Chooks-to-Go 3x3 pro circuit teams explained

Leagues:FIBA 3x3 World Tour
History:Pasig Chooks and Balanga Chooks
(2019)
Manila Chooks
(2020–23)
Cebu Chooks
(2022)
Dissolved:2023
Location:Philippines
Sponsor:Bounty Agro Ventures
(Chooks-to-Go)

Since the inception of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 league in 2019 which is backed by Bounty Agro Ventures, Inc. (BAVI), multiple 3x3 team under the sponsorship of BAVI has been sent to the FIBA 3x3 Men's Pro Circuit which usually consists of the core of the winning team in a conference or tournament.

A total of three teams under the Chooks-to-Go name participated in level 10 (Masters) competitions of the FIBA 3x3 Men's Pro Circuit namely; Pasig Chooks, Balanga Chooks, and Manila Chooks TM; all three has featured in a FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters tournament, although none has qualified in a World Tour Finals.

History

The Philippines prior participation in the FIBA 3x3 Men's Pro Circuit and had teams participate in the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters. Two teams had participated in the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Finals; Manila West in the 2014 World Tour Finals in Sendai[1] and Manila North in the 2015 World Tour Finals in Abu Dhabi.[2]

In 2019, the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 league was formed in a bid to qualify the Philippine men's national team to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo by boosting the country's FIBA 3x3 men's rankings. In each season, the league host stand-alone tournaments called conferences, with the winner of each conference made as a basis for teams sent by the league to the FIBA 3x3 Men's Pro Circuit.[3] League commissioner Eric Altamirano would initially oversee the company's 3x3 pro circuit program.[4]

2019 season

For the 2019 FIBA 3x3 World Tour, the Pasig Grindhouse Kings and the Bataan Risers were fielded by the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas league in the pro circuit as "Pasig Chooks" and "Balanga Chooks" respectively.[5]

Chooks-to-Go had both teams competing in the Doha Masters. Pasig Chooks qualified for the Doha Masters by winning the Chooks-to-Go President's Cup which was considered a quest-level tournament in the FIBA 3x3 pro circuit. The Chooks-to-Go also hosted the Chooks-to-Go 3x3 Asia Pacific Super Quest, a quest-level stand-alone tournament not part of its league structure in which Balanga Chooks qualified for the Doha Masters via their second-place finish. Pasig Chooks was bolstered by two European imports for the Doha Masters.[5]

Balanga Chooks also participated in the Bucharest Challenger, a qualifier for the Debrecen Masters, with just three players due to Alvin Pasaol rendered unable to play due to visa issues.[6] Pasig Chooks participated in the Kunshan Challenger, a qualifier for the Chengdu Masters. They fielded an all-Filipino lineup this time around.[7] Pasig joined the Xiongan Challenger as well, which was a qualifier for the Los Angeles Masters.[8]

Phenom-Basilan Steel was supposed to form as the basis of Chooks-to-Go's entry to the Jeddah Masters as the winners of the league's Patriot Cup but FIBA did not allow Chooks-to-Go to include Basilan player Troy Rike who has already played for Pasig within the 2019 season. Chooks-to-Go fielded Balanga Chooks instead for the Jeddah Masters and Basilan was given a place in the Manila Challenger and Sukhbaatar Challenger instead.[8] Balanga did not get past the group stage of the Jeddah Masters, losing all of its two games.[9]

2020 season

For the 2020 season of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour, Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 has fielded a team, which was named Manila Chooks TM.

Manila Chooks TM entered the Doha Masters with the same squad as the 2020 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 President's Cup titleholders, Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines[10] Aldin Ayo was named coach of Manila Chooks TM in November 2020.[11] He replaced Eric Altamirano who resigned after two years of service.[12] The team failed to progress to the semifinals, losing all two of their games in the preliminary round.[13]

2021 season

Manila Chooks TM joined the FIBA 3x3 pro circuit once again for the 2021 season, but with a different squad from the previous season. They are set to participate in the Doha Masters with a roster of players coming from different Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League teams with Aldin Ayo still the team's head coach.[14] [15] They had to play in the qualifying draw against two other teams; Doha and Graz where a berth for main draw was contested. Manila won in overtime against Doha but lost to Graz. Graz advanced to the main draw but defeating Doha. Manila finished 13th out of 14 teams in the Doha Masters.[16]

They later joined the Montreal Masters finishing 11th out of 12 teams.[17] In the Abu Dhabi Masters in October, they finished 11th place again out of 14 teams.[18] In that tournament's dunk contest, Manila Chooks player David Carlos bested Vadim Poddubchenko of Ukraine.[19]

2022 season

Cebu Chooks was formed to participate in the 3×3 Dubai Expo Super Quest in April 2022.[20] They would qualify for the Manila Masters after clinching the Chooks-to-Go Asia Pacific Super Quest title.[21] Aside from Cebu, Manila Chooks is also set to participate in the Manila Masters.[22] Both teams finished as quarterfinalists.[23]

In August 2022, Aldin Ayo resigned as head coach of Chooks-to-Go's 3x3 program.[24] Veteran basketballer, Chico Lanete replaced him as interim head coach.[12]

2023 season

Liman coach Milan Isakov was tapped as an active consultant for Chooks-to-Go's teams starting the 2023 season.[25] The Manila Masters was held with Manila Chooks representing the hosts.[26]

At the Cebu Masters, Manila Chooks advanced to the knock-out stages, ending a 15-month drought, last repeating the feat at the May 2022 Manila Masters.[27]

Disbandment

Chooks-to-Go ended its 3x3 program in November 2023.[28]

Teams

Season-by-season records

FIBA 3x3 World Tour results (Masters and Finals)
width=20%Yearwidth=25%Teamswidth=25%Tournamentwidth=20%Positionwidth=20pxWwidth=20pxL
2019 Balanga Chooks Doha Masters 6th place 2 1
Pasig Chooks 5th place 2 1
2020 Manila Chooks TM Doha Masters 11th place 0 2
2021 align=left rowspan=3Manila Chooks TM Doha Masters 13th place
1 1
Montreal Masters 11th place 0 2
Abu Dhabi Masters 11th place 0 2
2022 Cebu Chooks Manila Masters 7th place 1 2
Manila Chooks 8th place 1 2
2023 Manila Chooks Manila Masters 10th place 0 2

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Beltran. Nelson. Manila West cops gold in FIBA 3x3 tiff. 16 February 2016. The Philippine Star. 20 July 2014.
  2. News: Ganglani. Naveen. Manila North falls to NoviSad AlWahda in FIBA 3X3 Manila Masters final. 16 February 2016. Rappler. 2 August 2015.
  3. News: TM supports Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas in 3x3 pro league . November 18, 2020 . Sun Star . September 29, 2020 . English.
  4. News: Fresh start for Ayo as new head coach of Chooks 3×3 team . 6 August 2022 . Philippine Daily Inquirer . 9 November 2020 . en.
  5. News: FIBA 3x3: Pasig Kings, 1Bataan set to face best teams in World Tour Masters . November 18, 2020 . ABS-CBN News . April 17, 2019 . en.
  6. News: Saldajeno . Ivan Stewart . Balanga Chooks to play undermanned in Bucharest Challenger . November 18, 2020 . www.pna.gov.ph . August 8, 2019 . en.
  7. News: Times . Tiebreaker . Pasig Chooks-to-Go to field all-Filipino lineup for Kunshan Challenger . November 18, 2020 . Tiebreaker Times . May 16, 2019.
  8. News: No Statham a 'huge loss' for Pasig Chooks-to-Go . November 18, 2020 . ESPN.com . August 22, 2019 . en.
  9. News: Leongson . Randolph . Balanga bows out of Jeddah Masters after losses to Riga Ghetto, Lyon . November 18, 2020 . Sports Interactive Network Philippines . October 19, 2020 . en.
  10. News: Terrado . Jonas . Manila Chooks TM drawn with Liman in Doha Masters . November 18, 2020 . Manila Bulletin . November 18, 2020.
  11. News: Aldin Ayo tapped as head coach of Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 team . November 18, 2020 . Tiebreaker Times . November 9, 2020.
  12. News: From the wires . Chico Lanete named interim Chooks 3x3 coach as Aldin Ayo resigns . 6 August 2022 . Sports Interactive Network Philippines . 5 August 2022 . en.
  13. News: What happened to Manila Chooks TM at the 3x3 Doha Masters? . November 30, 2020 . FIBA . November 27, 2020 . en.
  14. News: Tallo, Huang to banner Manila Chooks in 2021 FIBA 3x3 World Tour Doha Masters . 13 March 2021 . Yahoo! . Sunstar . 12 March 2021 . en-PH.
  15. News: Leongson . Randolph . Chico Lanete leads new-look Manila Chooks TM for 3x3 Doha Masters . 13 March 2021 . Sports Interactive Network Philippines . 11 March 2021 . en.
  16. News: Despite Lanete heroics, Manila Chooks fails to reach main Doha draw . 6 September 2021 . Sports Interactive Network Philippines . 26 March 2021 . en.
  17. News: Leongson . Randolph . Manila Chooks ends 3x3 Montreal Masters stint winless . 6 September 2021 . Sports Interactive Network Philippines . 5 September 2021 . en.
  18. News: Manila Chooks go cold vs Amsterdam, bow out of Abu Dhabi WT . 31 October 2021 . Tiebreaker Times . 30 October 2021.
  19. News: David Carlos upsets ‘Miller’ in Abu Dhabi WT Dunk Contest . 31 October 2021 . Tiebreaker Times . 30 October 2021.
  20. News: Cebu Chooks! vies in Dubai 3x3 . 29 March 2022 . BusinessMirror . 29 March 2022.
  21. News: Times . Tiebreaker . Cebu Chooks rules Asia Pacific Super Quest . 1 May 2022 . Tiebreaker Times . 30 April 2022.
  22. News: Meet the teams in the Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3x3 Manila Masters . 26 May 2022 . Tiebreaker Times . 26 May 2022.
  23. News: PH teams bow out in Fiba 3×3 World Tour Manila Masters . 29 May 2022 . Philippine Daily Inquirer . 29 May 2022 . en.
  24. News: Aldin Ayo resigns as Chooks 3x3 head trainer, tends to ailing mother . 6 August 2022 . Rappler . 5 August 2022.
  25. News: Chooks 3x3 taps Liman's head trainer as consultant . 17 December 2022 . Tiebreaker Times . 17 December 2022.
  26. News: Fuertes . Rommel Jr. . Home bet Manila Chooks booted out in Fiba 3×3 World Tour . 20 August 2023 . Philippine Daily Inquirer . 21 May 2023 . en.
  27. News: Masoy . Niel Victor . Tallo clutch as Manila Chooks advances to Cebu Masters knockout phase . 24 September 2023 . The Manila Times . 23 September 2023 . en.
  28. News: Bacnis . Justine . PH men's 3x3 in limbo as PBA, Chooks pull plug on programs . Tiebreaker Times . 31 May 2024.