El Granada looks to detonate anew

Gary David to Meralco 

After a year of frustrations and injuries, PBA scoring champion Gary David has been sent by GlobalPort to Meralco in a trade that also includes rookie A.J. Mandani for point guards and former PBL rivals Chris Ross and Chris Timberlake.

From the outside looking in, we love the trade solely for two reasons: it reunites David with a more "shooter-friendly" offense with Meralco's Dribble Drive and two, it gives him a new lease on life after "regressing" this 38th PBA Season. By that we mean, his scoring clip was going up the last five seasons-- scoring average of 15, 17, 18, 21 and 25 before going "down" to 18 again.

Was it exhaustion from the Gilas campaign? Really? How? He wasn't making many shots there so he couldn't have "outshot" himself. Perhaps it was more on trying to incorporate new running mates to his then ever-in-transition GlobalPort team? At season's end, David found himself trying to mesh with new guys Sol Mercado and Jay Washington-- a triumvirate that we feel should have been given maybe another conference or two to really jell and jive.

It's not everyday that you can get a power slasher, a scorer and a do-it-all on your team anyway, but hey, who are we to speak and judge right? Boss Mikee Romero and head coach Junel Baculi know what they're doing.

Over at Meralco we see a niche for David but not as long as you'd think. He's being called "ageless" by new coach Ryan Gregorio and consultant Jong Uichico, but the guy is on the wrong side of 30 and his defense is starting to come undone. Just happy that Meralco has youngster John Wilson (who can develop into a David someday with the right push and touches) in the fold.

Mike Cortez, with the Ross and Timberlake trade, will now be the guy at point. David is a lock at 2, Jarred Dillinger at 3 and Cliff Hodge at 4. Those are the guys that the Bolts will go to war with for the foreseeable future, and honestly, they're not looking too shabby.

David gets his "main man" title back and shoot the big shots, Cortez will get him the ball anywhere and everywhere he'd like while Dillinger takes care of all the nuances of driving into the hoop or creating on court mismatches that David can't or will no longer be able to do.

We wish that we could say that the window's going to be long for David and chances aplenty, but the 35-year-old Bataan native is, well, THIRTY-FIVE.

There's a reason why the NBA's Boston Celtics didn't jump the gun with Ray Allen, as good a shooter as he is and why he isn't starting for the Miami Heat. Shooters will never lose their touch (they get better with age even), but they do lose all the little things required to play basketball on a high level defensively.

The only way the David signing works in the long run is if Coach Gregorio can come up with a defensive scheme to mask his newfound star player's short-comings. This isn't similar to when he had 2x PBA MVP James Yap over at Purefoods/ San Mig Coffee. Yap enjoyed the luxury of being bigger than most SGs and his giant-sized hands allowed him to play passable defense (even if his footwork was always lacking on that end). We see Hodge being the designated help for any and all David blown assignments when they face teams with slashing SGs, real concern moving forward is adding a big man to patrol the paint (rumored to be Rain or Shine's Beau Belga).

After a dip in his scoring average (25 to 18, 36% from deep to 30%), we pray that David is able to win a PBA title or two before it's all said and done.

PS

They can say all the pretty things they want, but Cardona and David will not co-exist, with the former moving elsewhere or languishing on the bench next season. Bet money.