THE AIRASIA Philippine Patriots will no longer be needing the services of former PBA import and star Billy Ray Bates after the latter was dropped from the squad for “repeated misconduct and acts detrimental to the team and the league.”
“We’re sincere to help him but he’s misbehaving of late and we have no other option but to sever our ties with him,” said team manager Erick Arejola in a statement made to the press. “I already warned him before but he missed several of our practices and made acts detrimental to the image of the team.”
Bates was given a job by the squad shortly after his induction to the PBA Hall of Fame last year.
Meanwhile, the Patriots will be heading over to Jakarta with hopes of bouncing back against the Indonesia Warriors after their fight-marred loss to rivals San Miguel Beermen last Sunday.
After Jakarta, the Patriots, co-owned by Tony Boy Cojuangco and Harbour Centre CEO and president Mikee Romero, will proceed to Vietnam to face the Saigon Heat on Wednesday.
They will cap their three-game road schedule with an exciting duel with co-leaders the Westports Kuala Lumpur Dragons on Saturday in Kuala Lumpur. Both the Patriots and the Dragons have similar 7-2 (win-loss) records while the Beermen have a 7-3 mark.
The Patriots will be without import Anthony Johnson, Erick Rodriguez and Ardy Larong, who will serve their one-game suspension for being involved in the melee. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio