Dr. J a free agent

Basketball guru Andy Jao, popularly known as Dr. J – a moniker that was tagged by the late Joe Cantada, is no longer attached to the Barako Bull franchise in the PBA. He quietly tendered his resignation to team owner George Chua last June 1.

Jao was connected with the Barako team since 2000 when it wore the Red Bull colors. He worked as a consultant and one of his chief responsibilities was recruiting imports. Jao did a yeoman’s job finding the likes of James Penny, Tony Lang, Sean Lampley, Julius Nwosu, Raymond Tutt, Earl Barron, Scott Burrell and Ramel Lloyd.

In April last year, Jao was elevated to team manager with Tony Chua as PBA chairman.

Jao, a La Salle graduate, began his PBA career as an assistant coach under Tommy Manotoc with U-Tex in 1977. He was on the bench when the Wranglers won two PBA titles in 1978 and 1980. During Jao’s term, U-Tex’ imports included Byron (Snake) Jones, Glenn McDonald and Aaron James.

From U-Tex, Jao moved with Manotoc to San Miguel Beer in 1981-82. Then, Jao switched to Manila Beer where he was team manager working with coaches Boni Carbonnel, Ed Ocampo and Tito Eduque for three seasons from 1984 to 1986. Jao was also Manila Beer’s PBA governor and once served as league treasurer.

In 1989-90, Jao was PBL commissioner for four conferences.

Throughout his PBA career, Jao earned an enviable reputation as a quiet, hard-working scholar. He shunned the limelight, preferring to watch videos, go over scouting notes and concocting tactics in the backroom. Jao knew he would be more effective behind the scenes and he certainly was.

One thing that Jao pursued in his PBA love affair was analyzing games on TV. In 1982, he was on Vintage’s pioneer telecast panel with Cantada, Pinggoy Pengson, Steve Kattan and future PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino who was the courtside reporter dubbed “Man on the Ball.” Jao continued to do TV duties until 2000 when he joined Red Bull on a full-time basis.

In 1997, Jao and I teamed up to cover the first NBA Finals on-site for live satellite TV transmission to the Philippines. We did a second take the next year which was unforgettable as Michael Jordan hit a last second shot to lift Chicago to a pulsating 87-86 win over Utah in Game 6 that wrapped up the title at Salt Lake City.

Jao returned to the TV panel for Solar Sports this season and picked up where he left off, regaling viewers with his incisive analysis. He also made a comeback to the NBA Finals, combining with Mico Halili to cover the Los Angeles-Orlando series on-site.

Jao said he didn’t want to make public his resignation in deference to Barako owner George Chua. Despite his exit, Jao said he continues to stay in close touch with Barako governor Tony Chua.

“I have the highest respects for Mr. Chua,” said Jao. “But it was time to move on.”

I didn’t realize Jao had resigned until I noticed his absence at the PBA draft last Sunday. After the draft, I phoned Jao and he confirmed it.

One of the last things he did with Barako was to hire coach Leo Isaac after Yeng Guiao left to join Burger King.

“Of course, I’d jump at the opportunity to work with a PBA team again as a consultant,” he said. “I don’t want to take over anybody’s job. My role has always been to work in the background. I hope there’s a PBA team out there looking for someone to do that job. The other thing I’d like to do is to continue my TV work. It’s a blessing to talk about the game we all love on TV.”

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Powerade Team Pilipinas goes up against unknown Sri Lanka in its first assignment at the FIBA-Asia Championships in Tianjin this morning. Sri Lanka qualified out of the Middle Asia sector with Kazakhstan, India and Uzbekistan.

The oldest Sri Lankan cager is Duke Sanjiewa Rajakakshe, 32, and the youngest is R. R. Suranga Fernando, 21. There are hardly any details on any website about Sri Lanka’s national team.

Sri Lanka isn’t even ranked in FIBA’s top 74 world standings. The Philippines is No. 62, a rung above Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. China is the highest-ranked Asian country at No. 9. Iran is No. 23, Korea No. 26, Japan No. 33, Kazakhstan No. 38, Chinese-Taipei No. 41, Jordan No. 43, India No. 47, Kuwait No. 52 and Uzbekistan No. 54.

Basketball was introduced in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) in 1917 by Walter Cammark, an American who was the director of physical education at the Central YMCA in Colombo. Ananda College was the first Sri Lanka school to play basketball in 1927 and in 1936, Japanese and Filipino Olympic teams flew over to engage in exhibitions.

In 1959, FIBA accepted the Ceylon Basketball Federation as a country affiliate. In 1966, Sri Lanka sent a basketball team to compete at the Bangkok Asian Games. So far, Sri Lanka has played in six FIBA-Asia Championships in 1975, 1977, 1981, 1986, 1991 and 1995.

The Philippines, Sri Lanka, Japan and South Korea are bracketed in Group A in Tianjin. The teams play each other once and at the end of the round-robin, the entry with the worst win-loss record is eliminated. The three top finishers advance to play the top three in Group B then the first four in Groups A and B move on to the knockout quarterfinals.

If the Philippines makes it to the eight-team quarterfinals, it will already be an improvement from its ninth place finish at the previous FIBA-Asia tournament in Tokushima two years ago.