COLUMN: 'TEST OF PATIENCE' FOR TNT AS PBA SITS ON REVISED NAMBATAC TRADE

CHICAGO - Dealing with the PBA league office can be a challenging predicament that would make an atheist fall on his knees and pray.

If they don't know it already, the TNT Tropang Giga are slowly finding out.

Last June 5, the telephone giant, in hopes of shoring up its backcourt, proposed a trade to snag Blackwater point guard Rey Nambatac in exchange for Kib Montalbo and a future second-round draft pick.

READ Blackwater trading Rey Nambatac to TNT for Kib Montalbo, second-round pick

The following day, SPIN.ph reported that the deal was "unlikely to be approved."

The decision made sense.

Nambatac is a starter who averaged 11 points, 4.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 11 games during the recent Philippine Cup conference while Montalbo logged just 3.4 points, 1.1 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 14 games with the Tropa.

DILLY-DALLYING.

A tweak was needed to balance the scales and TNT quickly complied by proposing to throw in Barkley Ebona, the fourth overall pick in the 2019 PBA Rookie Draft, or Paul Varilla to the package.

No word back from the PBA office. You'd think that in this furlough before the next conference, the people in charge of approving and denying trades had the time of day.

I guess not. And this inaction is getting into the nerves of TNT.

"Walang transparency sa trades, sa salary cap and other important issues," a TNT executive, who requested anonymity to avoid being in the crosshairs of the Commissioner's Office, told me in a telephone interview.

The irked Tropa official referenced a December 2023 trade involving three teams where San Miguel acquired Don Trollano from Northport in exchange for ancillary pieces that are barely getting playing time at Batang Pier.

READ NorthPort trades newly acquired Trollano to SMB for Bulanadi, Faundo, pick

Asking for the PBA to act swiftly on this as the draft looms is a fair thing to ask. 

But then again, every process in this league somehow turns into a test of faith and resolve.

With three teams in its fold, the assumption was that the MVP Group has a little pull in the PBA. Apparently, there is a higher power. 

LIGHTNING BOLT.

I only know him as the Meralco team governor. Haven't met him. Haven't  spoken to him, either.

But I'm swiftly beginning to like lawyer Bill Pamintuan.

In the wake of his team's recent championship under the active consultant-head coach set-up of Nenad Vucenic  and Luigi Trillo, Pamintuan told Power and Play host Noli Eala that perhaps it's time to open the doors for foreign coaches to coach in the PBA.

PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

"It's something the PBA board should really consider," he said on last Saturday's show, emphasizing that basketball is "global" now and that guys such as Vucenic can "help and upgrade the level of play."

The PBA needs more governors such as Bill, one who is open to new ideas and accepting of the fact that basketball is evolving.

Foreign coaches must be viewed not as a threat to local coaches' jobs but instruments to the growth of coaching in our country.

2024-06-23T16:03:36Z dg43tfdfdgfd