James Yap; Rain or Shine Elastopainter

May resbak na si Yap
(Photo credit: AKTV)

There are no sacred cows in the PBA.

It doesn't matter if you (literally) broke your back carrying a team for 12 seasons en route to multiple championships and 2 PBA MVP recognitions; if the team wants to send you elsewhere, then that is exactly what will hapen regardless if your name just so happens to be James Carlos Yap-- the man widely accepted as the "face of the PBA."

Today we learned that the Star Hotshots were sending their 34-year-old star to the Rain or Shine Elastopainters for the much younger Paul Lee, also a certified PBA star in his own right. Business-wise, this is what was best for the Hotshots. They got a 27-year-old Gilas standout, probably for a more reasonable price than Yap's long-rumored "max++" contract, who has yet to really hit his prime in a league that favors attacking, combo guards.

Emotionally-speaking however, this was shit. The whole trade was, no, IS shit.

Yap deserved to retire as a Hotshot after doing so much not only for the team but for the league in general. He carried the torch when the PBA was hounded by random drug-testings, Fil-Shams and the retirement of its beloved 90s heroes. He played his role, signed autographs, made appearances-- basically, he was the perfect PBA pitch man after fellow Purefoods/ Star franchise player, 4X PBA MVP Alvin Patrimonio and the legendary Robert Jaworski, Sr. of Ginebra.

Many are defending the trade by saying that Yap's numbers dipped this season. Well, the guy has been battling injuries while also being forced to play for such a mediocre rookie head coach. But we never once heard Yap voicing out his frustrations in the media like teammate Marc Pingris. If he could play, he would play. And when he did, he often helped his team to win more than lose.

This isn't Purefoods Jerry Codinera being sent to Mobiline in the 90s. This is worse, because Codinera was Scottie Pippen to Patrimonio's Michael Jordan. He wasn't Jordan. Yap? He's Jordan. He's Star. He's Purefoods. He's BMeg.

Did Yap regress that much that he became expendable? We will leave that up to the coaches. But there is no denying that he is marketable, he can bring in the crowds, he can sell tickets.

Which is why Rain or Shine did what they did (we will discuss this on the next entry).

At RoS, Yap will find himself in a similar situation as Star only with bigger guards. From RR Garcia, Mac Barroca, Alex Mallari, PJ Simon and Allein Maliksi, Yap's new backcourt mates will be Maverick Ahanmisi, Jericho Cruz, Jeffrei Chan, Jeric Teng, Jireh Ibanes, Don Trollano and Chris Tiu.

A little crowded, but that rotation doesn't look too shabby huh?

The nice thing about Yap joining RoS is that he will not be asked to "babysit" the other guards. Though they are all still young, Ahanmisi and Cruz are already battle-tested thanks to former coach Yeng Guiao and are fearless overall. That is not a knock on Barroca and Garcia, but yeah, size-wise, they give up quite a bit to their RoS counterparts.

Here is to Mr. Mico Halili's "Man with a Million Moves," and that he finds a new beginning with RoS.

Grade: B