Rhenz Abando was diagnosed with lumbar vertebrae 3 and 4 fractures, wrist sprain, and concussion at the hospital today. He is not expected to play for four to five weeks.
Ouch.
This is a f***ked up way to end 2023 or to start 2024.
This is the drawback of Abando's gameplay. High risks have high rewards, but this could be in a positive or a negative sense. When Abando skied for the rebound, he had evil intentions. He just racked up nine points off the bench and he just got into some sort of squabble with a Goyang baller.
I bet Abando wanted no less than a slam dunk to embarrass the other squad and boost the chances of Anyang.
Now, about Chinanu Onuaku, enforcers are going to enforce their will and whether or not you hate his tactics, he is just doing his job. I don't know if he is that dirty of a player though. Onuaku has played in Israel, Italy, Croatia, and Spain and this is his second stint in Korea. He also played for the Houston Rockets.
The last thing a journeyman wants is to be labeled as a headcase. I bet he was also as shocked as every Rhenz Abando fan was when they played the replay in the arena.
When I checked on the KBL tweets, they were pinning it on Onuaku. While yeah, he CLEARLY pushed Abando, I also view this as our boy jumping on two men with his body getting tangled because of the situation. I think the errant movement of Kim Min Wook also did something, but this is just a case of Abando's awesomeness shocking his opponents. If you check out the situation, Abando wanted to jump on the men to score a massive jam. No player wants to be on the wrong side of a poster - especially against a Filipino.
Meanwhile, Alex Cabagnot helped engineer the win for the Goyang Sono... and this is what I'm always talking about.
While Cabagnot is still doing damage in his final season in the PBA with Terrafirma, he knows he is on the verge of retirement. The 41-year-old PBA Hall of Famer will still be a big help in Korea because Pinoy ballers are sought after in other countries because of their feel for the game. When the PBA had Asian imports, they weren't paying as much as our boys are paid in the Far East countries.
Also, while we can say some players are treated better than the others, it all boils down to commitment. This is why guys like Abando, the Ravena Brothers, and Justin Gutang are enjoying a career in the KBL while players like Robert Bolick and I guess Kemark Carino and Justine Baltazar didn't enjoy the success of their counterparts. Our basketball IQ are a couple of rungs better than most Asian countries. This is not a slight on them - it's just because we understand the game for almost a century that even the most casual of titas would get why a team is losing.
This is why A-Cab is a good fit for the Korean Basketball League. He was on the verge of moving to coaching duties in UP prior to his KBL stint. Crunchman could play this season with a super sub mentality and then get a job in their bench when he decides to call quits on his career.
Anyway, let's hope for a Rhenz Abando speedy recovery and hopefully he gets his revenge on Goyang if they meet in the playoffs.