Rebirth of the Alpha

Natural Born Killer
(Photo credit to PBA.Inquirer.Net)

Thank you Terrence Romeo not only for that sizzling 41-point performance to open the PBA Philippine Cup Semifinals between your lower-seeded Global Port Batang Pier versus the mighty Alaska Aces, but for also bringing back to the hearts of many the role of the Alpha.

Sure, we have seen some 30 and 40-point games from the likes of 2x PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo and the supernatural (that is what we are calling him nowadays) Jayson Castro, but nothing quite like how Romeo did or does it. The willingness to take responsibility and accountability, win or lose. The selfish, bastardly mindset to brush off teammates and just shoot at will. To ignore the offensive sets because he recognizes that he IS the offense.

The Alpha. The Scorer. The Killer.

They are a dying breed in the social media age wherein everyone is stat-conscious and gives too much of a damn about what the people think.

Castro’s 30 points is always within his team’s offense. It usually goes with a bunch of assists as well. Fajardo’s 40 points goes with 20 rebounds. They do more than just score, so in today’s world, they are the “better” players.

Sure.

But a gifted scorer is a gifted scorer, a rarity these days. For one, you have to be thick-skinned let alone good at what you do. You can’t just be a Reil Cervantes and throw up every pass given to you. They say shooters take 10,000 shots to your 1,000. And 100 made shots to your 20. They look fancy and fly as hell on the court, dazzling, captivating, ball-hogging, but the amount of work that they put into it warrants all the greed.

The door is closing on Mark Caguioa, Gary David and PJ Simon (okay, let’s just add James Yap in this conversation just for fun).

The door has long closed for Kenneth Duremdes, Vergel Meneses, Nelson Asaytono, Allan Caidic and Ato Agustin.

They would all be hated by today’s generation and branded as somewhat amphibious.

When Romeo suited up for Gilas, they said that it would be an eye-opening experience for him. For him to learn how it is to be a true point guard, to rack up assists and so on.

Well, we paid close attention to Romeo and Gilas as a whole last year, and what we saw was Romeo basically realizing that he does NOT need to play the point guard. That the game actually comes easier to him if he is surrounded by competent players that he can pass to, making him even more of a threat on the floor. Playing with Gilas made him realize that he is already THIS good. And that he hasn’t even really reached his true potential just yet.

So why do we need to change a gifted, natural born killer and turn him into an all-around guy?

If yesterday’s (and this whole conference) performance has proven anything, it’s that there is still a need for a gunner in today’s basketball world. That while most superstars are afraid of their own shadow, there are still a handful who are willing to take the last shot, not pass the ball, and miss it entirely.

We need more players like Romeo after having to go through an entire decade or so of flirting with athletic wing men who, because they look like NBA players were expected to put up triple doubles and what not.

Carlo Lastimosa is on his way there. Jericho Cruz looks like he can score a bunch if he gets to play more than 20 minutes. Paul Lee is always a threat. If Allein Maliksi could be shipped elsewhere, he can go back to dropping 20-30 a game like he did for Barako.

The rebirth of the Alpha has finally come.