What happened with Gary David and the Meralco Bolts?

MANILA, Philippines – The Meralco Bolts announced last Sunday, March 13, that they fined and suspended veteran swingman Gary David for “insubordination” during the fourth quarter of the team’s loss to the NLEX Road Warriors two days prior.

In the press release of Bolts team manager Paolo Trillo, it was stated that team head coach Norman Black asked David to enter the match with over 4 minutes to go but opted not to, citing his injury as the reason why he preferred to stay out of action.

The Bolts later found out that David actually did not have an injury, leading to a breach of his PBA contract and Meralco’s decision to reprimand him.

Speaking to Rappler on Friday, March 18, Trillo said that “The days leading up to the game, he (David) was healthy. He was practicing. He sprained his ankle a whole week before, but he was practicing two, 3 days before the game.

“Halftime (against NLEX), our PT asked him, ‘Gary, are you okay to play?’ He said he was okay to play, so we thought everything was okay.”

Rappler reached out to David’s agent, Danny Espiritu, who claims that David was really injured by the time Black asked him to enter in the fourth quarter. Espiritu says that David claims he aggravated his injury when he played in the first and second quarters against NLEX.

“Sabi ni Gary, talagang meron siyang injury. Ang problema lang, nag laro siya nang first and second quarters. Ngayon, nung fourth quarter, hindi siya nag laro although may injury siya. Dapat nung first and second quarters palang, hindi na siya nag laro.”

(Gary said he really was injured. The problem was, he played in the first and second quarters. In the fourth quarter, he didn’t play but he was hurt. He shouldn’t have played from the first and second quarters to begin with.)

Trillo again mentioned that when Black asked David to enter the game with over 4 minutes left, the 37-year-old waved off the coach and pointed to his ankle, indicating it was hurt.

Espiritu claims that the Bolts PT told David to tell Meralco management he’s actually injured and request to sit down.

“Ang sabi daw nung PT, sabihin sa Meralco na may injury siya at paka pwede hindi na palaruin. Ang problema, hindi naman sinabi nang PT, kasi sabi nang PT, ‘Gary, ikaw nalang mag sabi.’ Eh nahihiya naman siya.”

(The PT told Gary to tell Meralco that he has an injury and if maybe he can sit down the rest of the way. The problem is, the PT told Gary, ‘You be the one to say it.’ But Gary was shy to do so.)

 

After the game, the Bolts heard that David had told reporters he wondered why he wasn’t use towards the end of the game to the Road Warriors.

“We’re thinking if there was something really wrong with his ankle, he would have just said, ‘I was injured,’” Trillo argued.

Both sides – David, Black, and Trillo – met last Sunday to discuss the issue and why David’s explanation to some media was different than the one he provided team management.

“We wanted him to air his side first and he explained that in the second half – I don’t know his exact words – but it was to the effect that sabog na his mind. He was already, I guess, feeling bad or emotional because coach had used Ronjay Buenafe in the third quarter and maybe he felt he wasn’t part of the rotation anymore,” said the Bolts team manager.

“He gave different answers, different stories. I don’t really know what his story is. He told some reporters that, one, he said he was injured; two, he said he didn’t want to go in anymore because he might be blamed for, you know what I’m saying, losing the game, or whatever reasons he was giving.”

Trillo and Black gathered from their meeting with the guard-forward that he wasn’t happy and did not want to go in the game against NLEX. They deemed it unacceptable and decided to sanction the veteran.

“He was ready to accept the sanction,” Trillo explained. “That was our last meeting with him.”

David is currently serving his suspension as the Bolts face the Blackwater Elite at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Technically still with Meralco

Trillo confirmed that David is an unrestricted free agent, but he’s still technically under contract with the Meralco Bolts until August 31. “We didn’t actually drop him or release him,” said the team manager.

With big men Rabeh Al-Husaini and Kelly Nabong injured, plus David suspended, the Bolts felt like they needed more local players for their game against the Elite and decided to activate one from the reserve list.

“We’re down to 12 locals, so we decided to activate another local, which is Rey Guevarra. So we had to put Gary in the reserve [list]. Thing is, PBA rule is, you’re only allowed to protect one player [in the reserve list], so we had to decide – Rabeh Al-Husaini or Gary.”

Being the protected player of a team means another PBA club can’t assume your contract even if you are in the reserve list. Since David is an unprotected player and on the reserve list, any other team can now pick him up.

“We didn’t drop him or didn’t release him. He’s still with us because he has a live contract,” said Trillo.

When asked if there was smoke on the trade front for David, Trillo admitted there has been interest but nothing close to a deal.

“A lot of teams are probably interested because maybe they hear a player is not happy with his team, so they try to inquire… people have been asking, but there’s nothing concrete.”

According to the team manager, David hasn’t been training with the Bolts as of late, too. “We’ve suspended him from attending practices as well.”

The former national team player is suspended “indefinitely until we (the Bolts) decide how to move forward.”

PBA rules also state that if a player is not part of a team’s active list, he cannot play for two games. Meralco’s next game is on April 3 against Mahindra. 

In 18 games this PBA season, David is recording just 24.2 minutes, 12.3 points, and 2.6 rebounds a contest, per pba-online.net – his lowest averages in 10 years.

His numbers have taken a major hit in the Commissioner’s Cup, where he’s scored in double-figures only twice in 7 games, and played at least 20 minutes just one time.

David played only 7 minutes total in his last game against the Road Warriors and finished with his first scoreless game of the conference on 0-of-1 shooting. – Rappler.com