Guiao: Everybody loves Asi

Asi Taulava's character and good attitude are the secrets to his long and colorful career in the Philippine Basketball Association.

Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao lauded the 6-foot-9 Taulava, saying that he evolved from being an unknown Filipino-Tongan into becoming one of the country's most beloved basketball icons due to his ability to adapt not only to his fellow players and coaches but to fans as well.

Guiao shares a special bond with Taulava.

In fact, Guiao was the commissioner of the defunct Philippine Basketball League when Taulava first saw action in the country via the Blu Detergent in the 1997 VisMin Cup.

Taulava took the country by storm, enough to emerge as the direct hire of Mobiline in 1998.

Guiao returned to the PBA two years later and had some unforgettable battles with Taulava and the Phone Pals.

He, however, handled Taulava when he coached NLEX from 2016 until he moved to the Elasto Painters last year. In between, they worked together with the national team in 2009 and 2018 in which Taulava was already 45 years old.

On Wednesday night, Guiao was at center court to witness the retirement ceremony staged by their former team — NLEX — for the gentle giant from Brigham Young University in Hawaii.

"He became an icon because everybody loves him," Guiao said in a telephone conversation with Daily Tribune a day after the 50-year-old Taulava got a fitting send-off from the Road Warriors.

"I don't see anyone — be it his teammates or those from the opposing squad — who hates Asi. That's because he's easy to get along with."

Taulava, who broke Robert Jaworski's record of being the longest tenured PBA player with 25 seasons after being fielded by the Road Warriors for two minutes in their 97-113 loss to TNT Tropang Giga in the Commissioner's Cup, thanked the fans for supporting him until he became the best big man of the previous decade.