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    COLUMN: Orlando Johnson agent confirms contact with SMB, other PBA teams

    Orlando Johnson agent confirms contact with SMB, other PBA teams
    Dec 24, 2021
    Orlando Johnson impressed in his first PBA stint with Ginebra.
    Orlando Johnson impressed in his first PBA stint with Ginebra.
    PHOTO: Jerome Ascano
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    CHICAGO - If San Miguel Beer had hoped for Orlando Johnson to rescue them from the rut of a 2-2 (win-loss) start and save their 2021 PBA Governors' Cup campaign, they'd have to wait a little longer.

    Bill Neff, Johnson's US-based agent, told me in a telephone interview that there are "real issues" bringing his client to the Philippines, the most challenging of which is the closure of the Philippine consulate in Los Angeles, a hurdle that makes acquiring a visa impossible.

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    Concerns on the omicron variant, shrinking business hours due to the holidays, plus the required quarantine protocols for visitors arriving in the Philippines, will stretch the timeline and challenge the patience of PBA teams.

    Neff told us that there are other teams besides the Beermen who are interested in the services of his client, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound former NBA player.

    An NBA-certified agent, Neff has done business with the PBA for over 20 years, having brought in a slew of imports that include Keith Cummings, Kevin Jones and Dez Wells.

    He is also the former agent of Jaylen Bond, the injured import that Blackwater is trying to replace with Shawn Glover.

    The high demand for Johnson is justified.

    At the peak of his athletic powers at age 32, Johnson is a veteran of 103 NBA games and has a stellar international career. He played for Ginebra in 2015 and lit the PBA on fire with an average of 33.7 points and 11.3 rebounds in 12 games.

    San Miguel, the winningest franchise in the league, is especially desperate in getting a blue chip asset such as Johnson.

    The Beemen are playing catch-up, way behind the 8-ball against teams that have better records and dominant imports - 4-0 NLEX (KJ McDaniels), 3-0 Ginebra (Justin Brownlee), 2-0 Magnolia (Mike Harris) and 2-0 Meralco (Tony Bishop).

    If they had played their cards right, San Miguel could have avoided this predicament.

    Sources told me that two high-flying players with NBA pedigrees - Jordan Crawford and Terrico White - were offered to head coach Leo Austria. But San Miguel elected to go with Brandon Brown instead.

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    SO HERE THEY ARE NOW, A MEEK 7TH IN THE STANDINGS.

    Crawford and White could have been had for a bargain price of $40,000 a month, which is almost $10,000 a month less than what Meralco offered to pay Shabazz Muhammad to join the Bolts.

    I had thought all along that SMC had the bigger budget. Apparently, it's the MVP Group that has more gold and is way more willing to spend it.

    A separate source told me that when Terrence Jones played for TNT in the 2019 Commissioner's Cup, he was paid $70,000 a month, $30,000 more than what Chris McCullough got playing for San Miguel in that same conference.

    I am not at liberty to report how much McDaniels, a former NBA player, is pulling from NLEX, a sister company of the MVP group. But let me just say that when this conference is over, KJ would have enough money to start his own telecommunications company.

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    Meanwhile, poor teams like Blackwater, NorthPort and Terrafirma, only have a budget of no more than $25,000 a month for an import. And that explains why the three cellar-dwellers are a combined 1-12 in the won-lost column.

    The eternally eloquent Brits have a term for this special kind of mediocrity.

    Bloody murder.

    As I have repeatedly said all along, the PBA's salary cap is honored more in the breach than in the practice.

    So instead of keeping a blind eye on all the off-to-books, under-the-table chicanery, it's high time to come clean and either enforce salary rules or have none at all.

    Hey, PBA, you can fool gullible fans some of the time.

    You cannot fool them all of the time.

    Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

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    Orlando Johnson impressed in his first PBA stint with Ginebra.
    PHOTO: Jerome Ascano
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