Case of misrepresentation?

For everything that PLDT chairman/SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan has done to uplift the standards of Philippine sports, particularly basketball through the Gilas national team, he certainly didn’t deserve the tragic ending of the “Last HOME Stand” at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Tuesday night.

A budget of over P150 Million went down the drain when a plan to stage two games between visiting NBA stars and Gilas was aborted because the organizing agency failed to secure proper NBA clearance. The players, accompanied by NBA legend John Lucas, arrived last Monday to participate in a two-day charity event anchored on two games to get Gilas ready for training camp enroute to the FIBA World Cup in Spain on Aug. 30-Sept. 14.

The players who flew in were Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors, Tyson Chandler of the Dallas Mavericks, Brandon Jennings of the Detroit Pistons and Matt Barnes of the Los Angeles Clippers. Three players who were previously announced to be coming were no-shows, namely, Paul Pierce, now with the Washington Bullets, Paul George of the Indiana Pacers and Blake Griffin of the Clippers. Barnes was a late and unannounced addition to the group.

A source said Pierce cancelled to attend to his commitments with his new team. George was prevented from leaving because of a personal issue and Griffin couldn’t come due to an emergency. Griffin went out of his way to apologize to MVP and Filipino fans for not making the trip in a video that was shown at the Big Dome before the start of Tuesday’s show.

Another source said other NBA players were in line to join the trip but also backed out. One was LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers who’s now on a China tour for Nike. A private plane was supposed to fetch James from Beijing and bring him to Manila for Tuesday’s event. Two other players Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Al Jefferson of the Utah Jazz were also tapped to fly over. Since James could appear on only the first day of the event due to his China commitments, Westbrook would take his spot on the second day. Two players Ed Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers and Nick Johnson of the Houston Rockets were on their way to Manila from the US to reinforce the early arrivals last Tuesday.

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The whole idea was to promote Gilas’ campaign in the coming FIBA World Cup. But the problem was the visitors needed NBA approval to play a five-on-five game or perform in any kind of competition, including shootouts and slam dunks.

Someone said the project was conceived after the deadline passed for promoters or organizers to apply for NBA sanction to stage off-season events where NBA players could perform in competition. However, the organizing agency supposedly assured the sponsoring PLDT and MVP that if the event would be for charity and feature a clinic-type of program, no clearance was necessary. The agency said similar projects had been staged in the US purportedly without NBA sanction.

So in good faith, PLDT put up the ante for the project. A source said PLDT signed a contract for the organizing agency to deliver the NBA players here while the organizing agency signed a contract to pay the NBA players. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports said the players were promised a fee of $150,000 to participate in the two-day event.

About two weeks ago, there were murmurs that the NBA would come down hard on NBA players participating in unsanctioned off-season events. Writer Brett Pollakoff said the NBA Players Association warned players and agents that the NBA “has taken the position that any such exhibition or competition is unallowable and is not approved for player participation under the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) regardless of whether it is incorporated into a clinic or other benign-sounding activity.” Fines and suspensions were threatened on players violating the prohibition. It’s possible that despite their pronouncements, Griffin, George and Pierce withdrew from flying over because of the threat. It’s also possible that this was why James, Westbrook and Jefferson opted to stay away.

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A source said pressure from the NBA Head Office in New York and NBA Asia in Hong Kong was strong for the NBA players not to participate in a five-on-five game, shootouts and dunk competitions in Manila. The players were also not allowed to wear basketball jerseys and could only show up in T-shirts so as not to display a semblance of playing in a game. That’s how strict the NBA rule is.

The NBA can’t be blamed for being overly protective of its players. Insurance costs are high for players to engage in off-season activities that could endanger their NBA careers. But it’s not as if the NBA won’t sanction some kind of participation, particularly in a charity event for a good cause. The key is to secure clearance before embarking on any kind of venture such as the “Last HOME Stand.” This clearance was not obtained by the organizing agency because as a source put it, the sanction deadline had lapsed.

The organizing agency has been known to be efficient in the past and was involved in bringing over nine NBA stars, including Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul, to play two games in Manila during the NBA lockout in 2011. It also negotiated for Andray Blatche to join Gilas as a naturalized player. So the agency has a positive track record.

Last Tuesday, the visitors wore T-shirts and treated a disappointed crowd to a display of drills without playing any kind of game or keeping score. Araneta Coliseum officials reported sales of 70 percent of tickets so over 10,000 fans were shocked to find out no competitive game would be played.

“Was this a case of misrepresentation?” wondered a corporate executive close to the PBA Board of Governors. “The organizing agency is based in the US and even came with a famous American player agent. Nobody wanted this to happen. The victims are not just the Filipino fans but also PLDT, MVP and Gilas. All PLDT and MVP wanted was to make Filipino fans enjoy games with NBA players and to promote Gilas. Of course, all payment for tickets will be refunded but who will assume the liability of this tragedy? There must be accountability.”