Saturday, June 5, 2021
PBA says no problem seeing Kiefer play overseas, but live contract heart of issue
Dennis Gasgonia, ABS-CBN News
'That's the consequence of the handshake,' says PBA chair Vargas
The PBA on Saturday said the league too wants to see how Kiefer Ravena would fare playing professionally overseas, but he was bound to his existing contract with mother club NLEX.
League chairman Ricky Vargas emphasized that Ravena's uniform players' contract with the league and his club made it legally impossible for the former Blue Eagles superstar to suit up elsewhere.
"That's the consequence of making a handshake. I understand where the fans are coming from. Kiefer will hopefully stay with us. Mapapanood nila si Kiefer sa PBA," Vargas said in an online presser attended by PBA commissioner Willie Marcial and board vice-chairman Bobby Rosales.
Japan B.League club Shiga Lakestars earlier this week announced that Ravena was joining the squad, and Ravena confirmed by saying he was ready to leave the PBA and NLEX.
Like fans, Marcial said he would like to see Ravena play in Japan, but the legal ramifications of such a move could not be ignored.
"Sa mga fans alam naman nating gusto nila, gusto din namin. Pero may kontrata tayong sinusunod. Basic lang. May kontrata eh, so talagang di natin pwedeng palagpasin 'yun," the commissioner said.
Vargas added: "Breaking the rule of contract and the rule of law will cause difficult precedents not only for us the PBA, but as well as for FIBA. FIBA is very strict with contracts and also SBP."
FIBA is the sport's world governing body.
The league's stand on Ravena's situation has drawn strong reaction from fans who wanted to see him strut his wares abroad.
NBA: James, Davis remain 'pillars' of Lakers despite 1st rd playoff exit
LeBron James remains a "championship pillar" of the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA club will pour all it can into making sure he and Anthony Davis are at full strength next season, general manager Rob Pelinka said Friday.
The Phoenix Suns ended the Lakers' NBA title defense in emphatic style on Thursday, leading wire-to-wire in a 113-100 victory to win their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in six games.
It marked the first time in 15 playoff appearances that James -- a four-time NBA champion -- was eliminated in the first round.
Inevitably the series defeat, on the heels of a regular season in which James and Davis both battled injury and the Lakers had to play their way into the post-season proper as the seventh seed, sparked speculation as to how much longer the 36-year-old James will be the man to carry a franchise and whether he can still hope to match legendary Michael Jordan's six titles.
Pelinka, however, insisted that James and Davis together -- if they're healthy -- can return the Lakers to the summit.
"Anthony Davis and LeBron James are championship pillars of this franchise for years to come," Pelinka said.
"I view the role of any organization, front office, coaching staff, is to be a role of support and we have to pour all we can resource-wise into helping LeBron finalize getting through the end of his high ankle sprain and then Anthony Davis, of course, the injuries he faced," Pelinka said.
"We know that those guys are both two of the top two-way players in the world."
Davis limped through less than six scoreless minutes in game six against Phoenix before a groin injury suffered in game four forced him to the sidelines.
James scored 29 points, but was helpless in the face of an early onslaught from emerging Suns star Devin Booker, who scored 22 of his 47 points in the first quarter.
It was the end of an 18-month run that James called "mentally, physically spiritually, emotionally draining."
The Lakers had only a couple of months after they clinched the club's 17th championship in the NBA's quarantine bubble in Florida before the new season began.
Despite the quick turnaround the Lakers were 21-6 early in the season before injuries threw them into disarray.
- 'I motivate myself' -
Davis missed almost two months with a calf strain. James sprained his right ankle in March and missed 26 regular-season games.
He said after Thursday's game that he was looking forward to a complete off-season, one that he indicated wouldn't include the Tokyo Olympics.
"It's going to work wonders for me," he said. "I can get three months, to recalibrate, get my ankle back to 100%. Everything else feels extremely well."
And once he's rested, James added, he won't need to check the continuing exploits of "young guns" in the league like Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic to motivate himself.
"I don't need motivation from anybody in this league," he said. "I motivate myself."
That's what Pelinka wants to hear as he mulls how to tweak the Lakers' roster to complement James and Davis and put the Lakers back at the top.
"That has to be the goal every year," Pelinka said. "We have an insatiable desire and passion to bring banner No. 18 here."
bb/gph
NBA: Blazers part ways with coach Terry Stotts after nine seasons
The Portland Trail Blazers have parted ways with coach Terry Stotts after nine seasons.
The move comes after the Blazers' fourth first-round playoff exit in five seasons, a loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
"I have the utmost respect for Terry and what he has accomplished these past nine seasons," Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey said in a statement Friday night.
"This was a difficult decision on both a personal and professional level, but it's in the best interest of the franchise to move in another direction. Terry will always hold a special place in the Trail Blazer family and the Portland community. We relied on the integrity, professionalism and consistency he brought to the job every day, and we wish he and Jan nothing but the best," Olshey said.
Stotts, 63, leaves as the second-winningest coach in Blazers history with a 402-318 mark, behind only Jack Ramsay. Stotts led Portland to eight consecutive playoff appearances.
Overall, Stotts is 517-486 in 13 seasons as head coach with the Atlanta Hawks (2002-04), Milwaukee Bucks (2005-06) and Blazers.
Tennis: Wawrinka out of Wimbledon due to foot injury
Three-times Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka has pulled out of Wimbledon due to a foot injury that also ruled him out of the ongoing French Open, the governing body of men's tennis (ATP) has said.
Former world number three Wawrinka underwent an operation on his left foot earlier this year. The 36-year-old Swiss has not played on the ATP Tour since his opening round defeat by Lloyd Harris at the Qatar Open in March.
Wawrinka has competed at the All England Club on 15 occasions, reaching the quarter-finals in 2014 and 2015.
He won the Australian Open in 2014 before adding the French Open (2015) and U.S. Open (2016) titles to his trophy cabinet.
The world number 24 is in rehabilitation at his base in Monaco. His spokeswoman told Reuters last month that the player hoped to be fit for the grasscourt season. (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)
https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/05/21/tennis-wawrinka-out-of-wimbledon-due-to-foot-injury
Tennis: History-chasing Serena into French Open second week after Sabalenka exit
Jed Court, Agence France-Presse
\Serena Williams continued her quest for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title by reaching the French Open second week for the first time since 2018, after third seed Aryna Sabalenka's surprise loss left the veteran American as the highest-ranked player in her half of the draw.
In the men's third round, fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev beat big-serving Americans in John Isner and Reilly Opelka respectively.
Three-time Roland Garros champion Williams came through a potentially tricky third-round tie with compatriot Danielle Collins, winning 6-4, 6-4.
She will next face Kazakh 21st seed Elena Rybakina, with a possible quarter-final against old rival Victoria Azarenka up for grabs.
The 39-year-old Williams, still one short of Margaret Court's all-time record of most Grand Slam singles titles, thundered down five aces and struck 22 winners past Collins.
"Today it was very difficult, but I played well, stayed concentrated. I'm very happy," said Williams, who fought back from 1-4 down in the second set.
The eighth seed had already seen yet another of her potential title rivals exit the tournament on Thursday, when world number one Ashleigh Barty hobbled out during the second round with a hip injury.
After Naomi Osaka's shock withdrawal, Simona Halep failing to start the tournament through injury and early losses for Bianca Andreescu and Angelique Kerber, none of the players who have beaten Williams in Grand Slam finals since her last title in the 2017 Australian Open are still in the competition.
World number four Sabalenka, who was the highest-seeded women's player still in the tournament at the start of the day, was dumped out by Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The Belarusian, who has never reached a Grand Slam quarter-final, slumped to a 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 defeat.
The 31st-seeded Pavlyuchenkova will next face Azarenka.
Former world number one Azarenka, who stunned Williams in their 23rd meeting in last year's US Open semi-finals, cruised past Madison Keys 6-2, 6-2 to reach the Roland Garros fourth round for the first time since making the last four in 2013.
- Medvedev delights 'home' crowd -
Men's fifth seed Tsitsipas came through the most serious test of his title credentials so far with a hard-fought victory over Isner in four sets in the night match.
The 22-year-old Greek, who lost a dramatic semi-final last year to Novak Djokovic, bounced back from losing a tight first set to win 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.
An excellent third-set tie-break was the key to securing a fourth-round match against Spanish 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta, who eased past Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
"I didn't have the best start I would say, but things started going my way in the second set. My head kind of cleared up and helped me to that important victory," said Tsitsipas whose win ended US men's hopes in the tournament.
Second seed Medvedev was adopted as the new home favourite by the French crowd as he eased to a straight-sets win over Opelka on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
The two-time Grand Slam runner-up, who speaks French and lived in France as a youngster, impressed in a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 success.
Medvedev had lost all four of his previous French Open matches before this week, but received generous support from the fans, with no French players in the third round for the first time in the Open era.
The Russian will face Cristian Garin for a last-eight spot after the Chilean beat US player Marcos Giron 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
German sixth seed Alexander Zverev needed five sets to beat unheralded compatriot Oscar Otte in the first round before edging Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin in three tight sets.
He cruised to a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 win over Laslo Djere on Friday, though, setting up a last-16 clash with former world number four Kei Nishikori.
"This is the main goal of my tennis career, to win Grand Slams, to reach the top of the rankings. I feel like the last year I'm on the right track again," said Zverev.
Nishikori reached the fourth round when opponent Henri Laaksonen retired injured after dropping the first set.
The short outing would have been a relief for Japan's Nishikori, who spent more than eight hours on court over the first two rounds.
In-form Norwegian youngster Casper Ruud was knocked out by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a marathon match which lasted more than four-and-a-half hours.
The Spaniard clinched victory in a dramatic final game, even including an underarm serve, on his fifth match point, winning 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 7-6 (8/6), 0-6, 7-5 to secure a last-16 date with Argentina's Federico Delbonis.
jc/dj
PBA won’t allow Kiefer to play in Japan, says NLEX contract must be honored
Dennis Gasgonia, ABS-CBN News
The PBA board on Saturday announced it will enforce the uniform players' contract in relation to Kiefer Ravena signing with the Shiga Lakestars in the Japan B.League.
The development means Ravena cannot play overseas.
The league announced it decision following a online board meeting after the Lakestars announced signing Ravena for the B.League.
"The Board has decided that Kiefer has to honor its contract with NLEX and with the PBA . . . So that's where we are," said PBA chairman Ricky Vargas in an online press conference attended by PBA commissioner Willie Marcial and vice-chairman Bobby Rosales.
"Its decision follows specifically the philosophy of the importance of a contract, which is in Philippine laws is very important, (also) in the PBA and in FIBA."
Ravena's contract with NLEX is effective in the next three years.
The PBA will communicate with the Japan B.League president via a letter regarding the development.
Vargas added that the league will also relay the board decision to Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, the sport's national governing body.
"We will inform them that this is the decision of the PBA . . . We'll also inform the SBP that this is our decision and we are sure as a member of the SBP they will respect this decision," he said.
Ravena earlier bid adieu to the NLEX Road Warriors squad and the PBA, as if to say he was already cleared to join the Shiga Lakestars.
Apparently, it wasn't the case as his team said in an announcement that he will have to abide by the uniform players' contract, which he signed with the NLEX and the PBA.
Marcial said he will talk with Ravena regarding the matter very soon.
"Ako mismo kakausap kay Kiefer," said the commissioner.
"Nagusap kami noong Monday-Tuesday, informal nagbibiruan pa kami. Pero sinabi ko sa kanya Kiefer hindi talaga pwede."
Regarding the possible sanctions against Kiefer, Rosales said they could not answer this for now.
"At this point we do not know how FIBA will take this. It is not also timely for us to address a hypothetical question. We'd rather communicate this first to Kiefer," he said.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/05/21/pba-wont-allow-kiefer-to-play-in-japan-league
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