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It’s just unfortunate that in this war of words, Smart Gilas is on the receiving end of Sampson’s punches, and it’s ugly.
I have to credit Jaemark Tordecilla of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and of the www.firequinito.com fame (2009 Philippine Blog Awards Best Sports blog) for posting Sampson’s ire. Tordecilla had a series of email correspondence with the former NBA player which gave him an opportunity to have his side aired.
Jamal Sampson played for a perennially nationally ranked high school powerhouse Matter Dei (same school as Vince Hizon) before going on to play for a highly respected Division 1 program University of California Berkeley (same school as Jason Kidd). He was drafted 47th overall by the Utah Jazz in 2002 but was traded to the Orlando Magic and later to the Milwaukee Bucks. He played for the LA Lakers, acquired by the Charlotte Bobcats, signed with the Sacramento Kings and played for the Denver Nuggets. He’s apparently back in the US but claims to still be under contract with Gilas. He also asserts that the Smart Communications backed organization still has financial obligations to fulfill.
Sampson wrote that “December’s payment that was owed to me was late. Under my contract, they owed me a payment by January 1st, no later, well before we left for Qatar and Dubai. If it wasn’t paid, my contract states that I didn’t have to play or practice. I wasn’t obligated to play in Qatar or Dubai”
“I tried to play through the injury because I like the guys on the team. They expected me to go out and risk my knee, while I haven’t even been paid from the first month.” He added that “the (Gilas) team didn’t meet numerous contractual things. I had a bigger deal in China, but the team wanted to keep me so they kept upping their offer to meet, that’s why the process of me signing took so long. Unfortunately, from the beginning all those things put in the contract to get me to stay weren’t met, late and missed payments, and other things promised in the contract couldn’t be delivered”.
Newly installed Smart Gilas team manager Frankie Lim came to the defense of the organization and said “we paid him” and that he thinks that this is all a “big lie. SBP’s Executive Director Noli Eala was supervising the squad prior to Lim and refuses to comment at this time. Sampson also made remarks on Eala’s motives on ostensibly starting the program “only to get back at the PBA for what they did to him”.
“The whole impression is he just didn’t want to play for some reason. He has a history for refusing to play. It was an important game and the team needed him. The fact is, he signed a contract and he should have played. He said he was hurting but everybody was sore. You got to play over that. It’s not like he had an ACL and he was being asked to play”. Lim also reasoned that Sampson has a reputation for being soft and for complaining a lot.
In the following round, Sampson criticized the team for being disorganized and having a lot of unqualified personnel. He had callous remarks towards the coaching staff particularly the assistant coaches whom he feels do not have the proper tools. “How is someone in their life under 5 feet who never played in the post in their life gonna be a big man coach and show me stuff? Someone under 5 feet can be a great coach, don’t get me wrong, but to be a big man coach and have never played in the post or even played high level ball? C’mon now.”
Frankie Lim simply said that “if you have respect, you don’t say that”, again putting Sampson’s character in question. “He should have showed respect for coaches who have been patient with him.” Well, for me, I don’t think Toroman played post in his life either but I’m sure he can show what a big man should do in the post within his system and gives strict instructions to his assistant coaches on how he’d like it done. He did lead the Iranian national team to victory in the 2007 Fiba-Asia championships and won a slot for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing by maximizing his 7’2” behemoth Hamed Haddadi who now is a mainstay for the Memphis Grizzlies. But if that was how Sampson felt, then we can’t do anything about that.
Next round, Sampson went for the jugular and said that he slept on the floor for his first 5 days because his condo didn’t have a bed. Lim finds this accusation preposterous since they got a fully furnished condo for him. “Any import we have in Talk and Text (his former team) we put in a condo or hotel. We’re not that stupid. Look at the logic. Are you saying that Smart does not have money? I don’t think so.” Lim just countered every single punch coming from Sampson. He also tried to go for the knockout by saying “why will you believe something he says when he’s a head case and feels that everyone owes him something?”
But despite the bad light on Jamal, he says he loves the Philippines. “I signed for less money because I love the country, how nice and friendly the fans are, and the players on the team, who are a great group to be around. Also, the country probably has the most supportive fans I’ve seen anywhere, to be honest, and that I loved.” One has to wonder though if that love is reciprocated. Lim just finds all of it “funny and ridiculous”.
With all the tragic experience with CJ Giles and Jamal Sampson, recruiting becomes a harder task for Smart Gilas. Frankie Lim is hard at work presenting all the options to Coach Rajko Toroman who is set to leave for the US on February 15 to see potential candidates in action. One of the top aspirants Jameel Watkins who played for Shell and Magnolia in the PBA is in town to try out for 3 days.
Source: Patricia Hizon | The Locker Room
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