By JONAS TERRADO
Thirdy Ravena admitted having mixed emotions about the chance of playing overseas prior to accepting an offer to play for San-En Neophoenix of Japan’s B.League.
“Definitely I was nervous. I had anxiety when I was thinking about it, especially when I was making my decision,” Ravena said during an online press conference facilitated by the Neophoenix on Friday.
Ravena became the first player to sign for a B.League team under the Japanese pro league’s new rule that allows hiring of Asian players.
The rule, dubbed as the “Asian Player Quota,” is a way for the B.League to increase not only its level of play but also in status as one of the continent’s top pro leagues
After some apprehension and a decision to skip last year’s PBA Draft to pursue opportunities outside of the Philippines, Ravena said that such a big of an opportunity is something he wants to take.
“Overall, I realized that the only reason I’m here is because I love challenge, I love competition and I always love being outside of my comfort zone. So definitely, it’s something that I wanna do,” added Ravena, who joined the online presser from their family home in Cainta.
San-En Neophoenix Chief Executive Officer Kenjiro Hongo said the team had been approaching Ravena in January in order to fill the Asian player slot that will be implemented for the 2020-21 B.League season.
Hongo has been so impressed with Ravena that he described the 23-year-old as the “best player in his country.”
“We were trying to find a player who can play in the B.League and when we finally found Thirdy, that was when we started recruiting him,” Hongo, who was joined by Neophoenix General Manager Seiichiro Kage from Japan, said through an interpreter.
Playing in Japan will present plenty of challenges for Ravena such as trying to improve the Neo-Phoenix’s dismal 5-36 record from the recent season that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the level of play.
“Japanese basketball has the speed, they pass more than they dribble which is why the ball travels faster and there are a lot of shooters who are very deadly. I’ve also seen that in the (B.League), there are two imports in the game and it’s gonna be way tougher,” Ravena said.
“I’m expecting Japanese basketball to be very exciting as well,” he added.
