Bench Press v2.1

New http address, new bullets list. Since this writer wasn’t able to carefully scrutinize last week’s games in full, we’ll just have to go through ‘em all, one by one, bullet per bullet.

PBA

• The low scoring can be attributed to two things: 1) less free throws and 2) guards can’t slice and dice into the lane like they used to for easy points (and, again, free throws).
• Sunday Salvacion is back to his Blazers-MVP days with Barako Bull where I always felt like he would blossom into a legit PBA star. I’ve always seen him as a better player than James Yap during their collegiate careers, only, Salvacion didn’t have the Mother Lily backing.
• Rabeh Al Hussaini is going to win the Rookie of the Year award by a huge margin. Bet on it.
• Alaska is winning on offensive fluidity while Talk N Text is winning on good, defense-oriented basketball (oh, and having a superstar line-up helps too).
• Ryan Gregorio can’t coach. That, or he sees something in the slow-footed Pong Escobal that no one else does. Pong can’t shoot, is too slow to guard a broom and hesitates.
• Chris Ross is over-rated. I’d take the defense-less Alex Cabagnot over him in a heartbeat. Oh, and whatever happened to Chris Timberlake? I thought they were the local version (of the PBL’s anyway) of Chris Paul and Deron Williams?
• Marvin Cruz is a shooting guard trapped in a point guard’s body. He will never blossom in the PBA unless Tim Cone and Wilfred Uytengsu smoke the bad stuff, trade Tenorio to one of the SMC/ MVP teams, and get Cruz at a discount.

NCAA

• Congrats to the San Beda Red Lions for winning yet another title, with yet another dominant import. Not to take anything away from the 18-0 season sweep, but put Sam Ekwe or Sudan Daniel on College of St. Benilde roster, and I’m pretty sure they’ll be in the Finals.
• Calvin Abueva was robbed of another Most Valuable Player award. This is a disgrace. Daniels should be given “Best Import” or something. Stop robbing our local players who work hard night in and night out with what limited talents (or height and natural athleticism) they have.

NBA

• LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh won’t steamroll through the opposition with the weakness lying at the center spot. The Lakers have Gasol and Bynum, the Celtics have the O’Neals, Garnett, Davis and Perkins, and Orlando has the human jumping jack Dwight Howard. Unless Chris Bosh starts grabbing rebounds like crazy (which he hasn’t in the preseason), then no. Not this year. Or at the very least, not with the current frontline rotation.
• Derrick Rose is an over-rated, over-dribbling shooting guard masquerading as a point. His jumper is broken, and no, Carlos Boozer will not fit in with this team simply because Boozer fades in the playoffs.
• Kobe Bryant isn’t 100% and that could spell an end to the Lakers’ three-peat hopes.
• Kevin Durant can score, can run and dribble, but is not a better overall basketball talent than LeBron James. At best, he is what we all thought Carmelo Anthony should be (the next Tracy McGrady, but with more heart/ enthusiasm). Stop drinking the Kool-Aid.