Barrios bats for long-term cage scheme
PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios is going to pitch for the adoption of a long-term program for the national team featuring young amateur players as he sits on the new Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) board of trustees.
“We have to move away from the pick-up system which has not worked since time immemorial. It doesn’t work,” said Barrios after discussing the program with the PBA board which he eventually represents in the SBP board.
“I’ll pitch for long-term planning. It’s not reinventing the wheel. That’s the successful NCC (Northern Consolidated Cement team) model. I want the PBA to support the SBP program through the youth team of coach Franz Pumaren. Keep them together for a long period of time and they should be ready for the
Barrios believes nothing good would happen to both the PBA and the national cage federation if they continue to use their old system of forming pro selection for international competitions.
“It didn’t just come out of my head. It’s based on historical facts,” said Barrios, noting the best the PBA-backed RP teams could produce was a silver medal in the 1990 Beijing Asian Games.
“It’s been 18 years since the PBA started sending players to international competitions, but it really doesn’t work. It won’t work,” Barrios added.
Barrios noted the 59 percent improvement of the PBA gate receipts this season from the same period last year when the national team was preparing for the Tokushima FIBA-Asia Olympic qualifier.
“It only shows that the PBA fans don’t want the league stars away from the league. The PBA is a Filipino basketball for Filipino fans in the
“There are many other ways to help the national team. There’s the financial way and non-financial way. We can help them raise funds. We can help them in goodwill games,” Barrios added.
Barrios will be with Talk n Text team owner Manny V. Pangilinan, PBA board chairman Tony Chua and PBA immediate past chairman Ricky Vargas in representing the pro sector in the new SBP board.
The SBP will elect its new set of officers on June 12 in Dusit Hotel in
- Latest
- Trending
