Pangilinan, part of investor group Webber put together, wants to buy Kings

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#1
Not sure what this all means, but here's the article:

Businessman-sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan wants a majority stake if he finally decides to accept an offer to join a group of investors that will take over the struggling Sacramento Kings in the NBA.
“I have to admit, the idea is very titillating,” Pangilinan said during a recent briefing where he confirmed rumors that he had been invited to help keep alive the franchise of the financially strapped Kings.
As he does with most of his business ventures, however, he said he would not settle for being a passive investor.
“If we proceed, we’ll be seeking a majority stake,” said Pangilinan, who owns the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters and the Meralco Bolts in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and heads the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), the governing body in amateur basketball.
“Whether we do it or not, it’s a great idea for a Filipino group to own an NBA team,” he said, adding that this would eventually open up the doors to having Filipino players or team coaches.
“It’s a great tribute to the country,” added Pangilinan, who was in Hong Kong to launch the new PLDT Global services for overseas Filipinos.
He said the group of investors was organized by retired former NBA All-Star Chris Webber, who was part of the Kings from 1998 to 2005.
Webber met with Pangilinan, chair of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company—among other firms—during a recent trip to Sacramento, where he visited the Kings’ home stadium, the Arco Arena.
He said he would need to invest between $200 million and $260 million for a stake in the Kings, and that this would be done in his personal capacity. “That’s the ballpark figure [involved],” Pangilinan said.
If a deal pushes through, this will make him the first Asian to control an NBA franchise.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/8700/mvp-wants-control-of-sacramento-kings
 
#3
Still need a seller to be a buyer. So far the Maloofs are sticking to there guns about the team NOT being for sale.

If that ever happens, I want the buyer(s) be someone committed to being in Sacramento.
 
#6
Still need a seller to be a buyer. So far the Maloofs are sticking to there guns about the team NOT being for sale.

If that ever happens, I want the buyer(s) be someone committed to being in Sacramento.
Yeah but he is part of CWebb's group, I'm pretty sure he would keep the Kings here.
 
#8
Even if he were interested, and the team were for sale, I don't get a good feeling about some guy with a racial agenda running the team. Feel free to accuse me of being a member of the kkk.

But you've got to be focused on success above all else. If a guy wants to use a team to bolster a national identity... that usually comes with strings attached that at some point will be working at cross purposes of the team's success.

Not a good initial feeling about this. MUCH prefer Burkle. But I guess it doesn't hurt to have two fish nibbling on the line. Does continue to prove that Sac is viable... blah blah blah.

And believe me, the reason that there aren't any Filipino players or Filipino coaches is not because there is a racial barricade, or that there aren't any Filipino owners in the NBA. IT'S BECUASE THEY AREN'T ANY GOOD. For someone to think otherwise... well they're either idiots, or they have a racial agenda.

NBA scouts constantly scour the globe looking for talent. The international talent market was opened up years ago. There isn't some blind spot over the Philipines. There just aren't any decent Filipino players. (... and Coaches??? Seriously?)
 
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#9
This makes no sense to me...I mean don't get me wrong, I wouldn't NOT look at this as a possibility, but why would Webb put the group together to try to by the team knowing that the current owner has emphatically said they aren't selling?? Why waist that energy? Is there more to this that we just don't know? What gives?? We've got Webb with an investment group wanting to buy the team, and our mayor with an investor that wants to buy team...seems a bit trivial to me.
 
#10
I just re-read that.

It's gotta be another fabrication. Look at the source. A tabloid from Hong Kong? And then the language: "invited to help keep alive the franchise of the financially strapped Kings"

Here's a guy fanaegling his way into a situation. It never said Webb invited him to be part of an investor group. It says Webb organized an investor group. And it said he was "invited to help keep alive the franchise of the financially strapped Kings"

It doesn't even say he was invited by Webb. A lot of people were invited to help keep alive the financially strapped Kings in Sac. I was. Numerous times. By the Mayor even. The Maloofs even invited me to help keep the Kings in Sac.

This is just a ridiculous story. So what if he "visited Arco".

There may be a tiny, tiny shred of truth to the fact that Webb talked to him, but this thing is way overblown by this article. Notice the only quotes are from Mr. MVP himself. God damn what an ego. That thing is grotesque.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#11
Guys, look how that's written.

a) there is an offer for him to join the investment group
b) he says he won't join the investment group unless he gets to be majority owner

Then this, as an asian-centric paper, takes that and runs. At no point does it say he WILL be the majority owner, nor even that he has been offered a chance to be the majority owner. Just that he would want to be if he joined. That's quite remote. The Maloofs would have to want to sell. The Webber group would have to be wiling to let him be majority owner. The NBA would have to approve it, and more likely than not Burkle would have to be out of the way since I bet the NBA would prefer him. Its just more a hopegul speculation piece than anything else.
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#13
The Inquirer is not a tabloid. It's the major newspaper in the Philippines. This has been mentioned before with almost the exact same words. Not sure of why the reaction now. I wouldn't want anyone foreign to the NBA, and that even includes the Maloofs to a certain extent, to have a hands on role in running this team. It takes knowledge of the inner workings of the league and basketball. This will never happen. Calm down. Let a guy dream.
 
#17
Even if he were interested, and the team were for sale, I don't get a good feeling about some guy with a racial agenda running the team. Feel free to accuse me of being a member of the kkk.

But you've got to be focused on success above all else. If a guy wants to use a team to bolster a national identity... that usually comes with strings attached that at some point will be working at cross purposes of the team's success.

Not a good initial feeling about this. MUCH prefer Burkle. But I guess it doesn't hurt to have two fish nibbling on the line. Does continue to prove that Sac is viable... blah blah blah.

And believe me, the reason that there aren't any Filipino players or Filipino coaches is not because there is a racial barricade, or that there aren't any Filipino owners in the NBA. IT'S BECUASE THEY AREN'T ANY GOOD
. For someone to think otherwise... well they're either idiots, or they have a racial agenda.

NBA scouts constantly scour the globe looking for talent. The international talent market was opened up years ago. There isn't some blind spot over the Philipines. There just aren't any decent Filipino players. (... and Coaches??? Seriously?)
I agree, especially with the bolded parts. Well, there are good ones but not NBA good, and their physical stature doesn't really scream NBA body. BTW, Erik Spoelstra is half Filipino I think.

Don't waste time on this guys, the Inquirer is a POS broadsheet anyway.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
#19
Are you sure about being born in Moscow making one a European?
Moscow is in Europe. Prokhorov was born in Moscow. He was educated in Moscow. He currently lives in Moscow. If we are considering "Asian" from the original post to refer to continental affiliation, it would seem fairly unreasonable to call him "Asian" and perfectly suitable to call him "European".

He is also Caucasian, so if we interpret "Asian" as a racial term, he also does not qualify.
 
#21
Even though 85% of Russian is geographically in Asia, I think you have about 85% of the population or more on the Europe side. And yes, if we're talking about it in racial terms, Prokhorov is a pretty pasty white Russian dude. If he has any Asian blood, it's over 10 generations old.
 
#22
Moscow is in Europe. Prokhorov was born in Moscow. He was educated in Moscow. He currently lives in Moscow. If we are considering "Asian" from the original post to refer to continental affiliation, it would seem fairly unreasonable to call him "Asian" and perfectly suitable to call him "European".

He is also Caucasian, so if we interpret "Asian" as a racial term, he also does not qualify.
There was a reason for the question mark. I have a had time thinking of Moscow as European just like I have a hard time thinking it as Asian. I went and looked at some sites but looked at the wrong site. The way I worded my search on Google was wrong.

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/capitals_asia.htm

This site shows Moscow as an Asian capitol. The other sites I looked at today stated differently. I stand corrected.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
#23
There was a reason for the question mark. I have a had time thinking of Moscow as European just like I have a hard time thinking it as Asian.
Sorry if I went overboard on the answer. Something about the wording of your question made it seem argumentative instead of curious. I see now that you didn't mean it that way.
 
#24
Prokhorov is 100% Russian and European and Moscow is a true Eastern European city and Eastern Europe as much Europe as Western or Southern one.
 
#25
Prokhorov is 100% Russian and European and Moscow is a true Eastern European city and Eastern Europe as much Europe as Western or Southern one.
Wow. Sounds like someone wants to make sure someone is counted as European. Let me ask you. Does Moscow have any Asian influences? Like, say, in Architecture? Probably not, though, since it is a "100%" European city.
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#26
Wow. Sounds like someone wants to make sure someone is counted as European. Let me ask you. Does Moscow have any Asian influences? Like, say, in Architecture? Probably not, though, since it is a "100%" European city.
Good grief, man, Sacramento has Asian influences. This is drifting a bit from a man thinking he'd like to buy the Kings.
 
#29
I am an Ashkenazi Jew, so yes, I am European with some Middle Eastern flavor :)

"Let me ask you. Does Moscow have any Asian influences? Like, say, in Architecture?"

Your question is weird. Do you know that Spain has a huge Arabic influence? So, does it mean that Spain is a part of the Middle East or Northern Africa? Or Spaniards are Moroccans? Ok, back to Russia ... Old Moscow architecture has a Byzantine influence, not Asian.
 

Spike

Subsidiary Intermediary
Staff member
#30
I think you're both arguing past each other. Just because Spain has Arabic influences doesn't mean that something can't be 100% Spanish, even though that 100% was built upon influences from the Moors.