Wang treated shabbily?

MANILA, Philippines - It’s no secret that China coach Panagiotis Giannakis didn’t want NBA veteran Wang Zhizhi in the national team lineup for the ongoing FIBA-Asia Championships here. For some reason, the Greek basketball legend preferred not to go to war with the 7-foot, 36-year-old forward. Maybe, Giannakis felt Wang Zhizhi wouldn’t fit in the European style of play he envisioned for China. Maybe, he felt the former Dallas, Los Angeles Clippers and Miami player had outlived his usefulness in the physical international game.

But regardless of Giannakis’ bias, the scuttlebutt is he was outruled by the Chinese federation that insisted on Wang Zhizhi’s return to the roster. And it wasn’t just Wang Zhizhi who was activated. Three players were replaced from the 12-man “final” lineup that China submitted to FIBA-Asia last month. They were Olympic veteran point guard Liu Wei, Han Shuo and 7-2 Li Muhao. Another Olympic veteran Zhang Zhao Xu was in the original 24-man pool but didn’t make to the last cut. Zhang, a 7-3 center, was with Yao Ming’s Shanghai Sharks squad that played in two exhibitions here last May.

Aside from Wang Zhizhi, two other late additions were Guo Ailun and three-time Olympian Zhu Fangyu. Guo, a point guard, played with 7-1 Wang Zhelin on the China team that bowed to Korea, 79-68, at the East Asia qualifiers in Incheon last May. Both Guo and Wang Zhelin are 19. Wang Zhelin took over Zhang’s spot on the national squad. Fangyu, 30, is a 6-7 forward with loads of international experience.

Giannakis, 54, wasn’t China’s first choice to replace American coach Bob Donewald. It was reported that he was summoned only after David Blatt and Ilias Zourus turned down China overtures. Negotiations to bring Giannakis to China weren’t easy. The first report confirmed he had accepted the job. Then a tweet from a Serbian journalist trended that Giannakis wouldn’t take the offer after all. To put an end to the controversy, Giannakis’ former club Limoges of France terminated his coaching contract, citing “serious misconduct.” Giannakis was signed to a four-year contract to call the shots for the China team until the 2016 Olympics but it isn’t guaranteed, meaning he could be axed anytime or as early as after the ongoing FIBA-Asia Championships.

“It’s obvious Giannakis doesn’t like Wang Zhizhi,” said a long-time FIBA observer. “Just look at how he’s being played. In the Korea game, he played 3:18 minutes and scored four points, both on baskets that just beat the 24-second shot clock. Giannakis didn’t play him the entire second half. Then in the Malaysia game, he played 18 minutes and scored 17 points. It’s disrespectful. They’re playing him like a junior with a few minutes in the big games and lots of minutes in the blow-out games.” Probably because of the way he’s been treated, Wang Zhizhi has announced this will be his final FIBA-Asia appearance.

China’s 63-59 loss to Korea was blamed on Giannakis trying to force the team to play like Greece. “Giannakis is a great coach but he doesn’t understand Asian basketball which is different from the European style,” added the observer. “He’s looking to control the game but he doesn’t have a Dimitris Diamantidis, the super Greek point guard, to do it. He has a lot of adjusting to do, the same with his players.”

****

Several Filipinos are involved in the technical side of the FIBA-Asia Championships operations. Of the 26 FIBA-licensed referees rotated for the tournament, three are Filipinos – Ferdinand (Bong) Pascual, Glenn Cornelio and Ricor Buaron. Of the four supervisors, one is Filipino Danny Soria who represents Regions 1, 2, 3 and the Cordillera Administrative Region in the SBP. And of the four commissioners, one is Filipino Riel Banaria who is the current Asean Basketball League supervisor of officials based in Jakarta.

FIBA-Asia has licensed 348 referees and 10 are Filipinos, including the three who are assigned to work games in the FIBA-Asia Championships here. SBP deputy executive director and deputy head of the FIBA-Asia Local Organizing Committee (LOC) secretariat Bernie Atienza said a commissioner is in charge of the conduct of every game. Four commissioners are rotated, turn by turn, to manage seven games a day in the preliminaries. The four supervisors are involved in evaluating the work of the technical group, including referees and table officials.

The LOC chairman and chief executive officer is SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan who gained for the Philippines the hosting rights to the tournament in a major coup after a break of 40 years. The LOC deputy CEO is former FIBA-Asia (then known as the Asian Basketball Confederation) secretary-general Moying Martelino. SBP executive director Sonny Barrios is in charge of the LOC operations and secretariat. In Atienza’s staff are technical officials Levy Valenzuela and Boy Cahanding.

Over 100 twin and 30 single rooms are being occupied by the 15 teams at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati with the SBP taking care of the bills. Administrative and operations staff of FIBA and FIBA-Asia are booked at the Manila Hotel. The referees are staying at the Manila Diamond Hotel on Roxas Boulevard. FIBA president Yvan Mainini of France is arriving on Aug. 7 and will stay at the Sofitel Hotel where FIBA-Asia president Sheikh Saud Bin Ali Ali-Thani of Qatar and FIBA-Asia secretary-general Hagop Khajirian of Lebanon are billeted. FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann of Switzerland was supposed to arrive but cancelled at the last minute due to pressing commitments with the International Olympic Committee.

“Our Filipino liaison officers are staying at the Dusit with their assigned teams because they eat and move around together but aside from the Philippine team, no other Filipino is booked in a hotel,” said Atienza. “We’d like to commend the NCAA and UAAP for taking a break in their schedules for the FIBA-Asia tournament. In particular, the SBP thanks the NCAA for volunteering their cheering bands for every Gilas game. Two NCAA schools come for every game, each with two bass drums and a snare. We’re providing 60 tickets each for the schools. We never thought of mobilizing bands for the games and it was the NCAA’s idea. I think the cheering played a big role in energizing our team to win over Jordan. Everyone saw how big the homecourt advantage is in that game.”

Atienza said the demand for tickets is intense. “Friends whom I haven’t heard from in 20 years are calling,” he said. “You can’t believe the demand for tickets, IDs and complimentaries. It’s the FIBA-Asia fever in Manila.”