Trade reaction: Joe DeVance to Ginebra

JDV to Ginebra
(Photo credit to the owner)

This is the sad reality of the current state of Philippine basketball: there are the major players, the independents, and those who exist only to serve and appease the former.

Let us take a look at the most recent trades which involved the following teams: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, STAR Hotshots, GlobalPort Batang Pier and Barako Bull Energy Cola. Two are sister teams, one has been a long time conduit while another seems to be well on its way as an insurance policy type of conduit. Needless to say, these four teams have always transacted with one another. They have never bothered to look elsewhere for trades most of the time. And as much as we would like to quit saying that yes, there are farm teams in the PBA, well, there are farm teams in the PBA.

If you would like to disagree, let us break down the trades then shall we?


Joe DeVance to Ginebra
A versatile, match-up nightmare of a 6"8 point-forward who can post an easy 12 points and 7 rebounds a night, DeVance is going to be reunited with coach Tim Cone for the 3rd straight time (talk about coach-player relationships). His move to Ginebra all but guarantees at least repeated PBA Finals appearances from here on out given a frontline of DeVance, 6"9 Japeth Aguilar and 7"0 Greg Slaughter. Let that sink in for a moment. There isn't a single PBA team that can combat that troika of bigs who are now under Cone's disposal (DeVance is skilled enough to play small forward while Aguilar plays whatever). The downside to this deal is that Chris Ellis will probably be forced to either learn to shoot the basketball with consistency so he can get his minutes at the 2-spot, or take a seat to DeVance in crunch time at the 3. If you would like to argue about the whole "farm team" thing, please be reminded that all Ginebra had to (indirectly) trade in acquiring DeVance is the very erratic and inconsistent Mac Baracael. For a player of DeVance's caliber, you'd at least need to trade two solid rotation guys for him. But that's just us.

Grade: A

Mac Baracael, Prince Caperal to Barako Bull

Now before you start brandishing us as Baracael-haters, let's be clear about something: we have always loved Baracael's game-- wherever it went. From being a solid sniper and defensive ace back in FEU, Gilas I and even Alaska, Baracael sort of lost his way at Ginebra and started playing "pogi" basketball. He was not hustling, he often settled for lazy jumpshots and the only time he would really play hard is when he would square off against the guy who took his spot over at Alaska-- Calvin Abueva. Seriously, go watch game tape. He only plays hard and has that fiery demeanor to him when it is against Abueva. Anyone else and it is just another day in the office for him. At Barako Bull, he will have to take minutes away from incumbent JC Intal and Dylan Ababou. James Forrester is also a threat, but we will give it to Baracael since he is a veteran but that isn't much of a guarantee in itself. Barako was also able to snag big man project Prince Caperal, who will be able to get all the time in the world to find a niche in the PBA.

Grade: B

Jake Pascual, Ron Pascual to STAR
Is newly-installed head coach Jason Webb's grand plan to rebuild/ reunite the Pinatubo Trio? He already has Ian Sangalang at the helm, now he is adding the "shooter" of the lot in Ron Pascual who did not really get to see a lot of action over at San Miguel. Pascual is a solid eventual replacement for the aging PJ Simon, though not as explosive off the dribble. Much better defensively anyway. As for Jake, him and Norbert Torres will be duking it out for the title of basically playing Marc Pingris to Sangalang's Kerby Raymundo. As a player, Jake Pascual is everything you want from a weak side playing big man-- he can rebound, set sturdy screens and make the occasional 15 footer. He isn't quite dominant, but between him and Torres we will give the advantage to Jake. Overall, we love the pick-up since it gives STAR more young pieces to lean on as we go into the later stages of the Yap-Simon-Pingris era.

Grade: B

Dorian Pena to GlobalPort
When will Pena retire? Sure, he can still push people out of the paint and rebound. But the man is clearly out of shape, can no longer run both ends and stay in front of his man. Then again, in a league ruled by a 6"10 behemoth, teams would want to load up on as many heavy-hitters as they can. At GlobalPort, Pena should play behind Doug Kramer and Billy Mamaril, as resident enforcers-- bodyguards if you will, to their surplus of attack guards namely Terrence Romeo, Stanley Pringle, Joseph Yeo and rookie Roi Sumang. Wait, is Ronjay Buenafe still on the roster? If we were any of the previously mentioned guards, we would love playing with Pena, Mamaril and Kramer-- guys who will work their assess off on the boards and setting screens while needing/ demanding for little to no ball time.

Grade: C

So, we have DeVance going to Ginebra and the Pascuals to STAR. That is pretty much the big stories here, with DeVance giving Ginebra an unfair advantage overall while STAR continues to build a young team around Mark Barocca, Alex Mallari and Ian Sangalang. As much as we would hope that Baracael finds himself with Barako, it is probably useless at this point unless he embraces a new attitude-- well, maybe just go back to his old self and play like the taller, stronger, non-flopping Ronald Tubid we all thought he could be.

Dorian Pena needs to retire. He's had a solid run-- from the Negros Slashers to the PBA. What else is there to prove?

Oh, and Never Say Die, Ginebra being underdogs and all? That's dead. With the line-up they have, right now, if they don't win a title by the end of this season it should be taken as a huge disappointment. Grand Slam within three years too.

Anything less would be a failure in the Tim Cone era.