Missed opportunity

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) announced last Tuesday that the sixth window of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers for Asia will be held at the spanking-new SM Seaside Cebu Arena on 26 February and 1 March next year, where Gilas Pilipinas will face Jordan and Syria, respectively.

Sounds awesome as it will be the first out-of-town FIBA hosting for Gilas Pilipinas.

It is also something to look forward to for our fellow passionate basketball-loving friends in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Except it also makes me wonder: Why not June Mar Fajardo’s farewell games for Gilas?

The pride of Cebu and nine-time Philippine Basketball Association Most Valuable Player played what were announced as his final games for Gilas Pilipinas in the fourth window on 28 and 30 August against Jordan and Iran at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Those games drew 15,828 and 18,308 fans, respectively.

Imagine if those two games had been played instead at the new 16,000-seat-maximum-25,000 SM Seaside Cebu Arena, in front of Fajardo’s kababayans.

It could have been a genuine blockbuster.

More importantly, it would have been a fitting send-off for the “Kraken” after 13 years of service to the national team.

Instead, Cebu gets his farewell ceremony — if the SBP indeed decides to do one — six months later.

That, to me, is another example of the kind of foresight — or lack of it — being displayed by the current SBP leadership.

The writing was already on the wall.

During the third FIBA window last July, Gilas lost narrowly in New Zealand to the Tall Blacks, 106-102, on 3 July before getting blown out by Australia, 92-49, three days later in Perth.

Fajardo had already told teammates and members of the coaching staff around that time that his Gilas days were coming to an end.

And he turns 37 on 17 November.

Then came 9 July.

The SM Seaside Cebu Arena was formally inaugurated, with PBA commissioner Willie Marcial among those present. A few days later, Marcial even told members of the PBA Press Corps that he considered the new arena the best basketball venue in the country today, even ahead of the Smart Araneta Coliseum and Mall of Asia Arena.

By then, the SBP already likely knew it was hosting the fourth FIBA window in August.

Tickets for the August games even went on sale online by mid-July.

So why wasn’t anybody at the SBP thinking: June Mar Fajardo. Cebu. New arena. Gilas farewell.

It was staring them right in the face.

The irony is that this isn’t even the first time the SBP has appeared to miss an obvious opportunity.

SBP executive director Erika Dy told Philstar.com’s Ralph Edwin Villanueva on 25 July that Justin Brownlee was “definitely” going to play in the August FIBA window. The SBP itself proudly shared the story on its Facebook account.

Brownlee, who had already missed the Australia game because of injury, never showed up for the August window — and neither did he play in the Nagoya Asian Games.

Worse, no naturalized-player replacement was ready.

We all know how that Asian Games campaign ended: a record-low ninth-place finish for the country.

Yes, the SBP can now point to Cebu and say Gilas is finally coming to the SM Seaside Cebu Arena.

But forgive me if I can’t help thinking: couldn’t this have been done six months earlier?

The fifth FIBA window is scheduled in Malaysia this November, where Gilas plays Syria and Iran. Perhaps the SBP could have pushed for Cebu then, too.

But maybe that would have been asking for too much foresight.

As always.