A LAS Vegas trip for the purpose of scouting an import for the coming PBA Season 48 turned out to be a mini-Alaska reunion for Jojo Lastimosa.
The TNT coach found himself hooking up with former Milkmen imports Sean Chambers and Derek Hamilton along with another ex-Alaska player in Ervin Sotto.
And for a bonus, the group later caught up with former NBA player and Red Bull import Antonio Lang.
“We had dinner with Ervin and Sean, then Derek joined us. After dinner, we went and met up with Tony (Lang),” said Lastimosa from Vegas.
“(Suddenly), all the PBA stories came flooding back. I was amazed how they (Hamilton and Lang) still both remember their time in the Philippines.”
Lastimosa came over to the NBA Summer League to actually scout for the Tropang Giga’s Commissioner’s Cup import for the new PBA season and who will partner with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in the home-and-away EASL (East Asia Super League) Season 2.
Of course, Lastimosa and Chambers are in constant contact with each other. It was the former PBA Best Import who helped the TNT coach bring in the hulking Cameron Oliver to be the Tropang Giga’s reinforcement in last year’s Commissioner’s Cup.
But it was his first time to see Hamilton again.
Now 57, Hamilton first suited up for Pepsi in the 1990 First Conference and scored 77 points in his debut game. Later on, he played two seasons for Alaska, where he achieved a runner-up finish in the 1995 Commissioner’s Cup where the team lost to Ronnie Grandison and Sunkist Orange.
“First time I saw Derek after he left, but I was communicating with him all these years,” shared Lastimosa, one of the 25 Greatest Players in PBA history.
The Alaska legend even recalled the time the franchise sent big men Sonny Thoss, Sam Emman, and JR Reyes to Atlanta and train with Hamilton for a month.
Lastimosa’s playing career at Alaska was already over when the 6-foot-7 Sotto came over and suited up for the team in 2008, by which time Jolas was part of Tim Cone’s coaching staff with the franchise.
The group supported the NBA bid of Ervin’s 21-year-old son Kai Sotto as he played for the Orlando Magic.
It turned out part of the Summer League, too is the 51-year-old Lang, who calls the shots for the Atlanta Hawks.
A two-time NCAA champion at Duke, the 6-foot-8 Lang serves as second assistant to Atlanta head coach Quinn Snyder, his college teammate with the Blue Devils. The two initially worked together with the Utah Jazz.
“Tony is an associate coach, second assistant of Quinn Snyder with the Hawks,” said Lastimosa. “It’s his first year in Atlanta and coaching their Summer League (team).”
Lang twice played as Red Bull import, a franchise he steered to its first ever PBA championship during the 2001 Commissioner’s Cup, beating San Miguel Beer in the finals, 4-2. The former NBA player was also adjudged the Best Import of the conference.
Ironically, it was during their meet up that Lastimosa learned Hamilton and Lang are cousins.
"Tony is the first cousin of Derek which I only found out the other day,” said the coach who steered TNT to the season-ending Governors Cup last April.
Naturally among the subjects of their conversations were Hamilton and Lang’s final season playing in Asia’s first ever play-for-pay league in 1997 and 2002, respectively.
“They were joking that they were both sent home, too,” said Lastimosa.
As to the reasons why their stints were cut short, that’s another story to tell and write about.
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