Quemont Greer finished his college basketball career with the DePaul University Blue Demons last March thinking he had a bright future. The six-foot-six, 240-pound forward was the second player in school history to earn first-team all-Conference USA honors. His senior year scoring average of 18.3 points per game was the second highest in the conference, and he’s the only player ever to be named Conference USA player of the week three times in a row. He was one of 64 college seniors invited to take part in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, one of the NBA’s two pre-draft camps, where he’d have the chance to play in front of scouts from around the league.
Of the hundreds of American players who have played in the PBA since the early 1980s, only a handful went on to play in the NBA. Traffic between the two leagues more often moves in the opposite direction, with former NBA players coming to the Philippines in the twilight of their careers for a paid vacation or a chance to stay in shape for one last shot at the big time. The most recent former NBA player to take the walk of shame along the Pacific Rim was Darvin Ham, last seen in 2005 with the Detroit Pistons, who joined the Talk N Text Phone Pals for three playoff games in January. Former Bulls Dickey Simpkins and Scott Burrell are also members of the NBA-to-PBA fraternity.
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Greer knew that in the Philippines he had an opportunity to prove himself. But he also knew there would be constant pressure throughout the season: any lapse in his scoring or effort, or even a simple losing streak, could prompt Red Bull to replace him. If that happened, Greer would be back at square one. He’d fly home to Milwaukee or to Sacramento, where he trained with other unsigned players last summer. He would try to stay in shape and wait for another job, possibly in an American minor league or elsewhere abroad. For Greer and the hundreds of other Americans who play as hired guns around the world, it’s hard to predict where your drop-step or turnaround jump shot will take you next.
Greer landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport well past midnight on September 19 with his girlfriend of nine years, Sherita Sanders. A Red Bull assistant coach and company driver picked the couple up and took them to their new home: the Holiday Inn Galleria Suites in Manila. On the ride Greer saw Filipinos eating barbecue outside dimly lit karaoke lounges along EDSA, Manila’s smoggy, often clogged main traffic artery. “I was like, this is something different,” he says. “This is something odd.”
Greer’s individual play at the start of the season was spectacular. In his first game he scored 37 points and collected 15 rebounds. He topped that performance with 40 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks in the second game, a one-point win over the Alaska Aces that Greer sealed in the closing seconds with a dunk over opposing import Artemus McClary. But it was a one-man show. Greer took 63 shots in the first two games and scored nearly half of the team’s combined 153 points, but had only four assists. In the fourth game, an 84-77 win over the Air 21 Express attended by more than 12,000 fans, he scored a comparatively subdued 25 points while his teammates played a larger role. Afterward Guiao said the team was “trying to veer away from our import trying to score 40 points but with little contribution from our locals.”
Adjusting to the Philippines was easy for Greer. All he did was play basketball, eat, take naps, and hang out with his girlfriend. A self-proclaimed homebody, he’s nothing like the trash-talking, stereotypical American athletes many Filipinos expect. His hooded eyes display little emotion. He keeps a restrained smile on his face during conversation, polite but never exuberant. His voice, steady and smooth, rarely rises from its calm and humble tone. Even the typical difficulties foreigners living in Manila face–endless gridlock, overwhelming diesel fumes, loneliness–failed to faze him.
