WITH Jordan Clarkson finally being given the green light by both the NBA and Asian Games organizers, it appears Don Trollano will not be playing for the Philippine team in Jakarta after all.
This time it's final.
Clarkson on Wednesday got a one-time exemption from the NBA to suit up for the Philippines in the Asiad, just a day after the country was given permission by the Olympic Council of Asia and Indonesia organizers to re-instate him in the lineup.
Unfortunately, the odd man out was Trollano, the TNT Katropa forward who has gone on an emotional roller-coaster since the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) first deliberated on the composition of the Asiad team.
His travails, actually, can be summed up in one line: He's in, he's out, he's in, he's out, he's in, he's out, he's in, he's out.
While several netizens were jubilant over the re-inclusion of Clarkson, many were also saddened about the misfortunes of Trollano in the weeks leading up to the Asiad.
Originally, Trollano was eyed as one of the members of the TNT core that was supposed to represent the country in the Asiad. But Plan A didn’t materialize as the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) announced it dropped a plan to send a team.
When the SBP had a change of heart and decided to join the Asian Games, Trollano was included in the pool by head coach Yeng Guiao being a former player of Rain or Shine and joined the one-week practice. Two days after leaving for Jakarta though, Guiao announced that Trollano was not included in the final 12 after the SBP included the name of Clarkson in the list.
In Jakarta, Trollano was once again inserted as the 12th player in the Philippine lineup in place of Clarkson and was, in fact, already given his accreditation - only to be, you guessed it, dropped when the Cavaliers guard was reinstated following a last-ditch appeal by the SBP and Philippine Olympic Committee.
Although left out, Trollano has nonetheless gained his share of fans and symphatizers over the past week, to the point that the hashtags #letDonTrollanoplay and #InDonWeTrust trended on Twitter the last few days.
Here is former Adamson teammate Jericho Cruz's tweet after it was announced on Tuesday that Trollano, again, has been dropped from the lineup.
#LetDonTrollanoPlay ???????? https://t.co/5zT0Ze3MmZ
— Jericho Cruz (@jerichoXcruz) August 14, 2018
Pong Ducanes, the chief statistician of the UAAP, even went a step further, putting up a tweet comparing the numbers of Trollano during his final year at Adamson and Clarkson's stats in the NBA last season- all in good fun, of course.
Trollano came out on top.
2017-18 NBA Season Average
— Pong Ducanes (@ompongski) August 14, 2018
Clarkson
13.9 PPG 2.7 RPG 2.7 APG
UAAP Season 77 Average
Trollano
15.8 PPG 7.8 RPG 1.5 APG
??
So, much as we feel for the guy, it's not all that bad for Don, right?