MACAU Black Knights are out to be as competitive as possible in their stint in the PBA 50th Season Commissioner’s Cup.
The Black Knights, under the umbrella of the Macau Black Bears Sports Club, will be the third guest team over the last four years to play in the PBA, following the Bay Area Dragons and the Hong Kong Eastern.
The Dragons wound up as the most successful of them, reaching as deep as Game 7 of the 2022-23 Commissioner’s Cup finals before the Brian Goorjian-mentored team lost to Barangay Ginebra.
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Macau coach Garrett Kelly knows the history of international guest teams in the PBA.
“We studied our history,” said Kelly. “We saw Bay Area Dragons in 2022 go 10-2 in the Commissioner’s Cup and lose in Game Seven. The finals seemed to always go to Game Seven. So if we could somehow find our way into the playoffs and give ourselves a chance, if we’re healthy, we would love to have a chance to compete towards the end of the year.”
“Hong Kong Eastern also had some health issues, I think, injuries and others, and finished 7-5. I think they were a seventh-seed and lost in the first round of the playoffs,” said Kelly, whose credentials include being the director of men's basketball operations at University of Memphis coached by NBA great Penny Hardaway.
The American coach though also tempered expectations about the team, especially since Bay Area and Hong Kong had a lot more resources during their PBA participation, and not just from the financial side.
That is why Kelly revealed that team officials recently met with the PBA about helping Macau become a competitive squad for the Commissioner’s Cup.
“Both of those teams have better resources than us, if we are being honest,” said Kelly.
“We're working with the league, the PBA league, on helping us, allowing us to play some of our Asian heritage players. They kind of set the same rules for us as they did with Hong Kong Eastern, as they did with Bay Area Dragons. Bay Area Dragons had about 50 times our budget. I'm not exaggerating," he continued.
"So for us to have the same rules as them, we met with the league office yesterday and asked for some room to allow us to be competitive, in particular with our Asian heritage players, because the ruling was, well, we're treating you the same as Hong Kong Eastern and Bay Area Dragons.
And as I said, we're not those teams. We're from Macau. Our pool of selecting players is very small. So we're looking for the league to help us a little bit, especially if this is going to be a long-term partnership, which we want it to be.”
Macau has brought in players from Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau to serve as locals along with three heritage players in Damian Chongqui, Phoenix Shackelford, and Ramon Cao, but are only allowed to play two at the same time, according to PBA rules.
They also have two World imports in Tony Mitchell and Oscar Lopez, but are only allowed to play one at a time.
Macau has also brought in Filipinos in the squad in alternate governor Jacque Ruby, assistant coach and former PBA No. 1 draft pick Rich Alvarez, team manager Mark Dandan, assistant team manager Joemari Lacastesantos, and strength and conditioning coach Ram Manalang.
Jackie Fung is the team owner, Lou Kit Long is the president of operations, and Lucas Peng is the general manager.
Macau lost its first game after Converge went on a run in the fourth quarter to take a 102-94 victory, but Kelly said they look forward to wins in the next couple of games.
“But we're going to try to win every game. We're going to play our style of basketball. And we're going to put our best foot forward and hope that the basketball gods are on our side and we stay healthy and hope that the Philippine fans embrace us and cheer for us,” said Kelly.
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