What to make of Powerade

Yan yung larong Arriba Letran!  

Are they here to stay, buying time or are on they way out?

Those are the questions tacked on the insides of my brain whenever the Powerade Tigers hog the limelight by virtue of the scoring prowess of ace Gary David. It's really hard to measure the value of a PBA superstar specially when you know he's on a team that's probably not going to make deep runs for the foreseeable future.

Not when they opted to trade away David's true successor and the 2nd most important player in their rotation the last two conferences in rookie Marcio Lassiter. Yes, JVee Casio has been gifted with more than the lion's share of Skip Bayless' precious "clutch gene" but you don't build teams around point guards. It's either a wing or a big. That's it.


The last couple of games, Powerade has been nothing short of superb. They look hungry, and everyone's scrappy. Rey Guevarra's taking advantage of the minutes awarded him, no longer looking like a lost pup on the court and just attacking the rim-- hard. Was I surprised that Guevarra is starting to make Coach Bo Perasol look like a genius while the guys over at Petron absolute duds? No. I've seen RG play in the NCAA with Letran before, always knew he was legit. What surprised me is that Coach Bo actually gave him minutes-- the same guy who would plug in Francis Allera (!) in crucial games while David takes a breather instead of just putting Casio in as the SG with Celino Cruz or KKS favorite Rudy Lingganay at the point (and with Sean Anthony as the 3).

Then there are old favorites such as Rommel Adducul, Jondan Salvador and even the injured Alex Crisano. These guys are legit, playoff team bruisers. Anytime you have two (or three), you like your chances in grind it out games because you know you can trust them in the pivot to bring the pain to opposing teams.

Another nice thing going for the Tigers is that they're not holding back on their imports. Rashad McCants, previously of the Kevin Garnett-era Minnesota Timberwolves, was a pretty big name to bring in though it clearly looked like his head wasn't in the game during his brief stay. His replacement, Omar Sneed, might not enjoy the recognition but looks like an absolute beast on the court with a brilliant all-around game (still can't get over the 32 points, 23 rebounds work on Talk 'n' Text). Daresay that the Tigers have one of, if not, THE best import in the Governor's Cup today.

So should Tigers fans, old and new, feel safe and start trooping to the Big Dome in support of their team? Or are we just being suckered into one more run, before one of the pillars (pick between David or Casio) gets shipped to the big boys yet again?

P.S.

I like what Rabeh Al Hussaini is doing. Keep it simple, catching in the high post and not forcing up too many shots. He still pouts and frowns like a child at times, but credit goes to the Tigers' coaching staff for not babying him and sitting his ass down whenever he's throwing his standard tantrums.