GlobalPort losing steam

I have an idea, let's do away
with the only guy who plays defense
and get a scoring import - JB

For what it's worth, the GlobalPort Batang Pier had to do something to address their current slide. Despite having the most electrifying starting unit in the whole PBA, the scoring bunches, flashy dunks and killer crossovers weren't translating into thus the recent exodus of defensive-minded import Justin Williams.

Williams was reportedly pulled out by his local handlers after hearing how GlobalPort head coach Junel Baculi was not too pleased with the 6"10 Chicago native's offensive output. We would like to remind everyone though who shares Baculi's view that William has and was always a defensive stopper-- and arguably the most logical choice to backstop a team that already features scorers Gary David, Sol Mercado, Willie Miller and even Japeth Aguilar. We're not too sure that those guys would be too happy  (or effective) had they been given a ball-hogging scorer down on the block or even an import such as Air21's Michael Dunigan who is just a beast and arguably the best among all the imports we've seen thus far.

In this afternoon's game against Air21, Dunigan went berserk and just scored as much as he wanted and rebounded the ball with as much fire as a Ronaldo Balkman had when he was strangling teammate Arwind Santos (sorry, couldn't help it). Williams' replacement, Walter Sharpe, did "okay" by finishing with 20 points and 9 rebounds-- a far cry from Williams' 14 points, 19 rebounds and almost 5 blocks a night but hey, ask Coach Baculi and team manager BJ "Chris Tiu before Chris Tiu" Manalo.

But the real reason behind GlobalPort's 2-6 start is their defense-or lack thereof.

As we said earlier, this is a team that's obviously designed to light up the scoreboard at every opportunity. With Mercado's one-man dribble drive game, Gary David's outside shooting and Japeth Aguilar always wanting and looking for ways to score-- there's just no one left to play defense (except Williams down low). We question Baculi for his lack of trust and time given to rookie stopper AJ Mandani. The kid could easily play alongside both David and Mercado much like Talk 'n' Text sometimes does with Jimmy Alapag, Ryan Reyes and Jayson Castro. Mandani could play the Reyes role, covering for his superstar teammates on the defensive end and funnelling them to wherever the help (usually the big man/ import) is.

While there's still hope thanks in large part to the extended conference, we're not so sure as to how far this team will go given their lack of defensive chops. They're fun to watch, but we're quite certain that Boss Mikee Romero isn't in the PBA for media exposure-- he's here to win big.

More changes needs to be made, and if you ask us, we're going to shop Willie Miller around to get minutes for Mandani.