The cozy relationship between the PBA and its mother federation, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, appears to have developed a crack. The PBA is one of the SBP’s staunchest allies, but two days ago, in the hot and humid cauldron of Tianjin, China, RP team coach Yeng

Guiao fired a salvo somehow directed at the basketball association.

Coach Yeng declared during a media interview that the SBP’s developmental team under Serbian coach Rajko Toroman is headed for disaster. Well, not exactly those words but that was the message.

To those who may not know it, two national teams are currently in place — one, an all-PBA squad which is competing in the FIBA-Asia championship in China, the other a cadre of young stars being trained by the SBP whose aim is to earn a slot in the London Olympics in 2012.

Yeng’s PBA squad will be in place until the World Basketball Championship in Turkey in 2010, that is if it gains at least third place in the ongoing China tournament.

On the other hand, the SBP’s Gilas RP team, funded and supported by SMART money, will prepare for London with stints in Southeast Asia and other tournaments. No PBA player is in this lineup.

Yeng is wondering how a team of collegians with one or two naturalized players can handle big jobs such as the Asian Games and FIBA-Asia which even a veteran squad like the PBA is having a hard time doing in Tianjin.

Many will probably say that Yeng is out of touch and yes, maybe a little selfish.

But Yeng is speaking from experience.

He has seen it with his own eyes. The Tianjin tournament and the Jones Cup have made him realize that Asian basketball is different from the one he used to know, that it is an entirely new ball game. He thinks you can’t send raw recruits to these battles, they’ll be eaten alive!

SBP supporters disagree. They say that in the early '80s then basketball godfather Danding Cojuangco concocted a scheme that brought in three naturalized players and a foreign coach. The tactic worked and RP briefly ruled Asian basketball. The same playbook has been adopted by the SBP.

Back then, however, the game was different. It’s not as popular and as global as it is now. The Middle East countries then were patsies, now, they dominate. They have tall and big players and they have the best coaches oil money can buy. The results are there for everyone to see. Also, China keeps getting better.

With this in mind, Yeng wants the PBA to continue representing the Philippines in future international tournaments. He believes the PBA can do a better job than the SBP team.  What is needed, he says, is just having a team that practices during PBA breaks and competes abroad on a regular basis.

“Bakit n’yo ibibigay sa SBP (ang national team) wala namang materyales ang SBP?” And in what appears to be a dig at Serbian coach Rajko Toroman, he says: “It’s not about coaching, kahit sino ilagay mo roon mahihirapan. It’s about the whole program. Coaching is a minor part of that program.”