IT’S official: Filipino-American Bobby Ray Parks Jr. won’t be joining the upcoming Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Rookie Draft to focus on the best league in the world.
Parks, a projected top three pick in the PBA, is not returning to the country and will instead stay in the US to pursue his childhood dream of becoming the first Filipino homegrown talent to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The 22-year-old Fil-Am made a good account of himself in the limited time he played in the recent Summer League averaging 3.0 points on 55 per cent shooting, 1.7 rebounds and nearly one steal in just 10.5 minutes per game for the Dallas Mavericks.
He had his best game against the NBA D-League Select in the second round of the playoffs with 10 points, five rebounds and four steals and one assist in 21 minutes.
Although he was left undrafted, Parks’ dream of making it into a regular season roster in the NBA is still alive. The 6-foot-4 swingman, however, is going to have to work harder to prove that he indeed belongs to the big league.
Interestingly, Parks is the first-ever homegrown talent to have played in an NBA pre-season tournament. Prior to the Mavericks camp, he worked out for the Utah Jazz, the Brooklyn Nets, the Atlanta Hawks, the Boston Celtics, and the Dallas Mavericks.
Back home, Parks is a rising star, a golden boy for homegrown basketball talent. He is a former two-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) playing out of the National University Bulldogs. He is the son of Bobby Ray Parks Sr., an American who is largely regarded as one of the greatest imports the PBA has seen having played in the country for 12 years and won the Best Import award seven years in a row.
In the US, however, he’s living under relative anonymity while playing for the Mavericks summer league roster in Las Vegas.
While he could be relishing in his notoriety back home, he’s in the US chasing a lifelong dream. In fact, the memory of his father, who passed away in 2013, is one of his driving forces in his quest to play in the world’s premier basketball league.
Local-born players have until August 7 to file their application and submit the necessary requirements in the NBA, while the PBA Rookie Draft will be held on Aug. 23.
Currently, the camp of Parks is holding talks with teams in their attempt to make Parks become part of an NBA team’s training camp.
Making the NBA training gives players a 95% chance of breaking into an NBA team. This is because the NBA adjusted its rule wherein a team can now waive four players, instead of three, and make those four individuals their D-League affiliate players provided those players sign a D-League contract.
NBA teams are allowed to recruit as many as 20 players, but can name only 15 on their roster spot where only 13 can be active during the regular season.
Beginning this season’s D-League, there will be a total of 19 teams, 18 of which will be either affiliated or owned by an NBA team.
The NBA D-League will start in November and run until April 2016.
With the NBA still considered to be a long shot for the country’s first homegrown talent at this time, for this man of dreams, just being able to come this close to achieving his goal is remarkable in itself.
Surely, he will continue to work harder until he is recognized as a certified NBA player.