BOBBY RAY PARKS JR. admits Kelly Williams’s retirement is one too big a shoe to fill for him and his fellow TNT Katropa.
But the three-time Asean Basketball League local Most Valuable Player Parks won’t turn into a donut crew of Katropa.
The son of the late Bobby Parks Sr., one of the best imports the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) has ever seen, believes 6-foot-8 John Paul “Poy” Erram has the materials to take over the 6-foot-6 2008 MVP Williams’s role.
“I respect and understand his [Williams] decision. He has definitely given so much to the game. ‘A huge void to fill indeed in terms of leadership and talent,’” Parks told BusinessMirror. “But I believe Poy [Erram] now has more chances at showing his God-given talent.”
TNT went on a rebuilding program before the start of the 45th season, trading and signing players here and there. And one of them was Erram who the Katropa acquired from the NLEX Road Warriors in a sort of a complex trade that involved the Blackwater Elite.
What TNT and NLEX wanted the team gots with the Road Warriors nailing Anthony Semerad, Rabeh Al Hussaini and the rights to Blackwater’s 2020 first round and 2021 second round picks. The Elite, on the other hand, secured Marion Magat, Ed Daquioag, Yousef Taha and TNT’s 2021 and 2022 first round picks.
Parks, meanwhile, said he is working hard to motivate himself during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I always believe on working on everything. To be an all-around player that could do multiple things and play both ends of the floor—which means I have to be in the best shape I possibly can be in,” said Parks, who just arrived from the US last week.
“I have a huge chip on my shoulder as I felt that people didn’t see how much I give to the game so I am definitely motivated,” he said. “All I did during the quarantine was just tried to get in the best shape possible, eating good food, and having the best training regimen that was available.”
The PBA governors, on the other hand, met face-to-face late Thursday at the league’s Quezon City offices to decide on the bubble—patterned after the National Basketball Association model—they intend to operate starting on October 9.
PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial met several players in a dialog the other day and gathered the pros prefer the NBA model over the league’s other option that is based on the German’s Bundesliga closed circuit system.
In the NBA bubble, the teams are confined in a single protected area with the teams’ members staying in hotels, while the Bundesliga system imposes a home-venue-home policy.