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.