New deal in works

Last Friday, Mahindra and GlobalPort were supposed to consummate a trade involving five players. A document signed by representatives of both teams was forwarded to PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa for approval. The deal would send Paolo Taha, Jonathan Uyloan and Roi Sumang from GlobalPort to Mahindra in exchange for Karl Dehesa and Mike DiGregorio.

While I covered Game 3 of the semifinal series between Meralco and Alaska for TV5 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum that day, I received a text from GlobalPort confirming the trade. I shared the news during the telecast only to be informed by PBA communications and external affairs director Willie Marcial a few minutes later that the deal was being pulled out. No reason for the withdrawal was given.

Last Monday, Mahindra head of basketball operations Bobby Rosales called on the phone to explain what happened. Apparently, the deal had no go-signal from Mahindra top management. When Rosales heard the announcement on TV, he quickly phoned Narvasa to hold the trade.

“There is a written internal policy with our team that I’m the only one authorized to approve and sign documents relating to player transactions, nobody else,” said Rosales. “The document that was forwarded to Commissioner Narvasa was not signed by me. Since it was submitted without my authority, there was an irregularity. I realize everybody acted in good faith and if GlobalPort insists on pushing through with the trade, I will not contest it. I don’t want to make it an issue. I certainly don’t want to drag the PBA into any kind of controversy. I phoned Commissioner Narvasa to clear the air on the matter because there was confusion. I also know that for every action, there is a consequence.”

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The other day, Rosales said the issue had been cleared up. The deal was undone. “We clarified everything,” he said. “No problem with our team management. We’re now working on a trade involving Karl. There are three options on the table. One involves trading Joseph Yeo and Taha for Karl. Another involves trading Taha and Anthony Semerad for Karl. And the last, involves trading Taha and Sumang for Karl then trading Sumang to Blackwater for Keith Agovida. Nothing is certain at the moment and we’re still working out details of the trade.”

Rosales said Mahindra won’t stand in the way of players who want to explore other opportunities. He admitted talking about career options with Dehesa, DiGregorio, Mark Yee and L. A. Revilla. The contracts of Dehesa, Yee and Revilla are expiring at the end of this season while DiGregorio has one more season left.

“I had a long talk with Karl,” said Rosales. “At Mahindra, we’ve always told our players we’re relaunching their careers, for them to take advantage of the opportunity to show what they can do. If you get noticed by other teams and get a better offer, we won’t hamper your growth. But I remind the players to factor in the perks and privileges of playing with us. There’s also the matter of playing time. Of course, we’re happy for our players if they get a better deal. I also spoke with Karl’s father who is only after the welfare of his son. In the end, Karl decided to move on which is why we’re exploring trade options.”

Another player whom Rosales spoke to was DiGregorio. “There’s really no offer for Mike unlike Karl,” he said. “Mike wants to stay with us. At Mahindra, we value loyalty and integrity in our organization. Mike has a lot of potential and still hasn’t reached his maximum, he’s still growing as a player. We’d like to keep Mike.”

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As for Yee, Rosales said another team expressed interest in signing him up. “I spoke to Mark directly,” he said. “Like Mike, Mark wants to stay with us. He knows he’ll get playing time with us and he can’t be sure with other teams. So Mark prefers to extend his career with us than risk not getting minutes with another team. What he asked for as a salary is beyond our budget but Mark appreciates there are other factors to consider.”

In Revilla’s case, Rosales said there is no direct offer from any team. “L. A. is in the crossroads of his career,” he said. “I expect there will be offers because he has played very well. We want him to stay with us but if he has a better opportunity to play with another team, we won’t prevent him from leaving. I’ve assured L. A. that we take care of our own. He’s thinking things over now.”

Regarding coach Chito Victolero, Rosales stressed that he was not terminated. Columbian Autocar vice chairman Chito Santos and Rosales met with Victolero after Mahindra was eliminated in the usual post-tournament evaluation. “We work on the basis of a collective effort,” said Rosales. “Joe Lipa is our consultant who shares inputs with the coaching staff but he’s not a coach. We were actually surprised by Chito’s decision. He cited health reasons and submitted his letter of resignation to our team manager Eric Pineda. The pressure was probably too much to bear. We decided to bring up Chris Gavina from the ranks to replace Chito as part of our philosophy of giving opportunities to others who may not be too well known.”