On Slaughter & Lassiter, values misplaced

By Al S. Mendoza

 

THERE is both praise and criticism for Ginebra’s Greg Slaughter and San Miguel Beer’s Marcio Lassiter.

For declining an offer to join the Gilas Pilipinas basketball team, Slaughter and Lassiter got applause for their unselfish act.

But others said they were guilty of unpatriotic act.

Gilas Pilipinas is bound for the Fiba World Cup in Spain, the so-called Olympics of basketball, in August-September.

The team earned that ticket after finishing second behind Iran in the Fiba Asia Cup in August in Manila.

For South Korea’s third-place finish in the same tournament, it joins Iran and the Philippines as Asia’s contingent to the Spain Worlds.

Coach Chot Reyes, in his bid to strengthen the team, drafted Slaughter and Lassiter together with Beau Belga, Paul Lee and Jared Dilinger to join the Gilas Pilipinas squad.

The five will be candidates and can become Gilas members should any of the original 12 members becomes unavailable for one reason or another.

The 12 are Jimmy Alapag, L.A. Tenorio, Jeff Chan, Jayson Castro Williams, Gary David, Ranidel de Ocampo, Gabe Norwood, Marcus Douthit, Larry Fonacier, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar and Marc Pingris.

This early, the 6-foot-10 Douthit is doubtful because of a recurring knee injury.  In fact, he missed the battle for gold against Iran because of that.

But not to worry.  His possible replacement, an NBA veteran standing almost 7 feet, has passed on first reading in Congress his naturalization process.

The Fiba (World Basketball Federation) allows a country to utilize one naturalized citizen.

I like the reason given by Slaughter when he declined Reyes’ offer.

“I wouldn’t want to rob the slot of any of the 12 players who won the silver in the Fiba Asia Cup,” the Cebu-born Slaughter said.  “That’d be unfair.  All the guys had worked so hard for it and for me to even be a threat to the team’s division would be the last thing I should do.”

If you call that an unpatriotic act, then you can also say Janet Napoles-Lim isn’t guilty of pulling off the P10-billion pork barrel funds scam.

Here’s a guy who could be a shoo-in for the team for his God-given ceiling of seven feet, abdicating everything in the name of unity and self-sacrifice.

As for Lassiter, he said his health might not hold up to the rigorous regimen of training and cited two injuries he’s had only very recently.

Is honesty a dying virtue?  For telling the truth, Lassiter gets flak for that?

If we can’t praise Slaughter and Lassiter enough for their humility and integrity, then our values have become hopelessly misplaced.

No further questions, your honor.

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