So far, the first native Filipino player to officially enter the NBA has not yet been born, and the whole country can only pin its hopes on 18-year-old rising star Kai Soto.
The sunshine teenager reached a height of 2.16 meters when he was 16 years old, and is now 2.21 meters, predicting that he will continue to grow in the future, so he had the title of shocking Asia a long time ago: Yao Ming of the Philippines.
Sitting on the intercontinental talent, its goal is naturally not the Philippines' own league PBA, so he set the goal in the NBA early, and before the dream was realized, he signed a contract with the Australian NBL team Adelaide 36 to improve physical, skill, psychological quality, practical ability and attract the attention of NBA scouts - the strength of the Australian men's basketball team has been recognized worldwide.
However, he has not been able to leave statistics on the NBL field so far; that is, he has not officially appeared in combat at all.
It can be said that to this day, Kay Soto is still just a dream of Philippine basketball, not a reality, and even hit by Chinese fans and media dimensionality reduction, renamed: Philippine Zhou Qi.
Let's not talk about whether this is a humiliation or a compliment to Zhou Qi, just talk about the NBA dream of Philippine basketball, the latest news is that the PBA's 2011-2012 MVP Jim Arappag strides forward:
On Aug. 24, NBA Development League team Stockton Kings officially appointed him as assistant coach to assist head coach Bobby Jackson in the upcoming 2021-2022 season.
Combined with the growth, basketball experience and coaching trajectory of the Philippine legend, it can be foreseen that his intentions are not small, and his ambitions are likely to be two aspects: one is to enter the coaching staff of the NBA team Sacramento Kings in the future; the other is to save the country by curve, and use his NBA coaching experience to help the Philippine men's basketball team realize the dream of re-emergence.
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In the stadium, he seriously consulted the Chinese men's basketball team
The first thing to figure out is, who is Jim Arapag?
Compared with the previous article "Gentle Kraken: The Tears of The Most Memorable Mother, and the Big Stick in Her Hand", the protagonist of the PBA's largest legend, Joan Mar Fajardo, the 1.75-meter tall and 73-kilogram small man is the most familiar to Chinese fans.
Just because, defender players seem to represent the essence of Philippine basketball better:
Strong body, fast speed, accurate three-pointer, often able to penetrate the jungle to easily lay down, of course, the most important thing is to play first, you can't play yourself and then find teammates in the Southeast Asian style.
"Gentle Kraken: The Most Memorable Mother's Tears, and the Big Stick in Her Hand" also mentions the 2014 Spain World Cup, the Game of the Philippines' Group Stage Victory over Senegal was the first win of the Philippine Men's Basketball Team at the World Championships/World Cup, and it is undeniable that the foundation for victory is two major internal lines:
Andrew Brach had 18 points, 14 rebounds and 1 assist; after his 5 foul departures, Joan Mar Fajardo, who came off the bench but still played 32 minutes, not only contributed 15 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists, but also scored 4 points in the final 1 minute 35 seconds, directly helping the Philippines to a narrow 81-79 victory over the African Brothers.
Jim Arapag, who also came off the bench, is equally important and can be seen as the 3rd or even 2nd element of winning:
No. 1 starter Luis Tenorio played only 23 minutes, contributing only 5 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, with a win-loss value of -6, while Arapag played the 4st 31 minutes of the team, with 18 points and 4 assists, plus 4 rebounds and 1 steal.
After the World Cup, Arapag announced his retirement from the national team, but the next 2014 Incheon Asian Cup was forced to return because of the withdrawal of his teammates - it was because of the highlight performance of the 2014 World Cup in Spain that made the Philippines hot-headed, and the Great Leap Forward set the goal of the expedition to win the gold medal, so he had to come back.
As a result, the Philippines lost to Iran in the group stage, South Korea and Qatar in the round of 8, lost to China in the 5th to 8th qualifying matches, and defeated Mongolia 84:68 in the farewell match, and finally finished only 7th.
Disappointed, Arapag, this time really retired from the national team.
On November 3, 2016, at the age of 39, he officially announced his retirement from the professional arena, ending a 13-year PBA campaign, the final figure being 12.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 0.5 steals per game, 14.9 points in 2008-2009, 8.1 assists in 2005-2006, and even 6.5 rebounds in his rookie season in 2003, and another shooting percentage in 2014-2015. He topped the list of three statistics such as three-point shooting rate and free throw shooting rate, and once served as the king of steals, and the average playing time of the whole season was the highest in the PBA.
After retiring from the military, Arapag fully pursued the development of the coaching position, entering the Philippine men's basketball coach at the speed of an airplane, assisting one of the best head coaches of Philippine basketball, Thomas Barrvin; and then returning to the PBA's Marlow Gao Bolt (now Colombia DYIP) as an assistant coach; after this job, he led the Alab Filipino to the ABL (Southeast Asian Basketball League) as the head coach.
Then, hit the NBA.
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Off the pitch, it is the right way for the Philippines to rush out of Asia
Jim Arapag, whose parents are filipinos, was born, raised and has dual citizenship in the United States, but unlike naturalized players such as Brach and Jordan Clarkson, he has always been seen as a native-born player, a bit like Australia's Kerry Owen and Ben Simmons.
His birthplace is San Bernardino, about 100 kilometers east of Los Angeles, which is considered a big city in the United States, but it is embarrassingly at the top of the poverty list of California's big cities, but it has a McDonald's restaurant;
Arapag has 6 siblings, he is the last in line, according to his own words, began to play basketball at the age of 3, and played to enter the California State University, San Bernardino.
The talent was quickly spread by the basketball community in the homeland of Asia, and in 2002, he accepted the invitation of the Philippine men's basketball team to participate in the 2002 Busan Asian Games, first proved himself, and only entered the PBA the following year.
Unfortunately, the first international tournament for the Philippine men's basketball team met China, losing 51:92;
The national team's farewell match was still China, and although it was won, the starting position was given to the younger L.A. Tenorio.
Of course, in the 2019 China World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the Chinese men's basketball team has always been the bitter master of Asian countries, small overturns have been several times, and large overturns are very accidental events.
Jim Arabag knows this: to defeat China, you must first get out of Asia.
How to get out of Asia?
Since Kay Soto and his predecessors are still exploring, let's start with the coach.
In addition, the best guard engaged in coaching work to complete the gorgeous turn is the most normal mode of basketball; it is just that Jim Arapag left the Philippines and asked the United States directly, which can be described as quite decisive and crisp, and there is no intention of nostalgia for the PBA at all.
On the one hand, his familiarity with the California basketball circle, on the other hand, the state's four NBA teams will only give him a chance, so this team has become his target.
On August 21, Philippine media Radyo5's "Power and Events" column featured Arapag's conversation with former PBA Commissioner Noli Earle, saying, "I hope that my first two brief coaches in Sacramento have left an impression on them, and I hope they can not only know what kind of coach I am, but also what kind of person I am." ”
The reason for this twice is because he has already had a similar experience in 2019.
Unlike 2019, this year's Kings had a big harvest at thomas and mark center at the Las Vegas Summer League.
To add, the Kings head coach who led the team to the Summer League at Casino is Bobby Jackson, and older fans may remember the scene where he and Tracy McGrady played on the court, and the two rolled around the court in a group, rolling on the side, from the inside to the court; the assistant coach for Jackson was The King's hero Doug Christie who played the Princeton system under the tutelage of Rick Adelman, and Linsay Harding, the King's current head coach, Luke Wharton's right-hand man.
Several people worked together, and the Kings won the championship with 5 wins and 0 losses, and Luis King, a two-way contract player, won the MVP.
Without a doubt, Arapag was the one who delivered the loudest voice to Bobby Jackson on the sidelines.
At the same time, only he is most concerned about his future, because everyone else is basically the Kings coaching staff, "This weekend I will sit down with GM (general manager)... and Coach Bobby to sit down and talk, and then, see what happens." 」 ”
He listed a long list of names that are unfamiliar to Chinese fans but familiar to him — he's been with the team for a long time.
The outcome of the inter-party talks was soon announced:
For the 2021-2022 season, Jim Arapag, not — the Sacramento Kings, but — stockton Kings' assistant coach.
The head coach is Bobby Jackson, and there is also Will Scott between the head coach and Arapag – the identity is the joint head coach, because on the Sacramento Kings website, Bobby Jackson, Will Scott, Linsay Harding are all assistant coaches in the player development department, and they all have their own jobs to deal with.
"I'm glad to hear what they want to say. You know, we're going to start there," and the result has satisfied Allapag.
According to Arapag, when he first worked with the Kings' coaching staff in 2019, "no one knew ... Write notes, listen, and really feel like an NBA coach. ”
Now it's different, as an official assistant coach he has to play a more attractive role in preparation, scouting, video and other aspects, "I've learned a lot in the last month, including player development, philosophy, terminology, etc., I continue to try to be a sponge trying to focus on what Coach Bobby and other staff have always wanted to achieve and try to learn and grow into a coach." ”
At the end of the article, chinese fans need to be reminded:
First, the group stage of the 2023 Basketball World Cup is held in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines at the same time, and the final stage is in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, combined with the country's basketball mania and the consistent romantic gene, its goal may not be only China, but to kill all Asian opponents, including Japan, live to advance to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games;
The second is that he has worked briefly in the national team before looking for a coach in the professional league, and the head coach is Barrin; and after the defeat of the last World Cup, the relevant people of the Philippine Basketball Association clearly stated that they wanted to go to Europe to find a good coach, but in the end, Barrin came back and took out to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, with the relationship between the two masters and apprentices, who knows the future -
Will Jim Arapag play an important role in the national team again?
P.S.
Do you really despise the Chinese men's basketball team? Is it necessary?
In July 2020, Jim Arapag personally selected the best team in the history of the Asian men's basketball team through the Philippine media, yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, Hamad Haddadi, the hard power of the Asian interior line was completely ignored, but "East Asian Premier League" just introduced Joan Mar Fagado is the best center - only 2.08 meters tall; the entire list of the Philippines accounts for half of the country.
Such a selection, in a word:
Oxfork.
Such a selection not only caused an uproar in China, but also caused great controversy in Asia, from which we can not only see his overall tendency towards the Chinese men's basketball team and Asian basketball, but also his understanding of basketball:
Basketball is a small man's paradise.
Copyright notice: The original manuscript of "East Asian Super League", the material is mainly from The Spin, Rappler and other Philippine media, author: Pan Pan. Image from spin.com screenshot. If you have any doubts about copyright, please deal with it immediately, and if other media or self-media need to reprint, please communicate in advance.