By Waylon Galvez
Former NBA player Cherokee Parks strongly believes that Filipino cagers can do well in the NBA provided they can find their strength in the game.
Parks felt the Filipinos’ love and passion to the game after staging clinics in Davao and Manila recently and was one of the PBA spectators last Sunday.
“Some might think it’s height, but height is not a thing,” said the 6-foot-11 Parks, who played for eight different teams in the NBA spread over nine years that started in 1995 as the 12th overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks.
“It’s about finding where you’re good at. The passion is already there, and the growth here, the love and promotion is here,” added Parks, 45, who now works for the NBA.
Parks is here together with former WNBA player Alana Beard, a former two-time Defensive Player of the Year and member of the 2016 champion Los Angeles Sparks, for a series of basketball clinics initiated by the U.S Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Sports Envoy Programs in coordination with the NBA and Alaska.
Parks said he already knew about the Philippines’ love for basketball, but experiencing it here impressed him, especially the interest of the young basketball aspirants he worked in Davao and in Manila.
“I really didn’t know what to expect coming here. I know that the Philippines, it’s a basketball country and Filipinos love the game. So it’s been a wonderful trip,” Parks said.
“I saw my first PBA game, it was fast, up and down, a lot of shots and a lot of good shooters. I learned a lot it was a lot of fun,” said Parks, adding that he would want to see the first Filipino NBA player.
“I said it many times. It’s amazing to have a few players like a Jordan Clarkson (Cleveland Cavaliers) and some players with Filipinos ancestors,” Parks, a former stalwart at Duke University, said.
“But to have a Filipino player play professionally like whether the NBA or G-League… as special as that would be a story for the Philippines, would be just as special story for us for that to happen,” he said.
