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'Chocolate Thunder' Darryl Dawkins steals the show as NBA signs new Philippine TV deal

Former NBA center Darryl Dawkins with executives from NBA Asia, Solar Sports, and ABS-CBN. (Phoyo by Charlie Cuna)
Former NBA center Darryl Dawkins with executives from NBA Asia, Solar Sports, and ABS-CBN. (Phoyo by Charlie Cuna)



The National Basketball Association has announced its new deal with its Philippine partners, Solar Sports (BTV) and ABS-CBN, for the broadcast of NBA games in the Philippines for the upcoming NBA season.

Filipino fans can expect to see more than thirty NBA games a week on television (Solar, ABS on Channels 2 and Sports + Action, on NBA Premium in Hi-Definition and online). Games on channel 2 are scheduled on Saturday mornings, while Sports + Action will air games on Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays.

Speaking at a press conference held Friday at the NBA Café in SM Aura, Scott Levy, NBA Asia Senior Vice-President and Managing Director, said NBA ratings have grown in Asia and the Philippines, beginning with the dream Finals matchup of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics in 2010.

Meanwhile, William Tieng of Solar described the day as “a new milestone” in the NBA experience of Filipinos.  He described the agreed multi-year partnership among the three entities as “a big win for Filipinos” and profusely thanked the NBA for making the Philippines a part of NBA history.

March Ventosa of ABS-CBN added that more than one hundred twenty NBA games would be aired on free television.

Obviously, the media people present gladly received the news of the renewed partnership of the three entities. Filipinos will undoubtedly be pleased with the added number of NBA games shown per week and the broadcast partners signified that they would coordinate to bring only the best possible matchups/games on any given day.

The center of attention throughout this affair, however, was clearly the huge gentleman in a peach-colored suit, who played to the cameras, had fun with all those present, cracking jokes, holding court and, as he always has done since his NBA playing days, entertained the crowd.  The man was former NBA center Darryl Dawkins, who flew in from the NBA events in Beijing, China, to be part of the historic contract-signing and to have some fun.

While the question and answer session after the contract signing was open to questions for all the parties, not many were thrown at the network or league representatives.  Most queries were for the man nicknamed Chocolate Thunder, known for his power slam dunks and physical defense, and ability to tell stories in living color. In fact, a special session was held afterwards with Dawkins alone and, if he was not stopped by NBA officials, reminding him that he had a flight to catch, he’d probably still be talking.

Darryl Dawkins talks to members of the Philippine media. (Photo by Charlie Cuna)
Darryl Dawkins talks to members of the Philippine media. (Photo by Charlie Cuna)



When asked which player today would give him a hard time, Dawkins said, “Nobody.”  His thoughts on a forty-four, instead of forty-eight minute NBA game, he said, “If you make the same money, it’s all good!”

Dawkins rattled off a list of his favorite NBA players, which included Wilt Chamberlain, George Gervin, Dr. J, Julius Erving, World B. Free, “and of course Larry Bird and Magic Johnson,” and particularly mentioned fellow big man Artis Gilmore, whom he idolized and is the reason Dawkins started wearing the number 53, which was Gilmore’s number as well. Since he had mentioned the Doctor, I asked him to describe his experience of having played with Erving in Philadelphia. Dawkins said that Erving was a leader, a great player, and was the first guy who had “air brakes”, meaning he could stop in midair going one way, and change direction to go another. According to him, Erving could never do anything wrong.  Showing utmost respect for the good Doctor, Dawkins said that Erving is “the one guy I believe in.”

The man who says he comes from Lovetron (he’s really from Florida) then compared the 1980s NBA to today’s NBA, saying that it has changed so much. Now, there are big guys who just keep taking jump shots, when in his day, if a big man did that, he’d quickly be on the bench. He spoke about the impact of social media and said that, while he is already very popular (Gotta love his modesty!), if he played today and had access to this kind of social media, he’d be “cooler than cool.”

He spoke of his Filipino connections, having been good friends with former player-agent and Filipino, the late Sam Unera, who introduced Dawkins to PBA legend Sonny Jaworski many years ago. He also mentioned former PBA stars Vince Hizon and Bong Alvarez, who both played for Dawkins while he was coach of the Pennsylvania Valley Dawgs in the semi-pro USBL. He believes Filipinos can play in the NBA, mentioning Filipino-American Jordan Clarkson of the Lakers, and said “if you have the talent, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, they’ll find you.”

A renowned dunker who even named many of his dunks, he hopes the superstar dunkers consider joining the dunk contest during All-Star weekend, “but you can’t force them.” Despite Dawkins having shattered a backboard or two with his power slams, his most memorable NBA game was when he scored 42 points at the Boston Garden against Celtic All-Star center Robert Parish. He acknowledged that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was hard to guard, but fellow big man Bob Lanier taught Dawkins how to push Kareem out of the paint and make it harder for him to shoot his patented skyhook, so that “seven out of ten skyhooks is better than ten out of ten.”

I asked Dawkins about the back injury he suffered midway through his NBA career and how he kept playing through the recurring pain.  He said he coped with it, ended up leaving the NBA to play in Italy, Canada, and even for the Harlem Globetrotters, agreeing to play for less mainly due to the injury, but still earning enough playing fewer games.  “Not bad,” he said.

Put on the spot to name the best player in the NBA today, he mentioned LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, with Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, and even Deron Williams, in the mix.  His favorite now, though, is Russell Westbrook whom he says he sees as a combination of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. According to Dawkins, if LeBron and Jordan played one-on-one in their primes, the game would be close, but that he would never bet against Jordan in that situation. He also said that the San Antonio Spurs are still the team “to go through” this coming season.

On and on, Dawkins told stories on all sorts of topics.  He said nowadays, he takes care of his four children now, the eldest being his 34-year-old daughter, followed by a 19-year-old adopted daughter who has Down’s syndrome, but is “the toughest kid around,” a 12-year-old son, and an 11-year-old. The younger two are sports enthusiasts, but his son is more inclined to playing football or lacrosse rather than basketball. Aside from family, he is busy with his NBA duties and his work with Native Americans and the US Military. His personality is perfect to lift the spirits of any crowd, and he surely did that for all the media men present at the NBA Café.

The fast-coming NBA season is one to look forward to, with so much great talent, roster movements that could affect the NBA landscape, and a television deal now signed to bring more often the best and brightest NBA moments to the TV screens of basketball-loving Filipinos.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @CharlieC.