Author's note: my apologies for being unable to post as much as before, Destiny Cable-BTV and work-related drama aside, I'll slowly rebuild this site from the ground up and write about the only sport I've grown to love: Filipino basketball. The minute Noli Eala was called on by the San Miguel franchise to serve as one of their higher ranking sports development officers, you just knew that he'd make it back to the limelight and steal some thunder from the Philippine Basketball Association-- Asia's oldest play for pay league and the very outfit that kicked him out after a personal issue (so yes Sir Jaemark of FireQuinito.com, while I find your Eala-bashing amusing, I still feel that maybe we could go easy on the guy even if he comes off as a douche).
Contrary to earlier reports, San Miguel will not take over the AirAsia Philippine Patriots' spot on the ABL roster. Rather, it will be the second Filipino-backed franchise which could very well be a teaser to an all-Pinoy ABL finals at some point in the very near future. And as of this writing, would be SMC's 4th basketball team (alongside Petron, Ginebra and BMeg in the PBA). No reports yet if they're going to pull one of the three teams mentioned and send that to the ABL (doubtful really).
What will San Miguel's transfer do (other than make SMC richer by adding to their global brand/image of course)?
- More Filipino basketball players will have jobs either with SMB or as imports for other squads (as seen last conference)
- Make the ABL more competitive in terms of style of play
- Added exposure for Asian players, since SMC is a global brand and the ABL has a solid partnership in place with ESPN Star Sports (which could open the doors for the first Filipino NBA player *hey, if you're going to dream then dream big right?*)
- Put a premium on ABL basketball and could very well take away from the PBA fanbase (specially if Chris Tiu and some of those Smart Gilas boys decide/ realize that there's a real chance of more money and fame in the ABL.)
- Give SMC the edge over Team MVP who has pretty much taken over the role played by SMC in the Filipino community basketball or otherwise for years.
That being said, don't be surprised if MVP follows suit and forms his own ABL franchise.
Overall, this development is good for basketball, the players and the Philippines (why wouldn't it when we'll have a 2/7 or 8 chance to bring home another title?).
What do you think?
I think this move by SMC would definitely be good for Filipino basketball not only by opening more jobs for our players but also for returning respect to the country from an ABL perspective. The first batch of Philippine Patriots was a good mix of former or fringe PBA players (Wainwright, Ybanez, Gaco) and future draftees (Baclao, Espiritu, Acuna) to play major roles alongside the imports. That wasn't the case in the previous season where they relied heavily on the imports and 2 pointguards for scoring. Everyone else was more suitable on a Liga Pilipinas lineup and not surprisingly; they came up short in the finals. I don't understand how they came up with that roster when there were better Filipino players like Cabahug, Lingganay, and Avenido playing on other ABL teams (while the Patriots had players like former Letran Knights Harold Sta Cruz and JP Alcaraz... hmmm). Smart Gilas wiped out the SEABA competiton with 9 players and only 6 of those fully healthy. Perhaps having 2 teams representing the country will improve team composition making sure we pick the best available talent to play. And perhaps SMC wants to compete in a league where MVP doesn't have a team to wipe the floor with them yet.
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