CHICAGO -- Earning a place in the PBA Finals usually triggers a flood of pleasant emotions, the sort of ecstasy that one endeavors to experience again and again.
Pride. Joy. Breathless anticipation.
But for TNT head coach Chot Reyes, this latest gift came with a dilemma.
Does he stay with the TNT Tropang Giga and lead their Philippine Cup title defense? Or does he surrender to the flag and coach Gilas in a FIBA window? Two events that will intersect later this month.
[See Chot on PH team or TNT dilemma: Gilas is the priority]
Insisting that Gilas will be his "priority" means Reyes chose to do both.
It's a bad decision, a bad look.
Because regardless of how well he thinks he can multitask, the demands of these two high-profile assignments will mean that at least one team will have to be underserved.
Jobs, you see, are like a marriage. They require loyalty and commitment, and there is no room for extra-curricular affairs.
BUT CHOT GETS AWAY WITH THIS VERSION OF BASKETBALL INFIDELITY.
Because the Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas (SBP) and TNT are corporate siblings under its parent company, the MVP group, where nepotism appears to be joyfully, gloriously encouraged.
Precisely because the SBP is in bed with the MVP group, the federation has turned myopic in its view of finding a suitable coach for our national team.
Impaired by naked bias, it has conveniently decided that only Chot Reyes is fit for the throne, even though there are so many others just as qualified.

Look, Al Panlilio himself has three jobs as PLDT chairman, Meralco governor and SBP president. If he can swing it then why couldn't Chot trapeze as TNT's bench boss while also acting as Gilas head coach and program director, right?
Wrong.
And this is precisely why the SBP continues to be vilified by our basketball-loving countrymen who have finally seen the light.
And this is also why the SBP has thrown the great Sonny Barrios in the lion's den as official spokesman. The press room is a heat wave Panlilio doesn't want to enter.
Which makes me wonder if the recent appointment of Alfranchis Chua as Gilas executive advisor is a real sceptre of power or just a ministerial, meaningless robe.
IF I WERE CHUA, BOSS AL TO HIS MINIONS and arguably the most powerful man in the PBA, I'd give this piece of advice to SBP: Put Tim Cone as temporary coach of Gilas while Reyes focuses on TNT.
Assuming it finds fruition, this move tells the public that this so-called SMC-MVP collaboration isn't just for appearances.
I don't think Chot will allow that, though.
In a telephone conversation a couple weeks ago, he told me about how he can't turn down the nation's call of duty.
Reyes is very intelligent and weIl-spoken. He is a pitchman with a charm, a salesman with a golden tongue. Charming and very likable, too.
So I believe in his smoldering sense of nationalism.
I also believe that the idea of coaching a loaded team led by Jordan Clarkson and Kai Sotto is too cushy a gig for him to pass on to someone who will soak all the limelight.
Someone needs to tell coach Chot that no one is asking him to jump off the ledge. We just want him to crawl out of this tiny FIBA window because there's no way he can be at full force while his commercial team is gunning for a repeat.
Of all people, Reyes, who adamantly espouses self-sacrifice every chance he gets, should know this.
So why is he still out there juggling?
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