The 38th William Jones Cup in Taiwan is currently ongoing after its opening last weekend, and the Philippines are off to a good start as they go up the rankings with a 2-0 slate after beating Chinese Taipei A and Korea.
But the tournament is a bit peculiar, as the Philippine contingent is not its official national team. The Three Stars and the Sun are bannered by Mighty Sports, who are led by multiple foreign players and headed by former Barangay Ginebra San Miguel enforcer Vernon Macklin.
The Philippines-Mighty Sports’ team composition has left Filipino fans puzzled, and has led to public qualms over why Gilas Pilipinas nor Gilas Cadets were not the ones fielded for the cagefest.
Samahan ng Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) head Renauld “Sonny” Barrios, in Tuesday’s PSA Forum, has spoken about the issue to clear things up once and for all.
“From the very start, ang preference dyan [Jones Cup], yung national team. Ang second preference diyan, PBA team,” said the former PBA commish.
“As we very well know, natapat yung Jones Cup sa PBA season, so sa kagustuhan nilang magkaroon ng team for the Philippines, they invited Mighty Sports.”
Barrios then lauded Mighty Sports’ efforts to field in the best players available out there to suit up for the red, white, and blue.
“In fairness to Mighty Sports, gusto naman nilang maging competitive. And since the rules allow unlimited number of imports, that’s what they did.”
“It would be very hard for me to criticize their approach. [If] mahinang Filipino players pumunta doon at binugbog lang doon dahil masyadong malalakas ang kalaban, ‘di rin maganda para sa’tin yun,” Barrios furthered.
After all, the SBP is always after the Filipino fans abroad, especially the OFWs, and that is why they have their sights set on how their support will turn out for the ongoing tourney.
“It would be interesting to see if our countrymen, the OFWs, show the same support with a team with seven imports as opposed to a [team ] mostly [composed of] underdeveloped players,” ended the SBP chair.
