PBA: Francis Arnaiz on old-school basketball — ‘Fans could identify with us’

ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/sports/01/10/20180108-arnaiz-francis-3587.jpg"/><figcaption>Unlike a lot of local basketball pros, transitioning to life outside of the game came easy for Francis Arnaiz. “Life moves on,” he said. <em>Fernando G. Sepe Jr., ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Francis Arnaiz may elicit a lot of “who’s he” responses from young basketball fans, and that’s a shame.</p><p>He was one of the PBA’s first true superstars, a scoring machine who was the perfect complement to Sonny Jaworski when they played for Toyota before transferring to the Ginebra San Miguel franchise.</p><p>He was the second player ever to reach 5,000 career points and fourth to hit 10,000. </p><p>In 1986, Arnaiz retired at 35 years old.</p><p>Unlike a lot of local basketball pros, transitioning to life outside of the game came easy for the former Ateneo player.</p><p>“Life moves on,” he said in an interview on the ANC sports show “Hardball” on Monday.</p><p>“I retired in 1986. They say, ‘That’s kinda young. You can still play.’ Pero for me, basketball was just one chapter. I just felt I had to move on. I think maybe the first thing that I felt was I no longer had the urgency, the real passion to play. I always knew there was something out there that I could do.”</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/09/18/gilas-pilipinas-vs-francis-arnaizs-1973-national-team-mr-clutch-picks">READ: Gilas vs Arnaiz’s 1973 national team? ‘Mr. Clutch’ picks a winner </a></li></ul><p>Some of his contemporaries played until late in the 1980s, even through the 1990s, but Arnaiz didn’t see himself as a basketball lifer, acknowledged that he was comfortable walking away from the spotlight.</p><p>“My personality was I never bought into the fame. That whole thing was foreign to me. That’s why maybe it was easy for me to move on to another chapter in my life,” he said.</p><p>“And there’s nothing wrong with this. There are a lot of basketball players that retire and stick to what they know, which is basketball. I just moved on. Tapos na iyan. I’m very grateful for the career, the opportunity to play, grateful to God for giving me the genes to play the game well, but then it was time to move on.”</p><figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1441354" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="~//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="~//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Arnaiz has been seen more frequently in public recently, something which started late last year when he watched the UAAP finals between Ateneo and La Salle.</p><p>The style of play that he saw, he said, impressed him.</p><p>“What amazed me, what astonished me is the focus of the kids, the discipline. It totally blew me away,” Arnaiz said. </p><p>“During my time, there was a system but it was more, ‘Go and play.’ And that game (in the finals with La Salle), particularly Ateneo, from the first minute to the last, they didn’t change their style. It was all team basketball. That amazed me. At such a young age, they’re so mature.”</p><p>Since retired players usually offer interesting, if not thought-provoking, insights about the evolution of the game, the inevitable question about basketball generations came up.</p><p>“Hardball” host Bill Velasco asked Arnaiz his thoughts on why his peers’ legacy has endured.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_2_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_2" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1441357" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="~//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="~//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Arnaiz offered a unique take.</p><p>“I can’t pinpoint one reason, but I’d like to put this out there. I could be wrong, but this is how I see it. Maybe during our time, the fans could identify with us more,” he said. </p><p>“We weren’t that big. The game was totally different. Let me put it that way, you could get away with a lot of things then. Now you have to be more disciplined, you have to follow your coach, there’s a system. Then, everything was simple.</p><p>“The fans could more or less identify, ‘Kaya kong maging Arnaiz or Martirez or Jawo,’ With very few exceptions. We were smaller, ‘5-7 ako, 5-9 lang iyan. Kaya ko.’ Now it’s different.”</p><p>For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com">ABS-CBN Sports website</a>.</p>

<p>One of the greatest scoring guards in local basketball history also has kind words to say about the current crop of players.</p>

One of the greatest scoring guards in local basketball history also has kind words to say about the current crop of players.

PBA: Francis Arnaiz on old-school basketball — ‘Fans could identify with us’ | ABS-CBN

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PBA: Francis Arnaiz on old-school basketball — ‘Fans could identify with us’

PBA: Francis Arnaiz on old-school basketball — ‘Fans could identify with us’

ABS-CBN News

Published Jan 10, 2018 06:28 PM PHT

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Updated Jan 10, 2018 07:00 PM PHT

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