A busy August for pro league

With the 2014-15 PBA season coming to a close, you’d think a lengthy period of inactivity immediately follows for the league.

Well not this year.

For one, Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin has been patiently waiting for the PBA season to end so he can form his team for this year’s Fiba Asia Men’s Championship in Hunan, China.

Tab’s dream team is basically composed of PBA players but he will need the nod of their mother teams before the players can start training.

Tab has submitted his wish list of 26 players to the PBA. He is confident that as long as his final lineup comes from his list, Gilas’ goal of qualifying for the Brazil Olympics is attainable.

Also scheduled this coming August is the PBA Rookie Draft on Aug. 23 and the first PBA board meeting of the 2015-16 season under incoming chair Robert Non of San Miguel Beer, and the start of Andres “Chito” Narvasa’s term as PBA commissioner on Aug. 1.

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Will Bobby Ray Parks’ 10-point output in the last game of the Dallas Mavericks, which qualified for the quarterfinal round of the NBA Summer League, increase the chances of the Fil-Am cager to make it to the Mavs team? This question I asked online scribe Alder Almo, who has been keeping close tabs of Bobby Ray’s exploits in the Summer League.

“Yes it does,” Alder said. “But the prospects still look bleak considering that Deron Williams and JJ Barea have both been signed up by the team. They also have Wes Matthews and their first round pick Justin Anderson so Parks might be signed but could be sent to the NBA D-League.”

According to Alder, Mavs owner Mark Cuban has hinted that he likes Parks because he wants the Mavs to be the team of the Philippines.

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For Meralco head coach Norman Black, who has played in the NBA, the key is for RayRay to play well in all the Mavs’ succeeding games.

“If he does that, it will increase his  chances of being invited to the Veterans Camp at the  end of September. That would be the time when Dallas management would decide if he would be added to the regular season roster.”