey pieces. Or are we not supposed to talk about anything that’s not part of, as Imelda Marcos would put it, the true, the good, and the beautiful?

(Even more on the topic tomorrow.)