March 7, 2023 • 45 mins
There are a couple major differences between the NBA and the world’s second oldest pro basketball league, the Philippine Basketball Association (otherwise known as the PBA). For one, the PBA season never really stops. Three back-to-back conferences stretch throughout the year, with the major difference being roster restrictions. Depending on the conference, teams are limited by how many “imports” they can have, and their heights. Imports are held to an all-star standard, expected to put up incredible numbers and play 48 minutes per game. In return, imports - often former or aspiring NBA players looking for a second chance at a career - are treated with the same reverence as NBA legends. In this episode, Cassidy and Nikko explore the life of a PBA import, and the legend of the PBA’s “Black Superman,” Billy Ray Bates – a former Portland Trailblazer who still holds the franchise record career NBA playoff average of 26.7 points per game.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm getting like goosebumps with us right now, because I
think sometimes you don't realize how dangerous a situation you
were in until you step back and you think about it.
At that time, the Marcos government had just been deposed
and the Akino's had just been elected the new presidents,
and it was a real tumultuous time politically in the country.
(00:22):
And in the middle of all of that was the NPA,
I think it was called the New People's Army, and
they were communists back they were just this divisive for us,
and they were holding people hostage and blowing up anything
that was American. For example, the McDonald's, who I went
to from time to time, was bombed one day when
I fortunately when I wasn't there. In nineteen eighty six,
(00:45):
Andy Thompson was one of two American players on the
roster of a Philippine Basketball Association team called the ten
Y Rummakers. The other was Rob Williams, a first round
draft pick of the Denver Nuggets who spent two seasons
in the NBA before finding his way to the BA.
The team was packed into a bus, traveling to a
game outside of Manila and winding their way along roads
(01:06):
cut into the dense tropical forest and mountain passes of
the Philippines all around you when you look when you
get outside of the city, of this jungle everywhere. And
so we stopped at a little country general store to
get something to eat. And while we stopped, it was
a scene right out of like Apocalypse now, where the
jungle just opens up. All these rebels and these this
(01:30):
militia group comes out of nowhere, brnade launchers M sixteen's,
you know, fifty Calvin machine guns. It was unbelievable, and
I knew exactly what they were. I had been reading
how kidnappings are coming down here, especially for Americans, and
so I'm thinking the worst. And then I see they
(01:51):
talked to the coaches in the front front of the bus.
He gets out and he talks to them, and then
he's an andy rubbed come out. My heart drops. I
think I'm gonna get kidnapped and health ransom. And so
we look at each other. We get up to the
front of the bus. I walk out. This is little kid,
maybe twelve years old, holding an M sixteen. A little kid.
(02:14):
So I go and try to give him a high five,
and he kind of recoils and I was like, that
was stupid. So I get out. Rob comes out and
the coach has just become everything's cool. He says, these
guys are huge ton Dy fans, and I was like, okay.
He said, they just want to meet you. He said
that they have an outpost and they watch all of
(02:34):
our games. We were the defending champ, so I guess
everybody knew who ton d I wasn't and even in
the countryside. But we came out. They shook our hands,
We gave him some high fives. It was no autographs.
They just wanted to meet us. Coach said, okay, now
go get back on the bus, and we got back
on the bus visibly shaken, and we didn't say anything.
(02:57):
The coaches got back on the bus and we drove away.
And to this day, I still think I am so
fortunate that these were like tomdwy fans and not fans
of Janette By or Toyota or somebody else. What a story.
I just got goose bumps. In today's episode, we're going
(03:17):
to take you inside the Philippines Professional League the PBA
and explore the world of imports American pros who get
hired to reinforce local rosters. These are some of the
best players on the planet outside of the NBA, and
in many cases they are former NBA veterans themselves looking
to extend their careers and see the world. You're listening
(03:39):
to Hoops Paradise, the Philippines love of the game, brought
to you by iHeartRadio and the NBA Basketball Basketball We're
in our Janellas were standing tallible SETI Bison. So, Nico,
you're kind of a big deal in the world of
Philippine basketball, right, I mean, I'm no Cassidy Hover if
(04:03):
that's what you're getting at. By the way, isn't that
you I saw on ESPN last week? Not me. I'm
just another Meadi guy with seventy five different side hustles,
so humble, just a kid from Marquina City. No. But
the reason I was asking this is I want to know,
knock on wood, that this doesn't ever happen. But just
(04:23):
in case you ever find yourself on a bus in
some far flung province outside of Manila and that bus
gets stopped on some empty stretch of road by a
group of armed rebels, are they going to drop their
weapons and ask you for autographs and selfies because they
know you from watching college and PBA games. Absolutely not,
I'll tell you that, absolutely not. I do not have
(04:46):
the Andy Thompson magic touch. I will probably FaceTime you, though,
just to prove to them that I know the lady
on ESPN. So you'd better pick up I will. I
absolutely will. Enough said. But look as amazing as it
was to hear. Andy Thompson, the brother of thirteen year
NBA veteran and former member of the Showtime Lakers Michael Thompson,
(05:07):
as well as the uncle of Warriors guard Clay Thompson,
described that scene on the bus. There was one minor
detail that got stuck in my head and I need
you to explain it for us. Well, that's why that's
why I'm here. Ask and ye shall receive. Okay. So,
Andy Thompson was playing for a PBA team called the
(05:28):
ten y Rummakers, Like, what kind of name is that?
I knew that's what you're gonna ask. I knew that's
where you're going. Yeah, So before we go deep on
former NBA players who've dazzled Philippine fans as PBA imports,
You're right, we do need to do a full breakdown
of the PBA in episode two. We heard all the
(05:48):
ways that the founding franchises of the PBA used the
NBA as a model when they established the first pro
basketball league in Asia, but we didn't really get into
the nuts and bolts of how THEBA operates. And while
the p BA has taken cues from the NBA throughout
its entire forty seven year history, the league also has
plenty of quicks that won't make immediate sense to basketball
(06:13):
chuckies in the States. Like a team called the rum Makers.
Like a team called the rum Makers, I see that
you have a lot to learn, and the PBA a
name like the rum Makers. It's not an exception, it's
the rule. You see. From the very beginning nineteen seventy five,
the league was founded with a business model built on promotion. Sure,
(06:36):
it would make money through live attendance, merchandise sales, corporate sponsorships,
and TV rights, just like the NBA does. But for
franchise owners, the greatest value in owning a PBA team
then and still today comes from churning every second of
every game into free advertising. In a country full of
(06:56):
basketball overs, you can't ask for better brand aware than
having the best Filipino players and former NBA talents wearing
jerseys that say day Rummakers across the chest. So unlike
the NBA, the teams in the Philippines aren't named after
traditional sports mascots like your Chicago Bulls. They're named after
(07:20):
whatever business the franchise owner wants to turn into a
household name. In eighty six, that same season that Andy
Thompson played for the Rum Company Thandway, other teams in
the league had names like the Sun Miguel Beiermen, the
Great Taste Coffeemakers, and the Alaska Milkmen. In the PBA
(07:42):
season that's going on right now, the beer Men are
still around, along with squads carrying names like the Phoenix
Super LPG fuel Masters and the Rayner Shine elasto Painters.
For decades, the most populars even the country has named
after a local brand of gin called h Nebra San Miguel.
(08:03):
They are the gin Kings, So when they're on a
twelve zero run against an opposing team or they need
a massive defensive stop, you'll hear an entire arena filled
with more than twenty thousand Gin King fans who call
themselves the Barangay, they'll be chanting he never, he never.
(08:30):
So if I didn't know what was going on, I
might think that they were all demanding gin, which is
kind of awesome. But now that I'm looking at the
list of team names over the years, you need to
tell me what these are about. How about the pure
Foods Chunky Giants a classic in my top five? The
Chunky Giants name. That franchise is still in the PBA,
(08:54):
although unfortunately they don't go by the Chunky Giants anymore.
Pure Foods sells hot dogs. Also the reason why they
were ones called the pure Foods TJ hot Dogs, TJ
standing for tender juicy. None of this is a joke.
They also sell canned meats mostly, and during the Chunky
Giants period they were pushing a new and improved extra
(09:15):
chunky corned beef product. Okay, well, how about the b
Meg I got more for you, the b Meg Derby
ace Labados the Liamados of b Meg Derby as that's
actually the same franchise as Pure Foods. That's the incorporation
that owns pure Foods also owns a brand of chicken
(09:37):
feed called b Meg and Liamado is a cock fighting
term for favorite, as in the rooster who's favored to
win in a fight, or saboon as we call it
in the Philippines. So the basketball team who's favored to
win a game? I mean, like I'm getting hungry. Now,
what about what about the Crispa Red Red Manizers. You're
(09:59):
going old school because you just named one of the
most storied franchises in p Bay history. You see, to
this day you can still probably find older fans who
label themselves as diehard chris fanatics, even though the team
hasn't been around for almost forty years. Chris Ba was
a clothing company and Redmonizing was the name they came
(10:20):
up with for their process of treating fabric to create
no shrink T shirts. So basically, this beloved bit of
Philippine basketball history was brought to you by the no
shrink shrink makers. My head is spinning. My other question
about the team names is why aren't any of them
associated with the cities where they play well? Because the
(10:42):
PEBA is entirely based in Manila, maybe that's one more
reason for Filipinos from other parts of the country to
be annoyed with us in the capital. But from the
very very beginning, PBA owners decided that the travel expenses
that come with a true home and away format would
be too costly and they'd endanger the league bible. So
majority of the PBA games are played in a handful
(11:03):
of arenas in Metro Manila, and the league schedules regular
trips to large cities and other parts of the Philippines,
where two teams will travel from Manila to someplace like
Cebu City and play a regular season game there to
make sure the rest of the country gets at least
some chance to see live PBA basketball. All right, got it?
I mean I think one more newbie question, if you will,
(11:25):
at least for now, what is up with the PBA
awarding three championships per season? What is up with that?
But it's another feature that's been part of the PBA
for as long as the league has been around. It's
the conference format. Basically, each PBA season is divided into
three shorter seasons called conferences. Each conference consists of a
(11:48):
slate of regular season games followed by the playoffs. So
that's three conferences, with each one naming a new champion
within a single season. Now they're only linked to each
other as this if it's manages to win the championship
of all three conferences in a single season, that's called
the Grand Slam, and only five teams in the history
(12:09):
of the league have pulled it off. But why bother, Well,
what does the PBA get out of organizing seasons in
a way that maybe no other pro sports league in
the world does. I mean, I've asked that question enough times.
But for starters, it allows basketball to be a year
round sport. In the Philippines, the p BA doesn't have
any meaningful competition from other domestic sports, other domestic pro leagues,
(12:33):
not in a real way. The NBA shares a calendar
with NFL Football, the NHL Major League Baseball, that those
aren't major sports in the Philippines, not even soccer, So
the p BA ends up running about eleven months out
of a year. I mean, basketball never stops. Huh. It's
a great slogan for Nike, and it's just a state
of mind for hoopers around the world. But in the Philippines,
(12:56):
it's reality. A single year long season would get dale.
I mean, everybody knows the grind. You probably better than
any one of us about you know, getting through an
NBA eighty two game schedule plus a postseason. So you know,
if you stretch that out three or four more months,
gotta get tough. You don't even want to think about it,
(13:17):
and neither does the PBA, so they split the season
in three to keep it fresh and start losing squads
off with a blank slate every few months. And that
also means triple the playoffs, which come with bigger crowds
and extra media attention and more meaningful games. Plus, each
conference features different restrictions when it comes to imports, as
(13:38):
they're called here in the Philippines. In the Philippine Cup,
teams can only field all Filipino rosters to highlight local talent.
In the Commissioner's Cup, teams can hire one foeign big
man as an import, and in the Governor's Cup, teams
can hire one smaller import, either a wing or a guard. Traditionally,
way back in the seventies and eighties, including when Andy
(14:00):
Thompson played for Undway, they called it a reinforced conference
with one import and an open conference with two imports
per team. So is this the part where we get
to the height limits? I mean, I read about these,
Tell me if this sounds right. The PBA enforces height
limits on imports depending on the conference. Sometimes it will
be six ten or seven feet or unlimited, and other
(14:22):
times will be six three or six six, And whenever
a new import comes in, they have to be measured
at a PBA headquarters in Metro Manila, where the player
has to lay on his back and let league employees
verify his height with a tape measure before he can
be cleared to play. According to legendary Philippine sports broadcaster
sev Seramantha, who we heard from last episode, sometimes teams
(14:45):
would stretch or shrink the truth. Imports would arrive claiming
to be an inch or too shorter than their previously
reported height when they played in the US. Filipino sports
journalists like Kenito Henson would keep them honest. Though Kennito
Henson did this long for the Internet, we had sports magazines.
He would subscribe to all the databases, and before the
(15:07):
import arriving in the Philippines, Kennito had already written about
that import. Sometimes imports would lie about their heights and
Kennetho would just clarify and crystallize what was really the truth.
And supposedly teams have developed methods of shrinking imports an
inch or so to get an extra advantage. Well, the
shrinking imports thing is a bit of an urban legend.
(15:30):
It's true that in the eighties and the nineties some
PBA teams believe they could shave as much as one
inch off a player's height at measurement by having them
lift heavy weights on a shoulder press. An exercise was
believed to compress the spine and make a person temporarily shorter,
But obviously there's no scientific evidence to back that up,
(15:51):
and the truth is that imports cheated the height limit
in those days. They didn't do so by shrinking their spines.
They just took advantage of the league's imperfect measurement techniques.
Until the two thousands, the PBA allowed imports to stand
for their official measurement, so players would just add a
slight bend to their knees or not stand perfectly straight
(16:12):
against the measurement wall. There's really nothing scientific about it,
just good old fashioned gamesmanship. We're going to take a
quick break, but when we come back, we're getting an
inside look into a life as a PBA import, where
everyone is like Mike, I always tell Michael. When I
started working with Michael really closely in nineteen ninety eight
on the Last Dance, and we were just talking about
(16:34):
life one day and I say, hey, Man, I know
what it's like to be you. He looked at me like,
how in the hell do you know what it's like
to be me? What? What are you talking about. In
the seventies and eighties, before there was more competition to
(16:56):
sign players from pro leagues in Europe and East Asia,
it was much more common to see imports arriving in
Manila fresh off their last NBA contracts. Dozens of former
NBA players have suited up as PBA imports throughout the
league's history, but to be honest, looking over the list
of their names can feel a little bit like watching
Charles Barkley and Shack play who he played for on
(17:19):
inside the NBA. I mean, check out this list, right,
I mean Glenn McDonald or my childhood hero Lamont the
Helicopter Strathers. They're probably better remembered in the Philippines as
dominating imports than anywhere in the States for their NBA careers.
Guards like Kevin Gamble and Vincent Esque were NBA journeymen
in the nineties, but they each began their journeys overseas
(17:41):
with stops in the PBA and other international leagues before
playing their way into the NBA, and it's unlikely many
Celtics fans recall a backup guard named Tony Harris who
played a couple of seasons in Boston in the mid nineties.
But any PBA follower old enough to remember will tell
you about the day Hurricane Harris sat the league's single
(18:02):
game scoring record with one hundred and five points. One
hundred five from a backup guard played for the Celtics.
The Celtic fans don't even remember. Now. There's also Peter
John Ramos. No relation, no relation, I just want that
clear right now. Not related to him, And the next
(18:23):
detail will make you say, yeah, of course, yeah. He's
seven foot four, yea, yeah, yeah. He spent a season
with the Washington Wizards in the mid odds, resurface in
the PBA in twenty fifteen to be teammates with guests
who player coach Manny Pacquiao on an expansion team called
(18:43):
the Kia Carnival. That was the same season that ex
Oklahoma City thunder big man Daniel Orton lost his roster
spot after publicly questioning the legitimacy of a pro basketball
league that would allow a five foot five inch celebrity
boxer and congressman to play because of his heroics in
the ring and political cloud even by the PBA standards,
(19:06):
that was a weird time. I mean, I guess I
see this point. There's always a stir when a PBA
team lands an import who played at an NBA championship team.
Josh Powell and DJ Benga, both of whom won titles
playing for the Lakers alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol
in two thousand and nine. In two ten, showed up
for separate tours in Manila after their NBA opportunities had faded.
(19:27):
And who's this Scott Burrell and Dicky Simpkins, two players
who had contributed to the Chicago Bulls three peats in
the nineties. How did they not win PBA championships simply
by having been in the presence of Michael Jordan. That's
probably what the PB eight teams who hired them were thinking. See,
that's one of the tricky things about playing as an
import with NBA experience. The fans, the media, even the
(19:50):
teams themselves have even greater expectations of an accomplished NBA
veteran compared to a former, let's say, All Conference star
in college who never played at the highest level. And
this is a job, being a PBA import where the
baseline expectations are already off the charts. If you're not
your team's best player on both sides of the floor,
(20:12):
if you're not averaging close to thirty points per game,
and if you aren't delivering wins, no matter how good
your stats, your team might send you home as soon
as a replacement import becomes available. One of the long
time coaches in the league, a legendarily hard nosed guy
named Yeng Gao shout out coach Yang once said he'd
(20:32):
replace his import before Game seven of the finals if
he knew he had Michael Jordan coming in to close
out the series. But I mean, like, who wouldn't I've
heard that. Even in the unforgiving world of international basketball,
where American imports understand that they're often only as good
as their last game, the PBA can be particularly cutthroat.
(20:53):
Darvin Ham, the first year head coach of the Los
Angeles Lakers, flew into Manila in early two thousand and six,
just months removed from being on an NBA Finals floor
with the Detroit Pistons, he arrived just in time to
join the Talking Texts phone pals for the playoffs, replacing
an import who'd played well but did not own a
championship ring. The move didn't payoff. Talking Texts lost their
(21:16):
first playoff series three one, and Ham was headed back
home after four games. The NBA veteran had been a
burly defensive specialist with the Pistons, but when he was
facing triple teams and the PBA and still expected to
drop thirty, he couldn't adjust fast enough to the new role.
Andy Thompson, the former tend Y Rummaker's import we heard
(21:37):
from at the beginning of this episode, is back to
tell us first hand about the life of a PBA import.
After knee injuries forced him to retire from playing, Andy
joined MBA Entertainment and eventually became an executive producer on
Michael Jordan's The Last Dance documentary. And when you hear
this man talk about his experience in the PBA, you'll
(21:57):
wonder if he's planning to make a document worry about
Philippine basketball Matt. The guy who I replaced was Benny Andrews,
great player in his own right from the University of Houston.
He was averaging thirty points a game and like eighteen
or twenty rebounds he got, and he got cut, and
I was like, what did they expect for me? That
you just cut a guy? I was in thirty and twenty?
(22:18):
Are you kidding me? But they had won the two
previous championships. They wanted to open and they won the
six four and unders, so they were back to back
champions and they were going for the triple crown. They
called it, which was the Open, which was six six
and under, and I was six six and I had
to play the center. And so I walk off a
plane and I get the practice, can barely keep my
(22:38):
eyes open because of the jetlight. And then we had
to play the next day, so I've only had one
day to practice, and I go out in the first
game and I just stink it up. I was twofa
eight the first half. I only had six points, and
I'm feeling like I'm not gonna be here very long
if I expected to score thirty and grabbed twenty boards.
(23:00):
But I remember my head's down. In the locker room,
Rob Williams comes over to me and goes, yo, judge.
He always called me judge, Yo judge. You can play, man,
I said, I want you practice yesterday. You can play.
He says. There are two ways to get cut here
in the fields. You can get cut shooting too little. Well,
you can get cut shooting too much. He says, if
I was you, bro, I'd start shooting. He said, you
(23:23):
got this, and he patted me on the back, and
it was like it gives me goosebumps to think, I
don't know what that. There was a couple of words
and that pat on the back, but that gave me
enough confidence to go out in the second half where
I scored twenty four and I hit the game winning shot.
So I ended up with, you know, with thirty points
like eighteen rebounds, so I made my quota. But more importantly,
(23:46):
we won the game, and it was like boom, I
knew that I can play when I did that thirty
and twenty and I had a bad game in my opinion,
and I knew at that point, okay, maybe this could work.
You know, I was nobody in Europe and I was
coming off the bench at the University of Minnesota, and
then all of a sudden, now I'm this big time
(24:07):
star and a quotation mark star in the Philippines, and
then lasted about two weeks while I was enjoying it,
until you just want to go out and shop for
some shoes or you know, a suit or whatever, and
there's this line of people lining up behind you to
just watch you do everything. Whether I go to a
food market, wherever I went, there was just a line
(24:29):
of people. You know, you can't eat a dinner anymore.
I always tell Michael. When I started working with Michael
really closely in nineteen ninety eight on the Last Dance,
and we were just talking about life one day and
I said, hey, man, I know what it's like to
be you. He looked at me like, how in the
hell do you know what it's like to be me?
What what are you talking about? And then I related
(24:50):
my experiences of being followed every day by the media,
by fans, not having a moment's rest. I said, believe me, dude,
I know what it's like to be you. In an
eight fund Andy, what it was like to play in
the PBA in the eighties, with that signature scrappy style.
One thing we had to realize too, we had to
play all forty eight minutes. It was NBA rules forty
(25:10):
eight minutes twelve minute quarters, and imports were expected to
play every minute, which I didn't know when I got here,
so I went all out. And then when I realized
I was hopefully going to take a rest after like
ten minutes, the coach was like, no, you're not coming out.
You've got to play the whole game. And I remember
at the end of the first game, I was literally
on fumes, just trying to pick my spots when I
(25:33):
can run on a fast break, hope when I can
get a rebound and throw it out so I can
hang and get some rest. So very quickly realized the
rules for the imports and the rules for everybody else
was different. It was an open style of play where
it was a motion offense. There were very few set plays,
so basically it was motion offense. It was definitely the roughest, tumblest,
(25:56):
dirtiest form of basketball I've ever played in. And it's
not up at denigrate the style of play, but the
mentality and how they played the games, and then how
they especially treated the imports, because if you can get
an import off of this game that wasn't used to
being tripped, being punched in the ribs, or you know,
hit in the lower region and you take a swing
(26:18):
and you're out of the game, and whoever import leaves
the game, the team loses. Getting imports off their game
is a key part to success in the PBA, and
there's one import stopper that rises above the rest. Nick velasco.
We watched a lot of film on them, and we
know that they get frustrated if you hit them too much,
if you play them too physical. So that's exactly what
(26:40):
we would do. Whatever we can do to get them
disrupted and upset and triggered and get their mind off
of their strategy as a team and get them to
want to fight us. Then that means we won, because
they're not thinking about the game anymore. They're thinking about
how badly they want to fight us. We'll hear more
from Nick in a second. Damn Nico. Is the PBA
(27:02):
still as rugged as Andy described? He made it sound
like driving into the lame was like entering the Thunderdome.
It's not that bad anymore. Fans love the rough and
tumble style of PBA ball in the eighties, but over time,
the league and fairness has moved away from the unspoken
rule of no blood, no foul, and the product a
more free flowing, skillful game is better for it. I
(27:26):
mean that doesn't mean the PBA hasn't remained a very
physical league. I mean they just reigned in the dangerous
stuff the players got away within Andy's day, which brings
me to our Gailla glesson for this episode, Cassidy, Oh,
today's word is gulang. Huh I Remember Donna mentioned that
(27:46):
you're right, You're right way back in episode one? She did.
She did say that. In the dictionary, if you look
up the word gulang, it just means age. But on
the basketball court, gulang is more like craftiness, the tricks
that experienced PBA players can use to get the better
of younger, greener opponents. Some of these tactics can feel
(28:07):
borderline dirty, like holding a player's index finger as he's
about to jump for a rebound to stunt his upward momentum.
All it takes is a gentle yank in the wrong
direction to give the practitioner of gulang the edge he needs.
To secure the ball. But that's the thing. PBA imports
are often such gifted scorers that local defenders will sink
to bizarre levels in hopes of throwing imports off their game.
(28:32):
Gulang is particularly important to a group of players known
as import stoppers, guys who have a reputation for being
able to make an import work for his numbers. Nick
Blasco is one of the league's top defenders and a
designated import stopper for much of his sixteen year career
in the PBA. The six foot six forward raised in Stockton, California,
(28:52):
had a size and quickness to match up with imports,
and so he was asked to defend a different former
college All American or fringe and BA talent almost every
time he stepped on the court during import conferences. He's
going to teach us the tricks of the trade. Ron
Jacobs was the one that really made a big deal
about it. And he saw that I could guard guys
like Sonny Alvarado, who was a phil am more like
(29:15):
an import, and he played for Tan Dwy and I
could guard him real well, one on one full court.
So Ron Jacobs was running the Sam Miguel Beerman team
and Hinebro. He was running all the Sa Miguel teams
and he started a pathway to get a trade for
me to bring me to San Miguel because he knew
that he would have to face Sonny Alvarado in the
(29:37):
playoffs in the quarterfinals, and he knew I can guard
him one on one. I just want to tell you,
I remember the day you got traded to Sun Miguel
as a lifelong Son Miguel fan. I remember my dad
actually buying Son Miguel and bringing it to the house
and celebrating because Nick Bilasco was now playing for San Miguel.
(30:00):
It was a happy day in our household now, I'll
never forget it. My dad then proceeded to watch your
games and then tell me to play like you, and
I was like, he's look at him, look at me, like, no,
there's no way I can do that. Now. Since we're
looking back on your on your PBA career, one that
I've obviously been such a big fan of, who comes
(30:20):
to mind when you think about your toughest matchups. You
mentioned Sonya Varai was a handful for for anybody, whether
it's locals or whether it's imports. Who makes it to
the top of your mind when you think of like
the toughest players you played. Well, the guys that introduced
me into Philipine basketball, and it was a rude introduction too.
(30:40):
It was Noldie Luckson. Nelie Luckson. I got so many
scars on my face just from him and lay up
the tank the tank, and you know, I was I
was trained to play pressure denial defense. I can guard
you full court. You know. I pretty much put my
whole body all over you when I played defense and
(31:03):
disrupt everything you do. So when you played defense like that,
these veteran players such as Noli, they know how to
get you. You know, if your face is right here,
they're just gonna make a move like this and it's
legal and you're gonna eat those elbows. So my first
year I got cut a lot because I never backed
down from putting my face right there, and I wasn't
(31:24):
smart enough to figure out how to get my face
out of the way and still get the job done,
so they just kept teeing off on me. Those are
the guys that gave me hell my first year, and
it was mostly locals because you know, the big wave
of Philams didn't come in until nineteen ninety nine. Around
that point where I see Talava and Rudy and Eric
Mink and all them came through phil Am or Filipino
(31:46):
American players have a unique role in the PBA since
they have their own category and don't count as imports
on a team roster. The rules for how many phil
Am players are allowed on a team have changed over
the years, but they're importance to the league means they're
heavily scouted from college teams and local Philippine basketball clubs.
You know, I'm honestly kind of surprised I wasn't scouted
(32:08):
form my PBA Chicago team, just kidding. The one that
gave me fits the worst was Nelson Satono. He would
score forty points on me every game my rookie year.
And then there was a bar called Cable Car. I
don't know if you guys remember Cable Car, the original
Impasse Road. You know, I would always go there with
my teammates my rookie year, which is boy been Victoria
(32:30):
at Dwight Logo, you know, for Helm and SS. We
would always go there and hang out of Makadie, have
some beer and Eves Dignadise would always be out there
and VS for whatever reason. You know, he's really a
defensive specialist and he played for Ron Jacobs. The Ron
Jacobs style is that you know everyone's tendency that you're guarding,
(32:50):
you know their moves exact, and you know how to
shut it down and send them to their weaknesses. So
Evs sat me down, we had a bunch of beer,
and he broke down all the secrets and tendencies of
each one of those players. You know, Alvin's gonna do
this move, Nelson's gonna spend baseline, um Nolie's gonna take
one or two troubles and then spin and you wait
(33:10):
for them to jump, and then you jump second. Then
you're gonna block it. So I started, you know, I
remembered all that I was just absorbing it from UVS.
So that changed everything for me because now when I
played against those guys that were really giving me hell,
I was able to shut down some of their stuff
and then I started figuring it out. Those bobbled the bull.
When I heard a big bag on the floor, it
(33:34):
looks like someone got hit him the head. It was
just about being smart, and that's what I learned from
Nolie lux In because what I would do is when
Nolie would hit me, I'll hit him back right away,
and then he'll just be like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry, Nick, I'm sorry. Because we would always go
out and have drinks after the game because he was
good friends with Dwyn Lago and me and Dwy were
(33:55):
closed and teammates, so we would have these crazy battles
during the game, and then it will be end up
somewhere at someone's house drinking wine or beer or whatever
and hanging out listening to jazz. And you know, I
couldn't figure out the psychological thing that was happening there
because we're all buddy buddy. But then as soon as
the game starts, boom, I get hit and then I'm
(34:17):
all frustrated and he's like sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. And
then Nolie would be like, We'll be running down the
court after he hit elbows me and he's like, just
hit me back, hit me backing back, hit me back,
like whispering it to me. And finally, when one day
I fell for it, I just leveled him at half
court boom, and he was just waiting for it, and
so I got thrown out. So I started figuring out
the pattern that as soon as the ball's up in
(34:40):
the air and we're all battling for a rebound, that's
when I'll get hit like bang. And then I started
realizing I can't hit him back right now because everyone's
looking at us now. They missed his hit, but they
saw me react, so now they're looking when I hit
him back before it, I would be the one they
would get caught. So I learned, got to run up
(35:00):
and down a couple of times, and new wait for
someone to shoot the blog. Then you get them, you know,
and that's where no one's expecting it. They kind of
forgot about the previous incident and then Nollie would or
whoever it was, would just be like, oh, you got
me back, and it would just be an ongoing thing.
When I figured it out, then I started using it
against other people. So when a new player would come
(35:22):
in the league, like I would be licking my chops
the same way that those guys were licking their chops
when they saw me come in the league, and I
use all the same tricks against them, and you know,
I would give them hell after the break we're talking
about one of the biggest legends in PBA history, a
former Portland Trailblazer turned PBA star known as the Black Superman,
(35:44):
Billy ray Bates. He actually played with Andy Thompson in
the PBA and was in the same NBA draft class
as Raymond Townsend, the first Filipino American in the NBA.
Even coach Eric Spoelstra was a big og Billy ray
Bates fan. My family over there would always send BHS
tapes of the PBA, and so I was familiar with
(36:06):
the PBA and Billy rate Bates, who was a legend
over there. He actually played for the Portland Trailblazers. He
was kind of a two year legend in Portland where
they still talk about him while he finished his career
(36:28):
in the Philippines. So I felt a connection to Billy
rate Bates, but also to the PBA. Wow, you're asking
me to basically tell you about Michael Jordan. Literally he
made the PBA what it is today. He's known as
(36:49):
the Black Superman, and I think there's probably next to
Air Jordan, there is nobody else with a more fitting
name than the Black Superman, because he was that good
and that dominant. He was six foot four about two
hundred and twenty five pounds, can jump like Jordan, pans
like Jordan if you go back and you google him.
(37:09):
In the NBA, He's one of the few players who
never got drafted what was called up from the CBA,
and the minute he who played his first couple of
games with the Portland Trail Blazers, he made it an
the needed impact. There's probably only one player in history
(37:30):
who was called the legend by Brett Musberger at halftime
of an NBA playoff game before widening up as a
PBA import and carving out an even more legendary career
in Manila, Billy Ray Bates. His story captivated NBA fans
late in the nineteen seventy nine eighty season when the
Portland Trailblazers signed Bates, an undrafted six four guard who've
(37:54):
been putting up monster scoring numbers for a minor league
team in the old CBA called main Lumberjacks. Bates helped
the Blazers rally for a playoff spot, and in the
first round against the defending champion Seattle SuperSonics. Bates gave
one of the best teams in the NBA all that
they could handle. Against an all star backcourt, Bates torched
(38:18):
Seattle's Dennis Johnson and Gus Williams for twenty five points
per game in a losing effort that series, Berward, don't
you know who Bannis Johnson is? Yes, I know they
got hurt of I don't you know how Goody is defenshion? Well,
you're not supposed to give off for twenty nine on him? Well,
you know, I've just come out here, you know, and
take the open shots, you know, look for the good shot.
(38:40):
And looks a pair of ball from the largest got
those twenty nine points, baffling Jane ball, and you know
I was a while. Over the following year, Bates averaged
twenty eight point three points per game while the Blazers
fell again in the first round, but it gave him
a career NBA playoff average of twenty six point seven
points per game, a franchise record in Portland that even
(39:02):
Damian Lillard, with a postseason average of twenty five point
seven points per game, is still trying to catch. He
had a nuclear first step and the explosiveness to get
to the rim and dunk in the blink of an eye.
He had a soft shooting touch on running bank shots
and baseline pull up jumpers from the mid range, and
he shot and made three pointers like a modern NBA guard.
(39:25):
Back in Portland, the minister of a local church even
wrote a verse about Bates into his sermon, and CBS's
Mussburger read it allowed to him on National TV before
a playoff game. Billy Ray, you're going to show good
in Portland. Look at this the ministers. Now I'm making
those sermons about you. On Sunday, Rock of Ages, Billy Ray.
Shoot a jump shot, fade away, get a slammer that away,
(39:48):
fire home a three point play. Rock of Ages, Billy Ray.
We all hope you're here to stay. Are you indeed
here to stay? Yes? I hope. So I'm gonna give
it all I got, you know, show to people what
I can do. You know, I let the system. And however,
made his stake. But it wasn't Bates game that brought
him to Manila. There's no doubt that he had the
(40:08):
raw scoring ability of a multiple time NBA All Star. Unfortunately,
like David Thompson, Michael Ray, Richardson, and a number of
other brilliant talents who never quite lived up to their potential.
In the seventies and eighties, Bates struggled with substance abuse.
Teams considered him unreliable, and he washed out of the
NBA in nineteen eighty three. The next month, he was
(40:30):
on his way to Manila, where he didn't clean up
his lifestyle. But it didn't matter. He could party as
much as he wanted, and by some accounts he did
and still score it will in the PBA. A six
foot four guard with a thick, powerful frame and pre
Jordan Jordan esque hang time, Bates could put the ball
in the basket from just about anywhere on the court.
(40:51):
Oh my goodness, trying to guard this guy. Like I said,
six to four guard skills, hands like Jordan, can jump
out the gym, and he had a three point jump shot.
It was he was unguardable at that time. The average,
I think forty eight points a game. It's point a minute. Okay,
It's hard to average forty eight points a game if
(41:11):
you're playing for Little Sisters of the Poor or the YMCA.
He was that dominant, just at a phenomenal, phenomenal talent,
couldn't be stopped. Got to his spots He was like
Larry Bird at times, I'm gonna go right over there
and shoot a jumper and you can't do anything about it.
He was that dominant Dinna rate Bage comes out of
no word to pull down the rebound and keeps it
(41:32):
in the turf. If he never signed to go there,
I've had by six, make that nine on a triple
of by Dinna rate Babe. The PBA, a league that
is no stranger. The highest scoring imports, had never seen
a player like Bates. In his first game playing for
the Crispo Redmanizers, he unloaded sixty four points, shooting five
of six on three pointers, seventeen of twenty five on twos,
(41:55):
and fifteen of sixteen from the free throw line. For
good mesh, he grabbed twelve rebounds and dished five assists
out to go along with one steal and one block shot.
Talk about stuff in the statue and that game was
no fluke. Bates went on to play four full PBA
conferences with Crispa and then hennebra Sem Miguel over the
(42:17):
nineteen eighty three, nineteen eighty six, and nineteen eighty seven seasons.
Mill Rate Bates making up that's the one who were
waiting Forard. I thought everyone was waiting Ford. His career
average of forty six point two points is still the
highest in PBA history, a record that's unlikely to ever
be broken. And he wasn't just a stat stuffer. Bates
(42:41):
was a winner. He led Crispa to championships in both
conferences he played in eighty three, helping the Redmondizers become
the second PBA team to ever pull off a Grand
Slam of all three conference titles. In the same season,
when he returned with Hennebra, he led them to championships
in both conferences. He played four championships in four tries.
(43:03):
He was such a sensation that a local shoe brand, Grosby,
made a line of signature shoes for Bates, called the
Black Superman's and re released a retro version of them
in twenty thirteen, Forty years after Bates first stepped onto
a PBA court. He never Franchise brought Bates back one
more time in nineteen eighty eight, but by then his
(43:25):
lifestyle was catching up to him. Bates was out of shape,
and he and the team struggled. After four games, Bates
got sent home, like so many other PBA imports who
came before and after him. He'd been replaced, but fans
in the Philippines never forgot the Black Superman, the greatest
talent who ever graced the league. In twenty eleven, he
(43:45):
became one of just three imports named to the PBA
Hall of Fame. Bates' story hasn't had a storybook ending.
After he retired from basketball, he continued to struggle with
addiction and spent almost five years in prison. After his release,
he returned to the Philippines for his Hall of Fame
induction in twenty eleven and found a shot at redemption
(44:07):
as the skills coach for a team in the Escan
Basketball League. Almost six months after he'd been hired, Bates
was dismissed from the job. So I think it's safe
to say that this story is not going to end
up in a Hallmark card. But Bates had a brilliant,
unforgettable run in the PBA, one that touched the hearts
and imaginations of a basketball nation during a time when
(44:28):
the Philippines had hardly any televised access to NBA basketball
and above the rim, legends like Julius Irving and Michael Jordan.
PBA fans could say they had their own high flying
and high scoring hero, one who had already proven he
could average almost thirty points in an NBA playoff series,
and his name was Billy Ray Bates Grammont on the
(44:49):
in Bad Play, in Bad Right. Thanks for listening to
episode three of Hoops Paradise the Philippines Love of the Game.
Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you
get podcasts, and check out episode four, where we'll be
(45:10):
going deep on the impact Kobe Bryant and other NBA
players have had on the lives of countless Filipinos. You
had lunch with him, Yeah, but I wasn't able to eat.
I was like, just like we had lunch. Cat sat
next to him.
I'm getting like goosebumps with us right now, because I
think sometimes you don't realize how dangerous a situation you
were in until you step back and you think about it.
At that time, the Marcos government had just been deposed
and the Akino's had just been elected the new presidents,
and it was a real tumultuous time politically in the country.
(00:22):
And in the middle of all of that was the NPA,
I think it was called the New People's Army, and
they were communists back they were just this divisive for us,
and they were holding people hostage and blowing up anything
that was American. For example, the McDonald's, who I went
to from time to time, was bombed one day when
I fortunately when I wasn't there. In nineteen eighty six,
(00:45):
Andy Thompson was one of two American players on the
roster of a Philippine Basketball Association team called the ten
Y Rummakers. The other was Rob Williams, a first round
draft pick of the Denver Nuggets who spent two seasons
in the NBA before finding his way to the BA.
The team was packed into a bus, traveling to a
game outside of Manila and winding their way along roads
(01:06):
cut into the dense tropical forest and mountain passes of
the Philippines all around you when you look when you
get outside of the city, of this jungle everywhere. And
so we stopped at a little country general store to
get something to eat. And while we stopped, it was
a scene right out of like Apocalypse now, where the
jungle just opens up. All these rebels and these this
(01:30):
militia group comes out of nowhere, brnade launchers M sixteen's,
you know, fifty Calvin machine guns. It was unbelievable, and
I knew exactly what they were. I had been reading
how kidnappings are coming down here, especially for Americans, and
so I'm thinking the worst. And then I see they
(01:51):
talked to the coaches in the front front of the bus.
He gets out and he talks to them, and then
he's an andy rubbed come out. My heart drops. I
think I'm gonna get kidnapped and health ransom. And so
we look at each other. We get up to the
front of the bus. I walk out. This is little kid,
maybe twelve years old, holding an M sixteen. A little kid.
(02:14):
So I go and try to give him a high five,
and he kind of recoils and I was like, that
was stupid. So I get out. Rob comes out and
the coach has just become everything's cool. He says, these
guys are huge ton Dy fans, and I was like, okay.
He said, they just want to meet you. He said
that they have an outpost and they watch all of
(02:34):
our games. We were the defending champ, so I guess
everybody knew who ton d I wasn't and even in
the countryside. But we came out. They shook our hands,
We gave him some high fives. It was no autographs.
They just wanted to meet us. Coach said, okay, now
go get back on the bus, and we got back
on the bus visibly shaken, and we didn't say anything.
(02:57):
The coaches got back on the bus and we drove away.
And to this day, I still think I am so
fortunate that these were like tomdwy fans and not fans
of Janette By or Toyota or somebody else. What a story.
I just got goose bumps. In today's episode, we're going
(03:17):
to take you inside the Philippines Professional League the PBA
and explore the world of imports American pros who get
hired to reinforce local rosters. These are some of the
best players on the planet outside of the NBA, and
in many cases they are former NBA veterans themselves looking
to extend their careers and see the world. You're listening
(03:39):
to Hoops Paradise, the Philippines love of the game, brought
to you by iHeartRadio and the NBA Basketball Basketball We're
in our Janellas were standing tallible SETI Bison. So, Nico,
you're kind of a big deal in the world of
Philippine basketball, right, I mean, I'm no Cassidy Hover if
(04:03):
that's what you're getting at. By the way, isn't that
you I saw on ESPN last week? Not me. I'm
just another Meadi guy with seventy five different side hustles,
so humble, just a kid from Marquina City. No. But
the reason I was asking this is I want to know,
knock on wood, that this doesn't ever happen. But just
(04:23):
in case you ever find yourself on a bus in
some far flung province outside of Manila and that bus
gets stopped on some empty stretch of road by a
group of armed rebels, are they going to drop their
weapons and ask you for autographs and selfies because they
know you from watching college and PBA games. Absolutely not,
I'll tell you that, absolutely not. I do not have
(04:46):
the Andy Thompson magic touch. I will probably FaceTime you, though,
just to prove to them that I know the lady
on ESPN. So you'd better pick up I will. I
absolutely will. Enough said. But look as amazing as it
was to hear. Andy Thompson, the brother of thirteen year
NBA veteran and former member of the Showtime Lakers Michael Thompson,
(05:07):
as well as the uncle of Warriors guard Clay Thompson,
described that scene on the bus. There was one minor
detail that got stuck in my head and I need
you to explain it for us. Well, that's why that's
why I'm here. Ask and ye shall receive. Okay. So,
Andy Thompson was playing for a PBA team called the
(05:28):
ten y Rummakers, Like, what kind of name is that?
I knew that's what you're gonna ask. I knew that's
where you're going. Yeah, So before we go deep on
former NBA players who've dazzled Philippine fans as PBA imports,
You're right, we do need to do a full breakdown
of the PBA in episode two. We heard all the
(05:48):
ways that the founding franchises of the PBA used the
NBA as a model when they established the first pro
basketball league in Asia, but we didn't really get into
the nuts and bolts of how THEBA operates. And while
the p BA has taken cues from the NBA throughout
its entire forty seven year history, the league also has
plenty of quicks that won't make immediate sense to basketball
(06:13):
chuckies in the States. Like a team called the rum Makers.
Like a team called the rum Makers, I see that
you have a lot to learn, and the PBA a
name like the rum Makers. It's not an exception, it's
the rule. You see. From the very beginning nineteen seventy five,
the league was founded with a business model built on promotion. Sure,
(06:36):
it would make money through live attendance, merchandise sales, corporate sponsorships,
and TV rights, just like the NBA does. But for
franchise owners, the greatest value in owning a PBA team
then and still today comes from churning every second of
every game into free advertising. In a country full of
(06:56):
basketball overs, you can't ask for better brand aware than
having the best Filipino players and former NBA talents wearing
jerseys that say day Rummakers across the chest. So unlike
the NBA, the teams in the Philippines aren't named after
traditional sports mascots like your Chicago Bulls. They're named after
(07:20):
whatever business the franchise owner wants to turn into a
household name. In eighty six, that same season that Andy
Thompson played for the Rum Company Thandway, other teams in
the league had names like the Sun Miguel Beiermen, the
Great Taste Coffeemakers, and the Alaska Milkmen. In the PBA
(07:42):
season that's going on right now, the beer Men are
still around, along with squads carrying names like the Phoenix
Super LPG fuel Masters and the Rayner Shine elasto Painters.
For decades, the most populars even the country has named
after a local brand of gin called h Nebra San Miguel.
(08:03):
They are the gin Kings, So when they're on a
twelve zero run against an opposing team or they need
a massive defensive stop, you'll hear an entire arena filled
with more than twenty thousand Gin King fans who call
themselves the Barangay, they'll be chanting he never, he never.
(08:30):
So if I didn't know what was going on, I
might think that they were all demanding gin, which is
kind of awesome. But now that I'm looking at the
list of team names over the years, you need to
tell me what these are about. How about the pure
Foods Chunky Giants a classic in my top five? The
Chunky Giants name. That franchise is still in the PBA,
(08:54):
although unfortunately they don't go by the Chunky Giants anymore.
Pure Foods sells hot dogs. Also the reason why they
were ones called the pure Foods TJ hot Dogs, TJ
standing for tender juicy. None of this is a joke.
They also sell canned meats mostly, and during the Chunky
Giants period they were pushing a new and improved extra
(09:15):
chunky corned beef product. Okay, well, how about the b
Meg I got more for you, the b Meg Derby
ace Labados the Liamados of b Meg Derby as that's
actually the same franchise as Pure Foods. That's the incorporation
that owns pure Foods also owns a brand of chicken
(09:37):
feed called b Meg and Liamado is a cock fighting
term for favorite, as in the rooster who's favored to
win in a fight, or saboon as we call it
in the Philippines. So the basketball team who's favored to
win a game? I mean, like I'm getting hungry. Now,
what about what about the Crispa Red Red Manizers. You're
(09:59):
going old school because you just named one of the
most storied franchises in p Bay history. You see, to
this day you can still probably find older fans who
label themselves as diehard chris fanatics, even though the team
hasn't been around for almost forty years. Chris Ba was
a clothing company and Redmonizing was the name they came
(10:20):
up with for their process of treating fabric to create
no shrink T shirts. So basically, this beloved bit of
Philippine basketball history was brought to you by the no
shrink shrink makers. My head is spinning. My other question
about the team names is why aren't any of them
associated with the cities where they play well? Because the
(10:42):
PEBA is entirely based in Manila, maybe that's one more
reason for Filipinos from other parts of the country to
be annoyed with us in the capital. But from the
very very beginning, PBA owners decided that the travel expenses
that come with a true home and away format would
be too costly and they'd endanger the league bible. So
majority of the PBA games are played in a handful
(11:03):
of arenas in Metro Manila, and the league schedules regular
trips to large cities and other parts of the Philippines,
where two teams will travel from Manila to someplace like
Cebu City and play a regular season game there to
make sure the rest of the country gets at least
some chance to see live PBA basketball. All right, got it?
I mean I think one more newbie question, if you will,
(11:25):
at least for now, what is up with the PBA
awarding three championships per season? What is up with that?
But it's another feature that's been part of the PBA
for as long as the league has been around. It's
the conference format. Basically, each PBA season is divided into
three shorter seasons called conferences. Each conference consists of a
(11:48):
slate of regular season games followed by the playoffs. So
that's three conferences, with each one naming a new champion
within a single season. Now they're only linked to each
other as this if it's manages to win the championship
of all three conferences in a single season, that's called
the Grand Slam, and only five teams in the history
(12:09):
of the league have pulled it off. But why bother, Well,
what does the PBA get out of organizing seasons in
a way that maybe no other pro sports league in
the world does. I mean, I've asked that question enough times.
But for starters, it allows basketball to be a year
round sport. In the Philippines, the p BA doesn't have
any meaningful competition from other domestic sports, other domestic pro leagues,
(12:33):
not in a real way. The NBA shares a calendar
with NFL Football, the NHL Major League Baseball, that those
aren't major sports in the Philippines, not even soccer, So
the p BA ends up running about eleven months out
of a year. I mean, basketball never stops. Huh. It's
a great slogan for Nike, and it's just a state
of mind for hoopers around the world. But in the Philippines,
(12:56):
it's reality. A single year long season would get dale.
I mean, everybody knows the grind. You probably better than
any one of us about you know, getting through an
NBA eighty two game schedule plus a postseason. So you know,
if you stretch that out three or four more months,
gotta get tough. You don't even want to think about it,
(13:17):
and neither does the PBA, so they split the season
in three to keep it fresh and start losing squads
off with a blank slate every few months. And that
also means triple the playoffs, which come with bigger crowds
and extra media attention and more meaningful games. Plus, each
conference features different restrictions when it comes to imports, as
(13:38):
they're called here in the Philippines. In the Philippine Cup,
teams can only field all Filipino rosters to highlight local talent.
In the Commissioner's Cup, teams can hire one foeign big
man as an import, and in the Governor's Cup, teams
can hire one smaller import, either a wing or a guard. Traditionally,
way back in the seventies and eighties, including when Andy
(14:00):
Thompson played for Undway, they called it a reinforced conference
with one import and an open conference with two imports
per team. So is this the part where we get
to the height limits? I mean, I read about these,
Tell me if this sounds right. The PBA enforces height
limits on imports depending on the conference. Sometimes it will
be six ten or seven feet or unlimited, and other
(14:22):
times will be six three or six six, And whenever
a new import comes in, they have to be measured
at a PBA headquarters in Metro Manila, where the player
has to lay on his back and let league employees
verify his height with a tape measure before he can
be cleared to play. According to legendary Philippine sports broadcaster
sev Seramantha, who we heard from last episode, sometimes teams
(14:45):
would stretch or shrink the truth. Imports would arrive claiming
to be an inch or too shorter than their previously
reported height when they played in the US. Filipino sports
journalists like Kenito Henson would keep them honest. Though Kennito
Henson did this long for the Internet, we had sports magazines.
He would subscribe to all the databases, and before the
(15:07):
import arriving in the Philippines, Kennito had already written about
that import. Sometimes imports would lie about their heights and
Kennetho would just clarify and crystallize what was really the truth.
And supposedly teams have developed methods of shrinking imports an
inch or so to get an extra advantage. Well, the
shrinking imports thing is a bit of an urban legend.
(15:30):
It's true that in the eighties and the nineties some
PBA teams believe they could shave as much as one
inch off a player's height at measurement by having them
lift heavy weights on a shoulder press. An exercise was
believed to compress the spine and make a person temporarily shorter,
But obviously there's no scientific evidence to back that up,
(15:51):
and the truth is that imports cheated the height limit
in those days. They didn't do so by shrinking their spines.
They just took advantage of the league's imperfect measurement techniques.
Until the two thousands, the PBA allowed imports to stand
for their official measurement, so players would just add a
slight bend to their knees or not stand perfectly straight
(16:12):
against the measurement wall. There's really nothing scientific about it,
just good old fashioned gamesmanship. We're going to take a
quick break, but when we come back, we're getting an
inside look into a life as a PBA import, where
everyone is like Mike, I always tell Michael. When I
started working with Michael really closely in nineteen ninety eight
on the Last Dance, and we were just talking about
(16:34):
life one day and I say, hey, Man, I know
what it's like to be you. He looked at me like,
how in the hell do you know what it's like
to be me? What? What are you talking about. In
the seventies and eighties, before there was more competition to
(16:56):
sign players from pro leagues in Europe and East Asia,
it was much more common to see imports arriving in
Manila fresh off their last NBA contracts. Dozens of former
NBA players have suited up as PBA imports throughout the
league's history, but to be honest, looking over the list
of their names can feel a little bit like watching
Charles Barkley and Shack play who he played for on
(17:19):
inside the NBA. I mean, check out this list, right,
I mean Glenn McDonald or my childhood hero Lamont the
Helicopter Strathers. They're probably better remembered in the Philippines as
dominating imports than anywhere in the States for their NBA careers.
Guards like Kevin Gamble and Vincent Esque were NBA journeymen
in the nineties, but they each began their journeys overseas
(17:41):
with stops in the PBA and other international leagues before
playing their way into the NBA, and it's unlikely many
Celtics fans recall a backup guard named Tony Harris who
played a couple of seasons in Boston in the mid nineties.
But any PBA follower old enough to remember will tell
you about the day Hurricane Harris sat the league's single
(18:02):
game scoring record with one hundred and five points. One
hundred five from a backup guard played for the Celtics.
The Celtic fans don't even remember. Now. There's also Peter
John Ramos. No relation, no relation, I just want that
clear right now. Not related to him, And the next
(18:23):
detail will make you say, yeah, of course, yeah. He's
seven foot four, yea, yeah, yeah. He spent a season
with the Washington Wizards in the mid odds, resurface in
the PBA in twenty fifteen to be teammates with guests
who player coach Manny Pacquiao on an expansion team called
(18:43):
the Kia Carnival. That was the same season that ex
Oklahoma City thunder big man Daniel Orton lost his roster
spot after publicly questioning the legitimacy of a pro basketball
league that would allow a five foot five inch celebrity
boxer and congressman to play because of his heroics in
the ring and political cloud even by the PBA standards,
(19:06):
that was a weird time. I mean, I guess I
see this point. There's always a stir when a PBA
team lands an import who played at an NBA championship team.
Josh Powell and DJ Benga, both of whom won titles
playing for the Lakers alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol
in two thousand and nine. In two ten, showed up
for separate tours in Manila after their NBA opportunities had faded.
(19:27):
And who's this Scott Burrell and Dicky Simpkins, two players
who had contributed to the Chicago Bulls three peats in
the nineties. How did they not win PBA championships simply
by having been in the presence of Michael Jordan. That's
probably what the PB eight teams who hired them were thinking. See,
that's one of the tricky things about playing as an
import with NBA experience. The fans, the media, even the
(19:50):
teams themselves have even greater expectations of an accomplished NBA
veteran compared to a former, let's say, All Conference star
in college who never played at the highest level. And
this is a job, being a PBA import where the
baseline expectations are already off the charts. If you're not
your team's best player on both sides of the floor,
(20:12):
if you're not averaging close to thirty points per game,
and if you aren't delivering wins, no matter how good
your stats, your team might send you home as soon
as a replacement import becomes available. One of the long
time coaches in the league, a legendarily hard nosed guy
named Yeng Gao shout out coach Yang once said he'd
(20:32):
replace his import before Game seven of the finals if
he knew he had Michael Jordan coming in to close
out the series. But I mean, like, who wouldn't I've
heard that. Even in the unforgiving world of international basketball,
where American imports understand that they're often only as good
as their last game, the PBA can be particularly cutthroat.
(20:53):
Darvin Ham, the first year head coach of the Los
Angeles Lakers, flew into Manila in early two thousand and six,
just months removed from being on an NBA Finals floor
with the Detroit Pistons, he arrived just in time to
join the Talking Texts phone pals for the playoffs, replacing
an import who'd played well but did not own a
championship ring. The move didn't payoff. Talking Texts lost their
(21:16):
first playoff series three one, and Ham was headed back
home after four games. The NBA veteran had been a
burly defensive specialist with the Pistons, but when he was
facing triple teams and the PBA and still expected to
drop thirty, he couldn't adjust fast enough to the new role.
Andy Thompson, the former tend Y Rummaker's import we heard
(21:37):
from at the beginning of this episode, is back to
tell us first hand about the life of a PBA import.
After knee injuries forced him to retire from playing, Andy
joined MBA Entertainment and eventually became an executive producer on
Michael Jordan's The Last Dance documentary. And when you hear
this man talk about his experience in the PBA, you'll
(21:57):
wonder if he's planning to make a document worry about
Philippine basketball Matt. The guy who I replaced was Benny Andrews,
great player in his own right from the University of Houston.
He was averaging thirty points a game and like eighteen
or twenty rebounds he got, and he got cut, and
I was like, what did they expect for me? That
you just cut a guy? I was in thirty and twenty?
(22:18):
Are you kidding me? But they had won the two
previous championships. They wanted to open and they won the
six four and unders, so they were back to back
champions and they were going for the triple crown. They
called it, which was the Open, which was six six
and under, and I was six six and I had
to play the center. And so I walk off a
plane and I get the practice, can barely keep my
(22:38):
eyes open because of the jetlight. And then we had
to play the next day, so I've only had one
day to practice, and I go out in the first
game and I just stink it up. I was twofa
eight the first half. I only had six points, and
I'm feeling like I'm not gonna be here very long
if I expected to score thirty and grabbed twenty boards.
(23:00):
But I remember my head's down. In the locker room,
Rob Williams comes over to me and goes, yo, judge.
He always called me judge, Yo judge. You can play, man,
I said, I want you practice yesterday. You can play.
He says. There are two ways to get cut here
in the fields. You can get cut shooting too little. Well,
you can get cut shooting too much. He says, if
I was you, bro, I'd start shooting. He said, you
(23:23):
got this, and he patted me on the back, and
it was like it gives me goosebumps to think, I
don't know what that. There was a couple of words
and that pat on the back, but that gave me
enough confidence to go out in the second half where
I scored twenty four and I hit the game winning shot.
So I ended up with, you know, with thirty points
like eighteen rebounds, so I made my quota. But more importantly,
(23:46):
we won the game, and it was like boom, I
knew that I can play when I did that thirty
and twenty and I had a bad game in my opinion,
and I knew at that point, okay, maybe this could work.
You know, I was nobody in Europe and I was
coming off the bench at the University of Minnesota, and
then all of a sudden, now I'm this big time
(24:07):
star and a quotation mark star in the Philippines, and
then lasted about two weeks while I was enjoying it,
until you just want to go out and shop for
some shoes or you know, a suit or whatever, and
there's this line of people lining up behind you to
just watch you do everything. Whether I go to a
food market, wherever I went, there was just a line
(24:29):
of people. You know, you can't eat a dinner anymore.
I always tell Michael. When I started working with Michael
really closely in nineteen ninety eight on the Last Dance,
and we were just talking about life one day and
I said, hey, man, I know what it's like to
be you. He looked at me like, how in the
hell do you know what it's like to be me?
What what are you talking about? And then I related
(24:50):
my experiences of being followed every day by the media,
by fans, not having a moment's rest. I said, believe me, dude,
I know what it's like to be you. In an
eight fund Andy, what it was like to play in
the PBA in the eighties, with that signature scrappy style.
One thing we had to realize too, we had to
play all forty eight minutes. It was NBA rules forty
(25:10):
eight minutes twelve minute quarters, and imports were expected to
play every minute, which I didn't know when I got here,
so I went all out. And then when I realized
I was hopefully going to take a rest after like
ten minutes, the coach was like, no, you're not coming out.
You've got to play the whole game. And I remember
at the end of the first game, I was literally
on fumes, just trying to pick my spots when I
(25:33):
can run on a fast break, hope when I can
get a rebound and throw it out so I can
hang and get some rest. So very quickly realized the
rules for the imports and the rules for everybody else
was different. It was an open style of play where
it was a motion offense. There were very few set plays,
so basically it was motion offense. It was definitely the roughest, tumblest,
(25:56):
dirtiest form of basketball I've ever played in. And it's
not up at denigrate the style of play, but the
mentality and how they played the games, and then how
they especially treated the imports, because if you can get
an import off of this game that wasn't used to
being tripped, being punched in the ribs, or you know,
hit in the lower region and you take a swing
(26:18):
and you're out of the game, and whoever import leaves
the game, the team loses. Getting imports off their game
is a key part to success in the PBA, and
there's one import stopper that rises above the rest. Nick velasco.
We watched a lot of film on them, and we
know that they get frustrated if you hit them too much,
if you play them too physical. So that's exactly what
(26:40):
we would do. Whatever we can do to get them
disrupted and upset and triggered and get their mind off
of their strategy as a team and get them to
want to fight us. Then that means we won, because
they're not thinking about the game anymore. They're thinking about
how badly they want to fight us. We'll hear more
from Nick in a second. Damn Nico. Is the PBA
(27:02):
still as rugged as Andy described? He made it sound
like driving into the lame was like entering the Thunderdome.
It's not that bad anymore. Fans love the rough and
tumble style of PBA ball in the eighties, but over time,
the league and fairness has moved away from the unspoken
rule of no blood, no foul, and the product a
more free flowing, skillful game is better for it. I
(27:26):
mean that doesn't mean the PBA hasn't remained a very
physical league. I mean they just reigned in the dangerous
stuff the players got away within Andy's day, which brings
me to our Gailla glesson for this episode, Cassidy, Oh,
today's word is gulang. Huh I Remember Donna mentioned that
(27:46):
you're right, You're right way back in episode one? She did.
She did say that. In the dictionary, if you look
up the word gulang, it just means age. But on
the basketball court, gulang is more like craftiness, the tricks
that experienced PBA players can use to get the better
of younger, greener opponents. Some of these tactics can feel
(28:07):
borderline dirty, like holding a player's index finger as he's
about to jump for a rebound to stunt his upward momentum.
All it takes is a gentle yank in the wrong
direction to give the practitioner of gulang the edge he needs.
To secure the ball. But that's the thing. PBA imports
are often such gifted scorers that local defenders will sink
to bizarre levels in hopes of throwing imports off their game.
(28:32):
Gulang is particularly important to a group of players known
as import stoppers, guys who have a reputation for being
able to make an import work for his numbers. Nick
Blasco is one of the league's top defenders and a
designated import stopper for much of his sixteen year career
in the PBA. The six foot six forward raised in Stockton, California,
(28:52):
had a size and quickness to match up with imports,
and so he was asked to defend a different former
college All American or fringe and BA talent almost every
time he stepped on the court during import conferences. He's
going to teach us the tricks of the trade. Ron
Jacobs was the one that really made a big deal
about it. And he saw that I could guard guys
like Sonny Alvarado, who was a phil am more like
(29:15):
an import, and he played for Tan Dwy and I
could guard him real well, one on one full court.
So Ron Jacobs was running the Sam Miguel Beerman team
and Hinebro. He was running all the Sa Miguel teams
and he started a pathway to get a trade for
me to bring me to San Miguel because he knew
that he would have to face Sonny Alvarado in the
(29:37):
playoffs in the quarterfinals, and he knew I can guard
him one on one. I just want to tell you,
I remember the day you got traded to Sun Miguel
as a lifelong Son Miguel fan. I remember my dad
actually buying Son Miguel and bringing it to the house
and celebrating because Nick Bilasco was now playing for San Miguel.
(30:00):
It was a happy day in our household now, I'll
never forget it. My dad then proceeded to watch your
games and then tell me to play like you, and
I was like, he's look at him, look at me, like, no,
there's no way I can do that. Now. Since we're
looking back on your on your PBA career, one that
I've obviously been such a big fan of, who comes
(30:20):
to mind when you think about your toughest matchups. You
mentioned Sonya Varai was a handful for for anybody, whether
it's locals or whether it's imports. Who makes it to
the top of your mind when you think of like
the toughest players you played. Well, the guys that introduced
me into Philipine basketball, and it was a rude introduction too.
(30:40):
It was Noldie Luckson. Nelie Luckson. I got so many
scars on my face just from him and lay up
the tank the tank, and you know, I was I
was trained to play pressure denial defense. I can guard
you full court. You know. I pretty much put my
whole body all over you when I played defense and
(31:03):
disrupt everything you do. So when you played defense like that,
these veteran players such as Noli, they know how to
get you. You know, if your face is right here,
they're just gonna make a move like this and it's
legal and you're gonna eat those elbows. So my first
year I got cut a lot because I never backed
down from putting my face right there, and I wasn't
(31:24):
smart enough to figure out how to get my face
out of the way and still get the job done,
so they just kept teeing off on me. Those are
the guys that gave me hell my first year, and
it was mostly locals because you know, the big wave
of Philams didn't come in until nineteen ninety nine. Around
that point where I see Talava and Rudy and Eric
Mink and all them came through phil Am or Filipino
(31:46):
American players have a unique role in the PBA since
they have their own category and don't count as imports
on a team roster. The rules for how many phil
Am players are allowed on a team have changed over
the years, but they're importance to the league means they're
heavily scouted from college teams and local Philippine basketball clubs.
You know, I'm honestly kind of surprised I wasn't scouted
(32:08):
form my PBA Chicago team, just kidding. The one that
gave me fits the worst was Nelson Satono. He would
score forty points on me every game my rookie year.
And then there was a bar called Cable Car. I
don't know if you guys remember Cable Car, the original
Impasse Road. You know, I would always go there with
my teammates my rookie year, which is boy been Victoria
(32:30):
at Dwight Logo, you know, for Helm and SS. We
would always go there and hang out of Makadie, have
some beer and Eves Dignadise would always be out there
and VS for whatever reason. You know, he's really a
defensive specialist and he played for Ron Jacobs. The Ron
Jacobs style is that you know everyone's tendency that you're guarding,
(32:50):
you know their moves exact, and you know how to
shut it down and send them to their weaknesses. So
Evs sat me down, we had a bunch of beer,
and he broke down all the secrets and tendencies of
each one of those players. You know, Alvin's gonna do
this move, Nelson's gonna spend baseline, um Nolie's gonna take
one or two troubles and then spin and you wait
(33:10):
for them to jump, and then you jump second. Then
you're gonna block it. So I started, you know, I
remembered all that I was just absorbing it from UVS.
So that changed everything for me because now when I
played against those guys that were really giving me hell,
I was able to shut down some of their stuff
and then I started figuring it out. Those bobbled the bull.
When I heard a big bag on the floor, it
(33:34):
looks like someone got hit him the head. It was
just about being smart, and that's what I learned from
Nolie lux In because what I would do is when
Nolie would hit me, I'll hit him back right away,
and then he'll just be like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry, Nick, I'm sorry. Because we would always go
out and have drinks after the game because he was
good friends with Dwyn Lago and me and Dwy were
(33:55):
closed and teammates, so we would have these crazy battles
during the game, and then it will be end up
somewhere at someone's house drinking wine or beer or whatever
and hanging out listening to jazz. And you know, I
couldn't figure out the psychological thing that was happening there
because we're all buddy buddy. But then as soon as
the game starts, boom, I get hit and then I'm
(34:17):
all frustrated and he's like sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. And
then Nolie would be like, We'll be running down the
court after he hit elbows me and he's like, just
hit me back, hit me backing back, hit me back,
like whispering it to me. And finally, when one day
I fell for it, I just leveled him at half
court boom, and he was just waiting for it, and
so I got thrown out. So I started figuring out
the pattern that as soon as the ball's up in
(34:40):
the air and we're all battling for a rebound, that's
when I'll get hit like bang. And then I started
realizing I can't hit him back right now because everyone's
looking at us now. They missed his hit, but they
saw me react, so now they're looking when I hit
him back before it, I would be the one they
would get caught. So I learned, got to run up
(35:00):
and down a couple of times, and new wait for
someone to shoot the blog. Then you get them, you know,
and that's where no one's expecting it. They kind of
forgot about the previous incident and then Nollie would or
whoever it was, would just be like, oh, you got
me back, and it would just be an ongoing thing.
When I figured it out, then I started using it
against other people. So when a new player would come
(35:22):
in the league, like I would be licking my chops
the same way that those guys were licking their chops
when they saw me come in the league, and I
use all the same tricks against them, and you know,
I would give them hell after the break we're talking
about one of the biggest legends in PBA history, a
former Portland Trailblazer turned PBA star known as the Black Superman,
(35:44):
Billy ray Bates. He actually played with Andy Thompson in
the PBA and was in the same NBA draft class
as Raymond Townsend, the first Filipino American in the NBA.
Even coach Eric Spoelstra was a big og Billy ray
Bates fan. My family over there would always send BHS
tapes of the PBA, and so I was familiar with
(36:06):
the PBA and Billy rate Bates, who was a legend
over there. He actually played for the Portland Trailblazers. He
was kind of a two year legend in Portland where
they still talk about him while he finished his career
(36:28):
in the Philippines. So I felt a connection to Billy
rate Bates, but also to the PBA. Wow, you're asking
me to basically tell you about Michael Jordan. Literally he
made the PBA what it is today. He's known as
(36:49):
the Black Superman, and I think there's probably next to
Air Jordan, there is nobody else with a more fitting
name than the Black Superman, because he was that good
and that dominant. He was six foot four about two
hundred and twenty five pounds, can jump like Jordan, pans
like Jordan if you go back and you google him.
(37:09):
In the NBA, He's one of the few players who
never got drafted what was called up from the CBA,
and the minute he who played his first couple of
games with the Portland Trail Blazers, he made it an
the needed impact. There's probably only one player in history
(37:30):
who was called the legend by Brett Musberger at halftime
of an NBA playoff game before widening up as a
PBA import and carving out an even more legendary career
in Manila, Billy Ray Bates. His story captivated NBA fans
late in the nineteen seventy nine eighty season when the
Portland Trailblazers signed Bates, an undrafted six four guard who've
(37:54):
been putting up monster scoring numbers for a minor league
team in the old CBA called main Lumberjacks. Bates helped
the Blazers rally for a playoff spot, and in the
first round against the defending champion Seattle SuperSonics. Bates gave
one of the best teams in the NBA all that
they could handle. Against an all star backcourt, Bates torched
(38:18):
Seattle's Dennis Johnson and Gus Williams for twenty five points
per game in a losing effort that series, Berward, don't
you know who Bannis Johnson is? Yes, I know they
got hurt of I don't you know how Goody is defenshion? Well,
you're not supposed to give off for twenty nine on him? Well,
you know, I've just come out here, you know, and
take the open shots, you know, look for the good shot.
(38:40):
And looks a pair of ball from the largest got
those twenty nine points, baffling Jane ball, and you know
I was a while. Over the following year, Bates averaged
twenty eight point three points per game while the Blazers
fell again in the first round, but it gave him
a career NBA playoff average of twenty six point seven
points per game, a franchise record in Portland that even
(39:02):
Damian Lillard, with a postseason average of twenty five point
seven points per game, is still trying to catch. He
had a nuclear first step and the explosiveness to get
to the rim and dunk in the blink of an eye.
He had a soft shooting touch on running bank shots
and baseline pull up jumpers from the mid range, and
he shot and made three pointers like a modern NBA guard.
(39:25):
Back in Portland, the minister of a local church even
wrote a verse about Bates into his sermon, and CBS's
Mussburger read it allowed to him on National TV before
a playoff game. Billy Ray, you're going to show good
in Portland. Look at this the ministers. Now I'm making
those sermons about you. On Sunday, Rock of Ages, Billy Ray.
Shoot a jump shot, fade away, get a slammer that away,
(39:48):
fire home a three point play. Rock of Ages, Billy Ray.
We all hope you're here to stay. Are you indeed
here to stay? Yes? I hope. So I'm gonna give
it all I got, you know, show to people what
I can do. You know, I let the system. And however,
made his stake. But it wasn't Bates game that brought
him to Manila. There's no doubt that he had the
(40:08):
raw scoring ability of a multiple time NBA All Star. Unfortunately,
like David Thompson, Michael Ray, Richardson, and a number of
other brilliant talents who never quite lived up to their potential.
In the seventies and eighties, Bates struggled with substance abuse.
Teams considered him unreliable, and he washed out of the
NBA in nineteen eighty three. The next month, he was
(40:30):
on his way to Manila, where he didn't clean up
his lifestyle. But it didn't matter. He could party as
much as he wanted, and by some accounts he did
and still score it will in the PBA. A six
foot four guard with a thick, powerful frame and pre
Jordan Jordan esque hang time, Bates could put the ball
in the basket from just about anywhere on the court.
(40:51):
Oh my goodness, trying to guard this guy. Like I said,
six to four guard skills, hands like Jordan, can jump
out the gym, and he had a three point jump shot.
It was he was unguardable at that time. The average,
I think forty eight points a game. It's point a minute. Okay,
It's hard to average forty eight points a game if
(41:11):
you're playing for Little Sisters of the Poor or the YMCA.
He was that dominant, just at a phenomenal, phenomenal talent,
couldn't be stopped. Got to his spots He was like
Larry Bird at times, I'm gonna go right over there
and shoot a jumper and you can't do anything about it.
He was that dominant Dinna rate Bage comes out of
no word to pull down the rebound and keeps it
(41:32):
in the turf. If he never signed to go there,
I've had by six, make that nine on a triple
of by Dinna rate Babe. The PBA, a league that
is no stranger. The highest scoring imports, had never seen
a player like Bates. In his first game playing for
the Crispo Redmanizers, he unloaded sixty four points, shooting five
of six on three pointers, seventeen of twenty five on twos,
(41:55):
and fifteen of sixteen from the free throw line. For
good mesh, he grabbed twelve rebounds and dished five assists
out to go along with one steal and one block shot.
Talk about stuff in the statue and that game was
no fluke. Bates went on to play four full PBA
conferences with Crispa and then hennebra Sem Miguel over the
(42:17):
nineteen eighty three, nineteen eighty six, and nineteen eighty seven seasons.
Mill Rate Bates making up that's the one who were
waiting Forard. I thought everyone was waiting Ford. His career
average of forty six point two points is still the
highest in PBA history, a record that's unlikely to ever
be broken. And he wasn't just a stat stuffer. Bates
(42:41):
was a winner. He led Crispa to championships in both
conferences he played in eighty three, helping the Redmondizers become
the second PBA team to ever pull off a Grand
Slam of all three conference titles. In the same season,
when he returned with Hennebra, he led them to championships
in both conferences. He played four championships in four tries.
(43:03):
He was such a sensation that a local shoe brand, Grosby,
made a line of signature shoes for Bates, called the
Black Superman's and re released a retro version of them
in twenty thirteen, Forty years after Bates first stepped onto
a PBA court. He never Franchise brought Bates back one
more time in nineteen eighty eight, but by then his
(43:25):
lifestyle was catching up to him. Bates was out of shape,
and he and the team struggled. After four games, Bates
got sent home, like so many other PBA imports who
came before and after him. He'd been replaced, but fans
in the Philippines never forgot the Black Superman, the greatest
talent who ever graced the league. In twenty eleven, he
(43:45):
became one of just three imports named to the PBA
Hall of Fame. Bates' story hasn't had a storybook ending.
After he retired from basketball, he continued to struggle with
addiction and spent almost five years in prison. After his release,
he returned to the Philippines for his Hall of Fame
induction in twenty eleven and found a shot at redemption
(44:07):
as the skills coach for a team in the Escan
Basketball League. Almost six months after he'd been hired, Bates
was dismissed from the job. So I think it's safe
to say that this story is not going to end
up in a Hallmark card. But Bates had a brilliant,
unforgettable run in the PBA, one that touched the hearts
and imaginations of a basketball nation during a time when
(44:28):
the Philippines had hardly any televised access to NBA basketball
and above the rim, legends like Julius Irving and Michael Jordan.
PBA fans could say they had their own high flying
and high scoring hero, one who had already proven he
could average almost thirty points in an NBA playoff series,
and his name was Billy Ray Bates Grammont on the
(44:49):
in Bad Play, in Bad Right. Thanks for listening to
episode three of Hoops Paradise the Philippines Love of the Game.
Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you
get podcasts, and check out episode four, where we'll be
(45:10):
going deep on the impact Kobe Bryant and other NBA
players have had on the lives of countless Filipinos. You
had lunch with him, Yeah, but I wasn't able to eat.
I was like, just like we had lunch. Cat sat
next to him.
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