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By Krista Angela M. Montealegre, Reporter
The Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP) has awarded contracts to
20 collegiate players for their continued and exclusive stay in the
association’s training pool at the expense of their pro league
dreams.
SBP Executive Director Noli Eala on Tuesday
named Ryan Buenafe, Rabeh Al-Hussaini and Chris Tiu of Ateneo, JR
Cawaling and Mark Barroca of Far Eastern University, RJ Jazul and
Rey Guevarra of Letran, Jason Ballesteros of San Sebastian, Ogie
Menor of San Beda and Marcy Arellano of University of the East as
among the recipients of the contract worth as much as P6 million
each.
Signing the contract would mean that should
their collegiate tenure expire, they would have to wait a little
longer to be drafted in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA),
the country’s premier professional league, to concentrate on their
training for the developmental squad who would represent the country
in the 2009 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Laos, the 2010 Asian
Games in China and 2011 International Basketball Federation (FIBA)
Asia Men’s Championship Qualifier for the London Olympics.
“If they will not join the PBA they will gain
international exposure and when the time comes that they’re ready
to play in the league, they can bring their experience with them,”
said Serbian coach Rajko Toroman, the national team project
director.
Eala clarified that the players who have an
existing contract with the Philippine Basketball League are still
eligible to play for their mother clubs. He added that as of the
moment, he is still talking with PBL executives to allow its players
to be pulled out from their teams should the national team compete
in international meets.
“We have no intentions of competing with the
other leagues. We just want to win some international games to
increase our FIBA ranking. In order to do that, we have to make some
sacrifices,” he said.
The SBP, which is also bidding for the Southeast
Asian Games Champion’s Cup and the SEA Basketball Association
Men’s Championship, would wait for the response of the players
until Sunday, January 18.
Eala added that the association would respect
and would not interfere with the obligations of the players to play
for their respective schools in the collegiate leagues. Should a
player be dropped from the school team because of academic reasons,
the SBP would also not include the player in its payroll, he said.
“Basketball is coming together. It’s good
that all the leagues are cooperating to help the causes of the
national team,” said Eala.
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