Gilas Pilipinas. INQUIRER File Photofor
TAIPEI—In the absence of a concrete long-term program by the PBA, Ricky Vargas, the vice chair of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, would prefer to make Talk ‘N Text the future Gilas squad rather than “kneel down and ask for assistance” from the pro league later on.
“I thank those who have helped and those who are helping,” Vargas said on Wednesday morning prior to leaving for Los Angeles to do another SBP mission by talking to Jordan Clarkson’s father, Mike, and the LA Lakers.
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“Pero mahirap humingi ng abuloy. (It’s hard to ask for support.) To ask for, mahirap (it’s hard),” said the outspoken Vargas, one of basketball godfather Manny V. Pangilinan’s most trusted lieutenants. “If Talk ‘N Text is good enough to be the national team, it’s so much easier than to kneel down and ask for assistance.
“That (Talk ‘N Text as the national team) is a serious consideration. I don’t mind saying that we want the best players to come to Talk ‘N Text so we can use them for the national team.”
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Cadet program
Vargas said that another option would be to revive the cadet program because the support that the SBP is getting from the PBA has been very “volatile.”
“Sometimes they’re there, sometimes they’re not there. There’s never been an assurance,” Vargas said.
Full support, according to Vargas, does not come with conditions like the one-player-per-team policy.
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“One day (the PBA) wakes up with full support, then partial support,” he said. “We can’t rely on the commitment of the PBA. The next time, one player per team, and that would only make for 12 (players). So kulang, diba?”
The PBA, during its annual planning session three weeks ago in Japan, also wants the SBP to come up with a program of its events so that the pro league could adjust the schedule.