THE De La Salle Green Archers made their Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup debut last Saturday against highly-fancied University of the Philippines (UP) with a stunning 82-79 win.
The rebuilding Green Archers paraded three rookies who gave a good account of themselves—swingman Miggy Corter and forward-centers Taane Samuel and Brandon Bates.
The latter two of the Archers along with junior Justine Baltazar gave La Salle a triple towers threat. And two of them on the floor at any given time gave UP’s Bright Akhuetie lots of fits.
The Fil-Australian Bates finished with nine points, three rebounds and one block in a team effort that had basketball fans buzzing.
“I’m happy for our win,” said Bates after the game. “It’s always good to start out with a win because that gives us a lot of confidence.”
Bates is a 21-year-old from Sydney. Hi father, Steven, is Australian while his mother, Evangeline, hails from Quezon City. “We didn’t speak Filipino at home, but my mother did cook the usual favorites like sinigang, adobo…”
“Growing up in Australia, basketball isn’t as big as rugby or cricket or even soccer,” explained the 6-foot-9 Filipino-Australian rookie. “So I looked to the NBA [National Basketball Association] for inspiration. LeBron James is a favorite player of mine but I love the New Orleans Pelicans. I am huge fan of DeAndre Liggins. But my absolute favorite player is Larry Bird.”
Hence, the #33 on his DLSU jersey.
A big number that comes with a lot of expectations. Not to mention potential.
“I think if he continues to work hard and he lives up to that potential, Brandon will be an easy top five PBA [Philippine Basketball Association] draft pick,” postulated assistant coach Anton Altamirano. “That how good he is and can be.”
When told of the praise, Bates smiled but deflected the good words. “I am actually upset at myself because I should have gotten more rebounds.”
I first saw Bates when he sat behind the Flying V Thunder bench during last year’s D-League Foundation Cup. “I had seen the Filipino brand of basketball several years ago but the first one I actually went to was that Flying V game in the D-League.”
“The biggest adjustment I had to make is not the physicality but the speed of the game. In Australia, it’s pretty physical too. But here because the players are smaller it’s the running.”
Incredibly, Bates got into basketball at a late stage. “I was 15-going-on-16 when I got into basketball. So you can say I am a late bloomer.”
If he is already good as a late bloomer then there is a possibility that Altamirano is a seer.
Summed up Bates, “Right now, we have really done anything except win a game. We hope to do more.”