u/Key-Day8280

If there’s one faction who got the last laugh: it’s Kai's Camp

Let’s be real here. All this talk about Kai wanting to focus on the NBA Summer League or NCAA is just a cover by the SBP.

The real reason is they don’t want to give in to Kai's financial demands.

Now that we are 2-4 going into the second round, the SBP will now be on win-now mode.

This gives Kai's camp even more leverage against the SBP.

It was always about money. Now Kai has the SBP by the balls and quite possibly even QMB does too.

I'll die on this hill but the approach towards roster composition should be:

Locals who contribute and a naturalized player who fills a position we don’t have.

In this case: the power forward and center positions.

I will always appreciate Brownlee and what he has contributed to the program but we don’t need another 6'6 forward in the roster.

What we need is a naturalized player above 6'8 who can play the Power Forward and Center positions.

Taiwan is a good example. They have a very reliable Rim Protector in their Naturalized Player: 6'11 Gilbeck

Their locals contribute.

Their import brings the Xs and Os the locals can’t provide.

Bennie Boatwright? He better regain his 2023 form

I recently got promoted to Team Leader and should be happy.

But I’m not. The promotion didn’t feel deserved and I got it because the previous Team Leader recommended me highly to the upper management. Not because I was the most qualified but because I was well liked in the department.

I have mixed feelings about it. Tbh.

Am I thinking too much or should I just accept the work world is 90% about networking and self-promotion?

I don’t want that but I have a feeling they might because money is everything to these organizations.

Lived in Abu Dhabi, UAE, for five years and remember the place having a large British expat population. Even more so because I went to a school under a British curriculum.

Many of my friends and classmates were from the UK.

I had fond memories of house parties and teens sneaking alcohol into the party lol

Lived in AD from 2002-2007 and I recall AC Milan, Man Utd, and Liverpool being the most popular clubs then.

One of my former classmates still has his AC Milan kit with Kaka's name and number.

Haven’t been to the UAE ever since. Do many people support Man City or are Real Madrid / Arsenal more popular?

For me, it would have to be CYG. The Gilastopainters in the Asiad 2018 wasn’t the best team chemistry-wise but CYG's decision to use Clarkson as a shooting guard instead of the main point guard maximized his talents.

The issue with Chot’s handling was he made the team too reliant on Clarkson for everything. Jordan isn’t a point guard; his natural position is the 2 and to score points. He was never a floor general.

I’ve been a football fan since 2006. Football fever is here again because of the World Cup. What makes this edition different is the 48-team expansion.

That said, should the Philippines ever have a competitive team and eventually qualify for the world cup, I don’t see us as being football-crazy nation unlike our SEA neighbors.

1. Football will need another generation or two before it can be understood and appreciated. Let’s face it, the sport is not easy to market to Millennial and older fans because majority are looking for high-scoring entertainment like they find in basketball. We’re somewhat on the right track with clubs having academies to train and expose kids early. The non-coverage of the world cup by major networks like One Sports is, however, a let down.
2. Corruption is still a very big problem in our sports industry. Gilas has punched above its weight from time to time but has struggled with forming the best team possible because of too many conflicting parties having their own agendas. The same can be said for Alas Volleyball with its recent leadership row. Even if football gains a decent following, I don’t see it being immune to corruption especially if big money is involved.
3. Basketball has already established itself for decades much like an LGU has been dominated by a political dynasty. It helps that we are seeing more taller kids in urban areas every generation. The game has also shifted to favor spacing and perimeter plays rather than post ups.
4. FIFA for all their controversies has marketed football well enough that it has a higher long-term ceiling than basketball as it scales better with population size. The Philippines doesn’t need to produce the next Steph Curry, LeBron James, or Victor Wembanyama. It needs to consistently produce technically sound footballers from a much larger pool of athletes.

The ongoing WC has shown you don’t need to have a football crazy population to be competitive: US, Canada, and Australia. You need a competent federation, strong grassroots, infrastructure, and a talent pool large enough to form a competitive team. Even if only 10% of Filipinos play football, that’s still 11 million kids you can nurture and develop into serious talent.

Overall: The PMNFT can be competitive enough to be a regular Asian Cup participant and irritate the AFC big five.

We would be like the socceroos or China where the population aren’t football fanatics but have a large enough talent pool to form a competitive team.

World Cup? Will depend on how lucky we are with generational talent.

Football is a game of odds. The best we can do is raise our chances.

not sure if this is the right sub to post this but I need to say it:

Without a strong social network, it’s going to be a struggle to date wherever.

If you moved to a new town where you need start over and have zero connections, words don’t describe how much work you need to do.

I moved to Madrid last year and it’s really hard. I joined social groups and always join my work colleagues for after work drinks. Still a struggle because my workplace is mostly guys.

My Spanish is also not the best but I get by enough. I am quite outgoing as I can be. I don’t say no to outings. I always show up and make an effort to be seen. But you’re still playing a numbers game.

It’s even worse because Madrid is somewhat of a transit city and people here already have circles established since they were young.

But hey, I get on with life and hope for the best.

I already moved abroad but still use the Philippines app store. [iOS]

I may change it eventually pero I don’t feel the need to rush it.

Halos lahat ng local apps available din naman sa Pinas store.

Haven’t logged into my FB, Ig, and TikTok accounts since 2021.

It's nothing groundbreaking. I left because majority of my friends have become inactive. We stay in touch through phone or WhatsApp or email.

I don’t hate social media. Just didn’t have any use for it after turning 30.

How has it been? Okay, I guess. I haven’t logged in out of spite. I simply grew indifferent.

I see people here comment on how Dylan is likely to represent Team USA, but I disagree. It’s one of the reasons but not the main one.

USA Basketball already has an army of elite guards:

- Brunson
- Ant-Man
- Cade
- Scoot
- Tyrese
- Spida
- Maxey
- Etc.

This is not even mentioning guys like Dame who could be called in for vet presence.

The reason Dylan isn’t likely to rep a Gilas jersey is because;

The SBP won’t pay his insurance and allowance.

NBA players aren’t cheap and they will demand compensation. Cone has reiterated a number of times that the SBP is cost cutting because they spent too much on the 2023 World Cup, especially Clarkson.

The only way I see Dylan playing for us is:

- He really wants to play for Gilas and pay the insurance himself like Dirk did for Germany.

- He is willing to accept peanuts from the SBP and basically play pro bono.

Till now, I've only seen Dylan acknowledge his roots but nothing indicates he strongly identifies as a Filipino and will play for us regardless.

Just look at the issue with Kai Sotto. The SBP won’t even compensate our best homegrown talent and insist on equal pay for everyone.

What more with elite NBA talent like Dylan?

Gilas is no longer managed by the MVP group who were more willing to spend. The SMC guys are now in charge and they aren’t keen to empty their pockets.

It’s that simple. This is why you don’t rely on fil-foreigners to carry your national team.