INQUIRER Sports

I JUST CAN’T UNDERSTAND JAPETH Aguilar.

For one so young and still to gain national acclaim and admiration in this basketball-batty nation, I feel Aguilar and his camp should be extra careful with their moves, especially those involving playing contracts.

Certainly one needs to show the value of commitment and loyalty, even fundamental gratitude, to go anywhere in life.

A former Western Kentucky University player, the 22-year-old, 6-foot-9 Aguilar was recruited by national coach Yeng Guiao (who also calls the shots for the Burger King Whoppers in the Philippine Basketball Association) to play for the Powerade-RP team in the recent Fiba Asia tournament in Tianjin, China.

Ranged against much taller, faster and heftier rivals, Guiao’s team could only finish a miserable eighth and failed to qualify for next year’s World Basketball Championship in Istanbul, Turkey.

Even before that failed mission in China, Aguilar had announced that he wanted to try his luck in the lucrative Philippine Basketball Association. He later joined the PBA draft where he emerged as No. 1 pick.

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As expected, Aguilar—considered by many as a future PBA phenom—was picked by Guiao, whose team owned the top draft choice.

But Guiao later got the shock of his life when Aguilar suddenly changed his mind, saying he was not playing for Burger King so he can join the Smart Gilas-RP squad being formed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas for major international tournaments, including the qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics.

“He (Aguilar) has caused us damage,” lamented Guiao, who was planning to build a champion team around the young player. “We were very sincere in protecting his interests but he did not mind the interests of others. I put my credibility on the line and even gave him a guaranteed slot on the RP team almost blindly.”

Burger King team manager and PBA chair Lito Alvarez also said he was terribly disappointed with Aguilar’s decision. “We will not take this sitting down,” he vowed.

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On the other hand, PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios said he talked to Aguilar already, but since no official complaint has reached his office, the best he could do was to offer a “fatherly advice” to the young Aguilar, a son of former national and PBA player Peter Aguilar, who is now based in Chicago.

But Barrios warned Aguilar: “I told him that before this develops into something that is tantamount to making a mockery of PBA rules, he has to rethink his stand.”

The young Aguilar could be banned for life for not honoring his commitment to Burger King and the PBA.

Earlier, TV analyst and columnist Ronnie Nathanielsz was quoted as saying that Aguilar joined Smart Gilas because he wanted so much to play for the national team.

“It’s not true that he would be getting a bigger salary,” Nathanielsz said, while denying that he is the agent of Aguilar.

During Aguilar’s stint with the Powerade-RP Team, Guiao had asked that Japeth be paid P150,000 a month as salary.