The Disease of More

Anyare?
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

The great Miami Heat team president and former head coach Pat Riley is known for many things on the basketball court, but his greatness and wisdom traverses the constricting 94 x 50 feet measurement of paint and Maple wood.

Somewhere during our adolescence, we stumbled upon one of his leadership lectures' handout which preached about "The Disease of Me"-- now we can't recall the manuscript as it was written, but do remember something about "how much easier it is to be selfish, instead of being part of a team and learning to sacrifice."

And that brings us back to the continued struggles of the San Miguel Beermen.

Because seriously, this team needs some hour(s)-long counselling.

On paper, the Beermen has arguably the strongest starting five to maybe seven players in the league: PBA MVPs Junemar Fajardo and Arwind Santos, national players Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter, point-savvy Alex Cabagnot, pitbull-defender Chris Ross and the versatile Ronald Tubid. Oh, and the Bobby Parks, Sr. of this generation in import Arizona Reid-- a holdover from last conference.

So how on earth could this team lose to Kia Carnival in the PBA Governor's Cup opener, and a few days later to a CENTER-less Meralco Bolts?

Egos.

Guys don't want to do more, to fight, to make the extra play that leads to either a basket or a stop. Why? Because they are all champions now. They showed it in a grueling PBA Philippine Cup Finals against a worthy Alaska Aces squad. They showed how, under duress, they can play high quality basketball.

So now, they switched the gear off.

Because they are already proven. They are all winners. It didn't help their cause that their own coach, admit it or not, set the bar unrealistically high when first he flirted openly with the media about a Grand Slam only to then throw every single player of his under the bus in public when things started to not go their way.

So how do you convince a team that has won big, to go back and prove it again? Head coach Tim Cone is having some trouble with his Purefoods grand slam squad-- but rightfully so since that team won several titles STRAIGHT.

San Miguel Beer?

They won ONE.

And now we don't see guys scrapping and fighting. Now we see jumpshots. We see pretty boy plays. We don't see the hustle. We don't see the hunger.

We love how Coach Austria retooled his bench to fit the "hungry" card. But our only question is, why isn't he playing them as much? Rookie Ron Pascual is a gamer. He just needs the minutes. Gabby Espinas is going to elbow someone's tooth off if it means securing a rebound, so unleash him on opponents.

Santos can talk all he wants, but he scored 5 points and had 8 rebounds-- solid work for a role player, but maybe not for an MVP and team leader. Chris Lutz? He played near 20 minutes, but basically went through the motions.

Trade Lutz. Or Lassiter. Since we never really see the two of them exploding or contributing in the same game anyway. Balance the core out and get rid of this locker room malaise.

If they keep losing still, then it's time to thank Coach Austria and "demote" him to an assistant role like Team SMC always does and find a new voice.

Sacrifice.