Fair trade? San Miguel acquires 2010 Top Rookies

After being turned down by no less than PBA commissioner Chito Salud, the San Miguel Beermen were at it again this time offering Paul Artadi, Dondon Hontiveros, Dorian Pena and Danny Seigle for Air21's prized rookies Noynoy Baclao, Rabeh Al Hussaini and Rey Guevarra.

Looking at it from a fan's perspective, star quality wise, you'd say that this was a better deal than the previous one which involved Seigle, Joseph Yeo, Mick Penissi and future draft picks. But if you put it under a microscope, as reported through PBA.ph, Artadi is 29, while Hontiveros, Pena and Seigle are all in their 30s with a lot of mileage (too say that they're no longer rotation players would be quite accurate, since Seigle only plays in spurts, Hontiveros doesn't "go after it" as hard as before, and Pena has been relegated to a back-up center/enforcer at best).

At present, Artadi can be a suitable back-up/replacement for Air21's de facto starting point guard Wynne Arboleda, while Hontiveros, by name, is still a better player than Reed Juntilla. Pena and Seigle are upgrades over whoever Air21 has under its employ, but forgive me if I just don't see them playing heavy minutes (either they are involved in another trade OR are injured--God forbid of course).

For San Miguel, this is a step in the right direction following their loss to the Talk N Text Tropang Texters. This automatically gives them the youth to form what would be an on-court version of the developing SMC-MVP rivalry.

Rabeh Al Hussaini is the best low post scoring threat unseen in the league, since, Davonn Harp (you'll never convince me that Rico Villanueva is a solid, if not well-polished, post man, not when his move-set involves a 70-30% chance of an offensive foul). Noynoy Baclao is a defensive ace who has ut on enough weight to hang with PBA-level bigs while Guevarra is a promising slasher-talent who at worst, would be an upgrade over Wesley Gonzales.

Fair trade? Air21 will probably compete in the next three-four conferences, while San Miguel has just secured its future and will be battling for titles in the next three-four years.