What If: Tanduay Rhum Masters

Ano apelido ni Punisher? ... Ano.
Punisher Ano.
(Photo credits to the owner)

Somewhere in 1998-1999 the Philippine Basketball Association found itself in a bit of a bind no thanks to the sudden rise of the Metropolitan Basketball Association which was backstopped by network giant ABS-CBN. To combat this growing threat, the league welcomed a lot of new talent by way of the "direct hire" process as well as adding an expansion team financed by Lucio Tan, Jr.: the Tanduay Rhum Masters.

The Rhum Masters were making waves in the now defunct Philippine Basketball League, where they were earlier known as the Stag Pale Pilseners, winning championships left and right under a young and fiery pony-tailed coach named Alfrancis Chua and players like Marlou Aquino, Eric Menk, Cris Cantonjos and Mark Telan being part of the roster at one point or another. So "graduating" into the PBA was the next logical step. They were able to buy into the league, elevate 6 players directly from their PBL line-up and also acquire the 1999 top overall pick which would turn out to be one Earl "Sonny" Alvarado.

There were a lot of names on that 1999 roster, the ones that we remember the most being: Alvarado, Menk, Telan, Cantonjos, Jason Webb, Pido Jarencio and Jayvee Gayoso. So yes, that was a nice mix of young yet proven PBL talent, Webb, and two wise Ginebra sages.

Sorry for singling Webb out. But he was basically what Simon Atkins is today for NLEX (no offense, not a lot of stats, but serviceable).

Back to the story.
This team was on a romp in the 1st conference, making it all the way into the PBA Finals before they ran into a revitalized Benjie Paras (who would later on win his 2nd PBA MVP that year) and Vic Pablo.

Minama, pare.

They would contend, but they were also burdened by their top two stars, Menk and Alvarado, being endlessly hounded by citizenship issues (Menk was later on proven to be Filipino, because he damn sure is, while Alvardo, well, he's Latino).

The two would miss games, go to hearings (if memory serves us right), get hurt and be constantly put under protest by local players such as Marlou Aquino et. al. so much that you couldn't really blame the owner, Tan, for blowing his lid and deciding to just sell the team in 2001.

But what if Menk and Alvarado were never faced with those issues?

What if Alvarado were truly Filipino?

Chua would have probably won several titles, and made life difficult for both Tim Cone (Alaska) and Jong Uichico (San Miguel).

Danny Seigle's "Godly" "what if" status as the best Filipino wing-player might be up for debate with Alvarado.

Danny Ildefonso's status as the best young center at the time would be in question (and his 2x PBA MVP awards). Eric Menk was that good.

And more importantly, we would have no FedEx (the team that bought the Tanduay franchise).

No Farm teams! *GASP*

What if.