#PlayMeOrTradeMe

Nice shirt.
(Photo credit to the owner)

Indefinite suspension.

That is the punishment handed down by STAR Hotshots' management on their young small forward Allein Maliksi, after the former UST Tiger posted (now deleted) one of Nike's statement shirts on his personal Instagram account.

Let this be a lesson to all millenials: social media is not a platform for you to be ranting about the work place. Specially if your account is public AND more so if you are a celebrity of sorts like Maliksi.

Plus, what was he really going for here? That he played only a few minutes in STAR's first two games OF THE SEASON? 

Isn't he coming off injury?

Sure, we admire him for wanting to play, but there is something to be said about being part of a team and just accepting your role in it. At first, we really wanted to side with Maliksi, but the adult in us took over. 

What if everyone else follows Maliksi's lead? Instead of working on their game and earning their spot, they'll hold the entire team hostage to advance their wants through the use of the dreaded "social media mob mentality."

Public clamor. Let Maliksi play they say. Coach Jason Webb gets a bad rep. Team gets divided. The guy starting instead of Maliksi would be uncomfortable. The possible scenarios and consequences would be too much of a headache for team governor Rene Pardo who is still trying to appease STAR fans after 1) Marc Pingris-Gilas 2) Tim Cone to Ginebra and 3) Joe DeVance also to Ginebra.

It's an indefinite suspension that was well earned. Harsh, but sends a clear and hard message right away from management to players.

For Mallari's sake, we hope that this pushes him to keep working on his game and earn his spot on the rotation. He wants minutes? Steal it from under James Yap and PJ Simon. Work on his defense. Rebound a little. 

Do the little things until you finally get noticed.