From Seville, Spain, Gilas Pilipinas naturalized cager Andray Blatche flew straight to Miami where he will probably meet with representatives of the Miami Heat, which has shown interest in acquiring his services.
There are three NBA teams that have sent feelers through Blatche’s manager, after they saw his sterling performance in the Fiba World Cup, and one of them is the Eric Spoelstra-mentored Miami Heat.
Of course, Blatche will perhaps be talking to all three to see what each has to offer. He is still hoping to play in the 17th Asian Games, where he wants to lead Gilas Pilipinas to a gold medal finish.
Unfortunately, by now, Blatche has surely learned that even a letter from Fiba secretary general Patrick Baumann backing his eligibility for the Asian Games has been turned down.
Having failed to satisfy the three-year residency requirement, Blatche was thumbed down by the OCA. Also failing to get the nod for the Asian Games was naturalized Taiwanese Quincy Davis and South Korea’s Aaron Haynes.
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Last Monday, after receiving the letter from OCA, SBP vice chair Ricky Vargas called a press conference to announce that the SBP will do everything that it can “to send the best team possible to Incheon.”
“It’s more than just winning the gold, it’s doing what is right,” Vargas said, as he laid down three options.
One: Play without Blatche.
Two: Elevate the matter to the Court of Arbitration.
Three: Pull out from the tournament altogether.
“But we will exhaust all means possible to avoid resorting to the last two options,” said Vargas, who appeared in last Monday’s press conference with MVP Sports Foundation president Al Panlilio, Gilas public relations officer Virgil Villavicencio and SBP consultant Moying Martelino, who will fly to Incheon today with PSC chair Richie Garcia, in a last-ditch effort to appeal Blatche’s case.
“The PSC chair will be talking for the SBP during the registration meeting, scheduled Sept. 11 and 12,” Vargas said. “By Friday we should have a clearer scenario.”
In case Blatche is completely out of the Asian Games team, Vargas said they will request the OCA that he be replaced by Marcus Douthit, who is eligible to play in the Asiad since he’s been residing in the Philippines for five years.
The problem is, Douthit’s name was not in the lineup submitted to the Asiad organizing committee.
The ball is in Garcia’s hands. The prospect is not all that dreadful though, even if we play all-Filipino.