Rise of the Collegiate Imports

College imports for hire

We're going to be blatantly honest here: we are not fans of having foreigners, plucked from whichever continent with little to no ties in the Philippines, play for amateur teams.

It just doesn't make any sense for the sport or the institution that they are associated with other than to simply boost the latter's chances of winning a certain tournament/s and holding on to annual bragging rights over their peers. Moreso, it doesn't help Philippine basketball per se since these young players who are being taken advantage of (and vice versa) aren't here to really "play for flag and country" but to simply make the most of their God-given gifts, make a little money before moving on to greener pastures.

We dream of Gilas Pilipinas

Best two-way player in the PBA
the last 3 years needs to be
on Gilas Pilipinas

A few days ago PBA Commissioner Chito Salud made it clear that the league is throwing its all-out support to the men's basketball program. With that, Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes pretty much has a free hand on building the best team possible in time for the FIBA Asia tournament to be held in Manila this August.

The obvious concession in exchange of getting the right players is of course the "dropping" of the SMART sponsorship from the team name (which shouldn't even be an issue since they are the ones who are bankrolling the damn thing just like San Miguel does for Spain and Visa does for Argentina). Now that that issue has been addressed, we should all focus on the task at hand.

Barako Bull on the rise

Allein Maliksi gets another shot
at superstardom

The team that gets the most number of players is usually the winner of any or all professional transactions no matter the starpower involved. You could always argue in favor of whichever team gets to bring home the former league MVP or All Star, but at day's end, four solid rotation players is still better than a star who has hit the proverbial "glass ceiling" and an under-rated, under-sized four man.

Gone are Ronald Tubid, Leo Najorda and Lester Alvarez from the Barako Bull Energy's roster and in their place are former PBA Finals MVP Jonas Villanueva, UAAP Finals MVP Jojo Duncil, college star JC Intal and PBA D-League MVP Allein Maliksi. As you can see, the letters "MVP" are spread evenly among those young thoroughbreds and that they are all young, athletic, have legit basketball skills (except maybe for Intal who has yet to find a niche in the league thus the inconsistency). Villanueva can orchestrate and, given the minutes, belongs atop the PBA's best floor generals. Duncil is a clutch jumpshooter who has the size and speed to play the two spot. Intal is crazy athletic and can get streaky from time to time. Then there's the other guy, Maliksi-- who is making a "homecoming" of sorts to the team that drafted him last season, who can pretty much hold his own against the league's premier scorers from Gary David to Mark Caguioa.

San Mig Coffee bets the house on Mallari

More "you reach, I teach" sessions for Mallari
now that he's with James Yap

What a difference back-to-back ass-whoopings makes in the PBA huh?

In a surprising turn of events, the San Mig Coffee Mixers decided to part ways with underutilized yet very promising former PBA Finals MVP Jonas Villanueva, JC Intal and Aldrech Ramos to bring in Petron's rookie Alex Mallari, Barako Bull veteran and under-sized power forward Leo Najorda and another rookie pint-sized point guard Lester Alvarez.

See, we tried to defend this move by saying that the Mixers did it in order to stretch their rotation and become "deeper." Then we took a look at the names on the roster, the ones that they're sending away and the ones who are coming in and it didn't take too long for us to realize that that rationale wasn't going to stick. There's Villanueva, a guy who was plagued by injuries under head coach Tim Cone but showed that he knew how to run the point position to a "T" when he's healthy. Intal may have not blossomed into the elite perimeter defender/ Scottie Pippen to James Yap's Michael Jordan project that we all hoped for but the guy has tremendous hops and can move on the hard court. Then there's rookie Aldrech Ramos, a 6"7 guy who plays defense and has a nice soft touch from the perimeter.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Hay salamat Panginoon at natupad
ang dasal ko na mabalik sa contender

What a day it has been for local professional basketball-- while it may not look like much, anytime you can get five teams to agree on a deal that would have ten guys changing uniforms no matter their status in the league, this "mega deal" could prove to help balance a top heavy PBA come next conference.

To summarize, here are the guys who were part of the trade and where they have landed:

Ronald Tubid: Petron Blaze Boosters
Mac Baracael: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
Aldrech Ramos: Alaska Aces
Alex Mallari, Leo Najorda and Lester Alvarez: San Mig Coffee
JC Intal, Jonas Villanueva, Allein Maliksi and Jojo Duncil: Barako Bull Energy

Now to help keep things interesting (and give us entries to have fun with while waiting for the Commissioner's Cup to start), we will split the entries into three parts. Since San Mig Coffee and Barako Bull got the most players out of the deal, it is only just that we give those teams separate entries all to themselves.

Payong Kaibigan: A Tale of Two Eagles Part 2

Ako ba pinag uusapan nila?

Author's note: While there are thousands of basketball bloggers out here on the Internet world, this writer wishes to separate himself somewhat by coming up with this small space we'd like to call Payong Kaibigan (first effort was to refrain from immature heckling/ cat-calling and posting any showbiz-oriented/ malicious). We will touch on certain professional basketball players plying their trade in the Philippines and critique their overall game-- identifying what we see as their strengths and areas of improvement.

Of course, we could easily and unimaginatively just go with tagging them as being "one-dimensional" or even bano, but we're not that great a basketball player or legit coach to be in the position to do so. We could only call them out, in hopes of them improving in these areas to further their careers. We'll try our very best to keep everything constructive.


With the operating word being "try."

Here we go again.

Don't Cry for Rain or Shine

Tiu-torial's now in session
Photo courtesy of Interaksyon.com)

As painful as being swept from the PBA Philippine Cup Finals may seem, the Rain or Shine Elastopainters and their ever-growing fanbase should not feel sorry for themselves. While others were caught off guard by the way this team was blatantly man-handled by the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters in four games, don't forget that this is still an over-achieving roster that doesn't feature household names as compared to 8 of the 10 teams in the league.

We say that because truthfully, even the hapless and rebuilding GlobalPort Batang Pier has established stars like Willie Miller and Gary David on the fold. This team? They have the all-around 10-5-5 guy Gabe Norwood, followed by two young studs who are still trying to make a name for themselves in reigning PBA Rookie of the Year Paul Lee and streak shooter Jeffrei Chan. The rest of the guys on the roster wouldn't even make a Team SMC or MVP rotation-- rising Jervy Cruz included (undersized power forwards don't make waves anymore in the PBA unless they're a hybrid like Alaska's Calvin Abueva).

So what's next for the Elastopainters following the blowout?

HIS3: Texters win rare 3-peat

Norman Black steers "new" Texters
to 1st title under Black Magic Era

Congratulations to the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters for winning the PBA Philippine Cup and pulling off a rare 3-peat to take home the coveted Jun Bernardino Perpetual Trophy via a 4-0 sweep!

It was an amazing, lopsided affair right from the get go as the Rain or Shine Elastopainters never got into any form of rhythm owing to the Texters' intensity and focus. Before anything else though, our hats off to the Elastopainters for putting up a tough fight despite the clear disparity in talent and roster. The Yeng Guiao coached team tried their darndest, spreading the ball, looking for the open guy and playing defense the right (and surprisingly honest/ clean) way but unfortunately for them they just ran right smack into a team that, thanks to all the rough-housing care of up-and-coming Alaska, decided to get back into work and focus at the task at hand.

Kumbaga, ung isa ang gamit sa pagkabit ng poster thumbtacks. Ung isa, gun tacker.

On the right track for Gilas Pilipinas

Stop El-Khatib? Wright? Iranian's wings?
Keep calm and Pingris.

Author's note: Before anything and everything else, let us all take the time to thank Manny V. Pangilinan for all he has done for Philippine basketball. To put and push everything aside, and concede his own SMART brand (despite him having all the rights to put it there since it's his money that's the lifeblood of the team in the first place) if it meant that the other PBA owners would allow their employees to join the national cause-- that's just inspiring and something we should appreciate and laud. This isn't politics wherein you're not supposed to be branding this and that, he's the chief financial sponsor of a team that he put together with his money. He dresses them, feeds them and puts them in fancy hotels. He could have chosen not to, and he doesn't really need all the Silent War drama between Team SMC and his own Team MVP-- but he has done so (patiently at that) all for the glory of the sport that we have adopted as our own.

Mabuhay ka MVP! Wag ka lang tatakbong presidente, para hindi ka abusuhin ng iba.

Now that we can move on from the whole branding issue and have gotten the commitment of the other PBA owners in terms of assembling the best men's basketball team to represent the country in the coming FIBA-Asia qualifiers, here's a complete 15-man roster of who we believe should be part of the new and improved Gilas Pilipinas.

Date with destiny for Texters

Texters: blue-collar
and no-frills basketball

As the mighty Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters set their sights on winning the PBA Philippine Cup for the third straight year and earning for themselves the beautiful Jun Bernardino Perpetual Trophy, let's not forget when this "commitment to winning" all began to take shape.

Granted, no one forms a PBA team to simply be part of Asia's first, premier basketball league (okay, with the exception of any and all Lina franchises)-- they're all here to win titles and contend for years. That's how teams are built, with dreams of confetti raining down the high ceilings of the glorious and historic SMART Araneta Coliseum and fans and supporters of the winning team lost in jubilation. The Texters enjoyed some degree of success during their formative years, they built it around one Asi Taulava-- a 6"9 Fil-Tonggan who is a legit behemoth compared to his peers at the center position.

ABL: All eyes on "Our Time" Beermen

Mr. Short Shorts

Having failed in their initial bid to win the ASEAN Basketball League crown in their debut season, the San Miguel Beermen went on an overhaul from coaches to players in an attempt to salvage the crown this time around.

For any other team, reaching the ABL Finals would be considered as an accomplishment but we all know that the Beermen are born and bred a different way. It's "championship or bust" really, having acquired legit PBA starters late in the season to boost their title bid. This year, they sacked head coach Bobby Parks, Sr. and replaced him with UAAP Adamson Falcons coach Leo Austria. They also added PBA Hall of Famers Asi Taulava and Eric Menk-- two guys who desperately want to prove their worth and show that they still have enough in the tank. Gone are Roger Yap, Jonn Ferriols and Jun Cabatu among others and left are reigning MVP Leo Avenido, "James Yap-in-waiting" Chris Banchero and Christian Luanzon (seriously, who is this guy connected with that he always ends up playing for a pro team despite his limited skillset while other guys like Jeff Napa never got a shot?)

Top 10 things that would spice up the PBA Finals

Thank you for the 90s.
Now please retire before you embarrass yourself
even further. Or give out a lame moniker.

10. Bring back the AKTV Center
We understand that Mico Halili, Jason Webb and Magoo Marjon are all preoccupied doing live commentary, and that Aaron Atayde is doing his thing and holding the fort at some impromptu set within the compounds of whichever arena the games are being played-- but we seriously miss the silver and red set with LCDs. Sometimes we wonder, if Richard del Rosario's episode with the well-endowed ring girl played a role in the AKTV Center's "hiatus."

9. Less TV time for Quinito Henson
Did "The Dean" really say that Rain or Shine's power forward Jervy Cruz a.k.a. "Young Alvin Patrimonio" can play and dominate the 3, 4 and 5 positions? He's already under sized at the four and that's where we'd like to keep him, but seriously, when the hell did it ever cross anyone's mind-- Jervy's included, that the former King UST Tiger play the SMALL FORWARD position? Also, it's getting really embarrassing for his co-anchors (we feel for you Mico Halili) to try and ignore all the B.S. that Henson spews like he hasn't been doing his homework as of late.

Roll over and die

TABE! Dadaan ang Hari
(Photo from PhilStar.Com)

In yet another sleepwalker of a game that should serve as a demoralizer more than anything else to the "growing" Rain or Shine Elastopainters' "Bayan ng Rain or Shine," the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters put on a clinic on how basketball is played by the elite.

Again the Texters were in full control of the game despite enjoying only slim margins going into the fourth. Again the Elastopainters seemed to have forgotten what brought them to the PBA Philippine Cup Finals-- their aggressiveness and relentlessness on the basketball (coupled with some heavyweight physicality). There's no going around this one, they were just beat. Bullied into submission save for the mini-run that they were able to muster in the 3rd and 4th quarters which were easily doused with ice waters which runs through the veins of the Texters' Ranidel de Ocampo (and shared by Larry Fonacier and Jimmy Alapag-- just pick you poison really).

Stronger, better, faster

Jared's O trumped Gabe's D in Game 1

There’s a school of thought that dictates this to be “just another PBA Philippine Cup Finals” and that we’re simply looking at two teams who just so happen to have won over the rest of the field. That there’s nothing remarkably earth-shattering or historic about this series other than one of the combatants, the Talk ‘n’ Text Tropang Texters, wanting to take home the beautiful Jun Bernardino Perpetual trophy.

If you just nodded your head in agreement, dumbfounded with the point that we’re trying to make and left scratching your head asking “what else are we missing?” then we have this say this to you with all distaste:

Shame on you!

Abueva > Hodge

Pantay sa hustle, pero sa gulang,
diskarte at laro lamang si Abueva di hamak

Now that the dust has settled and all the smoke has cleared, let's lay one of this season's top arguments to rest: that the Meralco Bolts' Clifford Hodge and the Alaska Aces' Calvin Abueva are the same player. Hell, some even argued that Hodge is better than Abueva.

Counting all the games, Abueva averaged 27 minutes and put up 14 points and 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 turnovers. Hodge played 30 minutes, scored 10 points and pulled down 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Abueva has under his belt a number of double double games while Hodge only has one to speak of. And before you say that their numbers are almost identical, don't forget that the 3 rebounds disparity shouldn't be taken for granted considering Abueva is 6"1 1/2 shifting from small forward to power forward in the Aces' rotation while Hodge is 6"5 and plays the power forward position for the Bolts.

So yeah, Abueva > Hodge. Right now.

PBA Finals: New vs Old School of Pinoy Basketball

Whichever guard dictates early,
wins the Finals

On one side, you have a team brimming with talented, high basketball IQ athletes who can run the full 48 minutes without whining about fatigue or off nights. They are cerebral, gifted and clutch. They can score in many ways both inside and out and do not rely on one guy alone to win basketball games. They are the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters.

On the other end of the floor, you have a team of over-achievers whose frontline would finish dead last in a league-wide 5k dash. What they lack in athleticism, speed and vertical prowess, they make up for with craftiness, excellent positioning and crisp passing. They have two guys who can go toe-to-toe with the league's best and even win them a game or two in Paul Lee and Jeffrei Chan, but most nights they just win because they share the wealth and find open guys. These are the Rain or Shine Elastopainters.

Texters show poise, tries for 3-peat

Castro was just too fast for Casio et al

We're not sure about the early days, but in the last 20 years no PBA team has successfully defended the Philippine (then All Filipino) Cup for three straight years. History is about to change however if the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters have their way after dismissing the young Alaska Aces in tonight's "you reach, I teach" Game 6 clincher.

We say and quote the great Michael Jordan simply because that's how the Texters played the game. The Aces were battling, scrapping for points behind rookie phenom Calvin "The Beast" Abueva and were in it despite off nights from guards JVee Casio and Cyrus Baguio but they were never really able to take control of the game thanks to the poise shown by the Texters.

A tale of three coaches

Sumusunod sa galaw mo
(Photo from Spin.Ph)

With the rebuilding process already underway for the teams that have been eliminated in the Philippine Cup, reports have it that there will be three new head coaches come next conference. One is a fiery long-haired mentor whose claim to fame is winning in the amateurs and letting his hair down with victories. Another is the epitome of 1970s Pinoy Macho, complete with pomade and porn-stache. Then there's another one, who hasn't signed yet but is rumored to be going that direction, a guy who reminds you of your favorite odd uncle who laughs with you most of the time but will call you out with curses the next to straighten you out.

Alfrancis Chua (Barangay Ginebra San Miguel)
The writing was on the wall the very first time the pony-tailed tactician made an appearance on the Ginebra sidelines. Fans were clamoring for change, the players were becoming restless with the oddball rotation and rolls being handed them-- the timing couldn't have been better for Chua to step in. Though it took two-three conferences to happen, probably so that Chua can have a feel for the team first, Ginebra desperately needed change. Players weren't responding quite as well to former coach Siot Tangquincen's system and there were a lot of head-scratching decisions being made left and right. The last we saw of Chua (we're Santa Lucia diehards, we know how he is), he is a guy who preaches the run-and-gun system and is very strict.

Rain or Shine triumphs, heads to Pinoy Cup Finals

Sige mag usap muna kayo jan,
ititira ko muna ito

For the record, the San Mig Coffee Mixers did whatever they could to try and salvage a win and extend the series for another night. And though top gun, 2x PBA Most Valuable Player, James Yap had another rough outing (relentlessly being hounded by the Rain or Shine Elastopainters) their other superstar PJ Simon went to work early to give the Mixers the lead in the first half.

Simon looked to be unstoppable, as he kept draining jumper after jumper right at hapless Paul Lee's grill as though the bald-headed reigning PBA Rookie of the Year wasn't there. Marc Pingris also looked like he was up for another big night, jumping all over the place and hauling down monstrous one-handed rebounds over the Elastopainters' frontline. Then there was also Joe DeVance, taking advantage of the mismatch in skillset and scoring time and again against either smaller or slower defenders asked to guard him. Truly, save for Yap going AWOL, everything was clicking for the Mixers. Even when things started to get chippy the Mixers appeared to be well in control, ending the first half with a Yap triple (which, for Mixers fans, was a great sign).

Then came the second half.

PBA New Year's Resolutions and Wishes

10. Teams (coaches specifically) Refrain From Whining About the Physicality
It's how the league is, and while some of the coaches are stuck in the 90s and the earlier parts of 2000, the PBA now preaches a highly-physical and competitive brand of basketball. It makes for more adversity, it brings out the craftiness of each player and is highly entertaining from a TV audience standpoint because of our natural bloodlust (what's a wild swing here and there from time to time among peers?)

BRICK!

9. Players work on their mid-range game
Most of today's players are stuck in two gears: lay-up/ dunk and three point shot. Sol Mercado is the biggest culprit here, imagine if he had a stop-and-pop pull-up jumper to go to? Or even a Jayson Castro? That would be the day. It would also be good for the younger generation because they'll see that a jumpshot is just as good as a dunk. That for all the flash of a James Yap (carry) lay-up, it scores just the same amount of points as a Larry Rodriguez corner pocket jumper.