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RHJ builds PBA legacy
Former Brooklyn Nets standout Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was sunning himself on Boracay Island when he got a call from TNT Tropang Giga asking if he was willing to suit up in the Governors’ Cup. The precious tip that TNT got was from a friend of team manager and head coach Jojo Lastimosa, who was on the lookout for someone who can replace Jalen Hudson. While he was not a bad choice for the squad, Hudson was more of a scorer and the team needed someone who could also excel on defense, compete in the rebounding department and get his teammates involved. For all his talent, Hollis-Jefferson was not able to show what’s made of when he got signed by Jeonju KCC Egis in the Korean league. Then, TNT came calling and he found himself wearing a Tropang Giga jersey and immediately made a lot of heads turn with his brand of play. He did not lose a game in the elimination round and only tasted his first defeat against Meralco in the best-of-five semifinals series. Still, he managed to lead TNT past the Bolts and set up an unlikely last dance with the back-to-back champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. Against the Gin Kings, the Tropang Giga were the betting underdogs since they were up against a team that won the tournament four times in the last five editions. Standing on Hollis-Jefferson’s way was Justin Brownlee, who had never lost a championship series six times. But Hollis-Jeffersonqas simply of a different breed. Standing a shade below 6-foot-6, he, however, boasts of a wingspan of a 7-foot-2 player and a skill set of a wily guard. In Game 4, Hollis-Jefferson banged in 36 points, grabbed ten boards and five feeds en route to a 116-104 win, numbers that only solidified the league’s selection of the 28-year-old product of the Arizona Wildcats assembly line as Best Import. The import’s numbers were impressive enough, but even more impressive was the way he facilitated the game and made his teammates more involved as TNT hit a finals record 21 three-point shots to level the series to 2-2. In Game 5, Brownlee had a bout with food poisoning and was unable to finish the game for the Gin Kings. But all series long, Hollis-Jefferson, a Muslim, was also somewhat handicapped as well as he didn’t have food and water intake from sunrise to sunset in observance of Ramadan. The import, however, found the resolve to survive and in Game 5 and 6, he was able to take care of business while leading the Tropang Giga to the championship, their first ever title in the Governors’ Cup. No doubt, Hollis-Jefferson will be high on TNT’s priority list but this recent triumph could serve as his ticket to his return to the NBA. But if ever Hollis-Jefferson would go on and stay in the PBA, he would definitely become the Tropang Giga’s resident reinforcement, similar to what Brownlee is with Ginebra and Sean Chambers with Alaska back in the days. Won’t be surprised if he ends up playing in a tournament where the ceiling is 6-foot-10 owing to his tremendous skills. If K.J. McDaniels stood his ground against bigger rivals in the past, I don’t see no reason why Hollis-Jefferson won’t do the same thing given his NBA lineage. The post RHJ builds PBA legacy appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
DID YOU KNOW? Ben Mbala wanted to go to Ateneo
Ben Mbala spent three years of his life undergoing residency for De La Salle University. Once he was eligible, however, he left no doubt that he was worth the wait, teaming up with Jeron Teng to lead the Green Archers to a dominant 16-1 title run in UAAP 79. At the same time, the 6-foot-8 center was the league's undisputed top individual player - posting per game counts of 20.6 points in 54 percent shooting, 16.2 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, 1.4 steals, and 1.2 assists. He wound up more than 20 statistical points ahead of his closest competitor. A year later, he won his second straight MVP and carried the Taft-based team to just a win shy of back-to-back championships. For sure, Mbala is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, La Salle Green Archers. Way back when, though, if only he had his way, he wouldn't even have been clad in green and white. "Ateneo was my first choice. I am going to be honest," he said, with a laugh, in the inaugural episode of The Prospects Pod last Friday. Yes, La Salle wasn't "Big Ben's" first choice - and even worse for their faithful, he wanted to go with the enemy. Asked why that was so, he answered, "A lot of their bigs were graduating and I was looking for a team where I can have a lot of stability and get playing time." He then continued, "Going to La Salle, they had [Arnold] Van Opstal, Norbert Torres, Yutien Andrada, [Jason] Perkins. I gotta go over them and compete to have playing time so I was like, I'm gonna go to Ateneo." By that point, all of Greg Slaughter, Poy Erram, and Justin Chua were no longer in blue and white. Already a two-way force in Southwestern University, Mbala opened eyes of the big leagues and the big programs in Metro Manila and just about everybody had interest in him. Ultimately, it came down to two choices - the Green Archers and the Blue Eagles. Apparently, he even got to visit an Ateneo practice. "I remember seeing you in one of our practices, actually," then-King Eagle Kiefer Ravena recalled. "After 5 to 10 minutes in the office across that library, I went to the gym. They told me to dunk and I didn't stretch yet so I just made a two-handed dunk and they were like, 'Woah. Yeah,'" the Cameroonian replied. Imagine a team with Ravena and Mbala. Just imagine that. History had other plans, however, and the now 25-year-old wound up with the Green Archers. "Coach Yayoy, one day, he called me to go to La Salle and I was like, 'What do you mean? I want to go to Ateneo,'" he shared, talking about SWU head coach Yayoy Alcoseba. "But he was like, 'You go to La Salle. It's going to be better for you because I know people there." Fast forward to now and, of course, Mbala has no regrets - the Animo spirit lives in him through and through. As he put it, "At the end of the day, I feel like going over there and competing with all those bigs made me improve. When you et there, you can't just lay down and say I'm going to wait for my turn." --- Follow this writer on Twitter, @riegogogo......»»
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