The 10-part “The Last Dance” documentary featuring Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls 1997-98 NBA championship season which will debut on Netflix on Monday, April 20, at 3 p.m (PH time), was the brainchild of an NBA Films producer by the name of Andy Thompson.
Who is Andy Thompson? He is the brother of former NBA player Mychal Thompson and the uncle to current Golden State Warriors guard Klay, Mychal’s son.
It is worth remembering that Andy Thompson once played for the Tanduay Rhum Makers in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in 1986.
Thompson suited up for the Rhum Makers in the 1986 PBA Third (Open) Conference as an import replacement.
Tanduay won the first two conferences behind league MVP Ramon Fernandez and co-Mythical First Team selection Freddie Hubalde but missed the Grand Slam when it failed to advance to the finals of the last conference of the 1986 PBA season.
Thompson replaced two earlier Tanduay imports Benny “The Outlaw” Anders and Andre McKoy. Both Anders and McKoy played just two games each in that conference.
Also playing for Tanduay at that time were JB Yango, Padim Israel, Vic Sanchez, Ely Capacio and Willie Generelao, among others.
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Free agent Pau Gasol, who turns 40 in July, plans to suit up for Spain in the Tokyo Olympics that is slated for July next year following a one-year postponement arising from the global COVID-19 pandemic. The 7-foot Gasol, who was waived by the Portland Blazers early this season due to a variety of injuries, seeks to become only the fifth men’s basketball player in Olympic history to see action in five editions.
Gasol has played for Spain in the past four Olympic editions (2016 Rio de Janeiro, 2012 London, 2008 Beijing and 2004 Athens).
The four men who have played in five Olympics are:
Juan Carlos Navarro (Spain: 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), Andrew Gaze (Australia: 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 200, Oscar Schmidt (Brazil: 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996), and
Teo Cruz (Puerto Rico: 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976).
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With the postponement of the Tokyo Games originally scheduled from July 24-August 9 this year, 35-year-old Andrew Bogut, who help lead the Sydney Kings to the unfinished finals of his native Australia’s National Basketball League last March, plans to announced his retirement in mid-May.
The 7-foot Bogut, who was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the No. 1 pick in the entire 2005 NBA draft, earned a championship rings with the Golden State Warriors in 2015.
The Melbourne-born Bogut has played in the NBL for the past two seasons. Last March, the NBL decided to hand the league crown to the back-to-back titlist Perth Wildcats even though Game Four of the best-of-three finals was canceled.
Perth, was ahead, 2-1, but needed a series-clinching third win at home in Game Four. Ther game was canceled after Sydney – pointing to government-imposed travel restrictions and social-distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic – refused to travel for Game Four.
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