And nobody does it better... Eala reassigned

Photo courtesy of sports.nfo.ph

In an obvious public relations damage control effort, San Miguel Corporation opted to "reassign" their trusted Basketball Operations Consultant Noli Eala following the intense social media backlash brought about by vexed Barangay Ginebra San Miguel fans in the aftermath of their head coach's, Alfrancis Chua's, resignation.

The move to reassign the one-time PBA Commissioner comes not only at the heels of Chua's resignation but also after Eala's hit-and-miss performance since he came on board early in 2011. The then Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas head was brought into Team SMC after a "falling out" with the SMART Gilas Pilipinas men's national basketball program (here's a quick link to our idol FireQuinito's old entry) bankrolled by Team Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) and was bent on helping all three of Team SMC's Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) teams to acquire premium talent albeit at the cost of overall team chemistry.

To his credit, love him or hate him, Eala is a proven brilliant basketball mind who makes savvy (near shrewd) business deals. He was able to convince PBA Hall of Famer Tim Cone to switch allegiances from Alaska to BMeg/ San Mig Coffee, he brought in majority of the SMART Gilas upstarts through trades and draft picks (Chris Lutz, Marcio Lassiter, Japeth Aguilar, Dylan Ababou, Mac Baracael, Mark Barocca) and was even able to provide the Team SMC umbrella teams with a Finals appearance/ championship run or two since coming on board. Hell, Eala even spearheaded the trade that sent today's "IT" point guard L.A. Tenorio to the most popular ball club in the whole archipelago.

But you know what they say about people, how those who forget where they came from or who helped them to get there will suffer the most stinging blows and setbacks in the end. We're not saying that Eala is a bad guy, but he has always come off as a "holier than thou" personality who puts business decisions first and foremost (not that it's a bad thing, but it sure as hell won't help you win a seat in the Barangay elections).

Are the fans correct in asking for Eala's head?

Well, who else is there to blame for the inconsistencies of all Team SMC franchises? The one constant, other than the supposed "franchise players" such as Arwind Santos for Petron, Mark Caguioa for Ginebra and James Yap for San Mig Coffee is, well, Eala.

He has the position, he has the clout. He's the BASKETBALL OPERATIONS CONSULTANT. So he could go on record (or Twitter) to say that fans are "barking up the wrong tree" specially with the recent coaching rigodon, but he's still, technically, the guy who has the last say on things not named Robert Non, Ramon S. Ang and, or Boss Danding Cojuangco.

But to dismiss Eala's track record and say that he didn't put Team SMC in the position to win?

That's bull.

Ginebra, if you really take a closer look, was hit by an assortment of injuries (and near-retirement drama) plus a moderately upstart coach that was tuned out by a veteran team (Siot's ouster). San Mig Coffee? Their core guys hit their collective prime early and needed a new lease on life (signing Cone). Petron suffered the most because of the constant changes in personnel (too many trades, signings and firings to mention).

Eala, to his defense, did everything in his power to improve each and every team on the payroll. It's a hit and miss situation really and only history will decide if something was a brilliant move or not. The Houston Rockets acquired Scottie Pippen to play alongside Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley that one season, Karl Malone and Gary Payton suited up for Los Angeles to form a monstrous unit with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. See? Great moves by great organizations, but it just didn't work out.

That pretty much sums up Eala's performance with Team SMC so far; just because something looks great on paper, it doesn't always play out that way in real life. Had all three of the Team SMC franchises been winning, Eala would be the Golden Boy much like how Chot Reyes is over at Team MVP.