Demoted

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(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Forget what everyone around you is saying, being sent to the PBA D-League is a "clear as a warm glass of morning piss" demotion.

There's just no other way to say it: PBA Air21 Express backup point guard Simon Atkins, picked 21st overall in the 2012 PBA Draft, has been demoted by his mother team and will be suiting up for their DLeague affiliate, Arellano University. Now, if you are an AU alumni or fan, don't expect this to be manna from heaven.

When Atkins was picked by Air21, it was more because of his collegiate pedigree and who was and still is at the helm and calling the shots. Yes, Atkins can play, but to call him or expect him to be a backup point guard would be a stretch at this level.

He can't shoot, can't move fast enough laterally and his on court decision making is shaky at best. What he has though is guts and a tv-friendly face that can help sell tickets. The game versus Alaska Aces wherein he drilled a bunch of threes was mind-boggling and a complete sham until he does it on a consistent basis so we are ruling that one out for now.

In the DLeague, Atkins can work on his play-making ability and even put up a few shots of his owns given AU's light roster. What we want this guy to do is find himself as a basketball player: is he a heady pointguard, a scorer ala L.A. Tenorio? Does he want to be a solid, efficient player slash stopper like Ryan Reyes?

We know that Atkins will always have a roster spot with his mother team until the whole "Ube Archers" fad lasts so he should not worry about that. Given the players, say Kuya Joseph Yeo, Atkins can fine tune his game to fit around his more able peers who can light it up (Nino Canaleta surely wouldn't mind more open looks).

Learn to shoot, shoot with confidence, and stay in front of your man.

There's no shame in being demoted. 

There's only shame if, after being demoted to learn/train, you come back looking like the same basketball player or even worse.