CHICAGO - You must have noticed, too.
Jordan Clarkson, the usually shy and reserved NBA star of the Utah Jazz, was all over the place these past few days.
He was at a club Saturday night. He graced Game One of the PBA Finals on Sunday. And this morning, a video of him urging support for Gilas spread like a COVID variant at various social media platforms.
[READ: Clarkson heads 13-man Gilas lineup for Lebanon tie]
Parading Clarkson, plus the highly-publicized arrival of Kai Sotto, sounds and looks like the familiar modus operandi (MO) of the Samahang Basketbol Ng Plipinas (SBP).
To those guys leading the SBP, it's always about the hype not the hoop.
The sizzle instead of the steak. The style not the substance.
Gilas fans have a flair for the obvious, they don't easily fall for that diversion flare even if it's layered with showbiz star power.
And that is why the SBP continues to be engulfed by the flames of anger and mistrust in pretty much anywhere you consume your news.

Look, all these pomp and circumstance around Clarkson and Kai do not deodorize the excrement that is lathered on the walls of our basketball program.
Married to pro contracts in the NBA and NBL, respectively, the commitment of Clarkson and Kai will never be 100 percent guaranteed.
INSTEAD OF MAKING ALL THE SILLY NOISE heading to a pair of two glorified exhibition games in a FIBA window, why not pull all the stops instead to ensure their availability in the actual World Cup we are co-hosting next year?
The SBP is acting like a confused, misguided party planner. It has focused more on the desserts and the appetizers and has no clue what main dish, if ever, is to be served.
And there are more questions to answer.
Is relying heavily on Japan B. League regulars Bobby Ray Parks, Dwight Ramos and the Ravena brothers sustainable? What about the alliance with SMC, is that tenable? Or did the beer giant shake the hands of the MVP group only because it did not want to invite the public's wrath for lack of support at a World Cup to be played in our backyard?
Memo to SBP.
Create a pool made up of players that can commit and practice full-time year-round. To open the doors for this, you need to get married to SMC and not just settle with an affair. It's the only way to get the best of the best from the PBA.
Hire a topnotch coach, one devoted to the job and leaking with experience in international play. Oh wait, Gilas already had Nenad Vucinic but he was allegedly undermined and left in a huff.
Gilas also needs a program director with a proven philosophy on how we can compete against the world. But then again, we already had Tab Baldwin and he was drowned by the politics around the federation.
A lot of work needs to be done, but the SBP is too busy having photo-ops with Jordan while perhaps plotting and penning Kai's next Instagram story.
DESPITE ITS ARMY OF AMBASSADORS THE SBP AND GILAS ARE NOT GETTING A LOT OF GOODWILL FROM THE FANS.
But here's a bit of good news.
Jordan Clarkson almost single-handedly put the Nenad Vucinic disaster temporarily on the back burner.
But not for long.
"As soon as he gets comfortable and feels safe and away from the Philippines, he will possibly talk to you and tell the whole story," a source familiar with the divorce told me.
I can't wait.
That, however, would be a column for another day.
For now, it's all about Jordan Clakrson, the knight in shining, shimmering armor.
In trying hard to mask the bad odor of its failures, the SBP really has drenched a lot of perfume when what it needs is a long, satisfying shower.
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