Your Bullish Ways

Lastimosa has proven rather solid
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Six games into the PBA Philippine Cup, we can now dismiss any and all alibis and arguments made by the Barako Bull Energy Cola camp as to why they did what they did in the 2013 PBA Draft.

“Win now?”

The Energy Cola are currently on a four-game losing streak, pushing the team to the bottom of the standings with a 2-4 slate—just a win better than sister team Air21 Express. The 2013 PBA rookies that they could’ve landed, namely Terrence Romeo, R.R. Garcia and Nico Salva, are doing wonders for GlobalPort Batang Pier. The names that they got in return are either injured or PBA journeymen/ role players at best.

But still we gave head coach Bong Ramos and his motley crew a chance—a chance to prove themselves after having the misfortune of going to a powerhouse, “dog-eat-dog” team.


We saw some guys stepping up such as scorer Ronjay Buenafe and under-sized workhorse Mark Isip. After that, it’s almost like this team is simply waiting for the ghosts of 2x PBA MVP Willie Miller, Mick Pennisi and Dorian Pena to lead them to salvation (which, obviously, hasn’t happened for them).

Our question is, why force the veterans when there’s young talent on the roster waiting for their breaks?

Looking at the roster, we’d try Jonas Villanueva, Ronjay Buenafe, Keith Jensen, Mark Isip and Dave Marcelo first. Up next are Miller and Denok Miranda, Mark Macapagal, JC Intal and Dorian Pena/ Mick Pennisi in a “small ball” yet still balanced approach. Carlo Lastimosa has proven to be pretty solid so he can always be your energy guy who can either play the point or score in bunches. Unfortunately, to win, Jeric Fortuna (too small), Willie Wilson (overlaps with Jensen/ Isip), and Maierhofer (looks lost) need to ride the pine some more to give the other guys more minutes on the floor.

There are still about eight games left on the schedule (eliminations), hopefully the Energy Cola are able to make the necessary adjustments to compete in the PBA.