Trade RXN: Jazul for Enciso

RJ Jazul to Phoenix
(Photo credit: Inquirer.net)

Well that's one way to keep yourself busy in between conferences.

After sending big man Prince Caperal to the Mahindra Floodbusters for rookie Joseph Eriobu, the Phoenix Fuel Masters have also decided to ship Simon Enciso to the Alaska Aces for veteran gunner RJ Jazul.

On the surface, it sounds a bit like the Aces won the trade since Enciso is coming off a great start to the season with averages of 34mpg 13ppg 3rpg 4apg while Jazul has mostly been the designated shooter off the bench. However, a closer look would show that Jazul isn't that far behind with his 24/ 10/ 3/ 3 statline.

So why make the trade?



Well, Enciso is slightly heavier than Jazul (185 lbs to 170 lbs), which will make the Aces' backcourt a little more pro-looking. We have seen how tough it was for the Aces to battle other PBA teams whenever they would go for a Jazul-JVee Casio line-up. While those two are some of the league's best shooters, they are also made to look like college freshmen when standing next to Paul Lee, Terrence Romeo, Jayson Castro and Ryan Reyes.

Now, with Enciso in the fold, you can pair him with Casio and have him guard the SG while playing PG on offense. The once hyped "Filipino Derrick Rose" has also improved on his outside shooting quite a bit, which means the Aces will not be missing Jazul's offense that much.

Now let's go back to Jazul, Eriobu and the Fuel Masters.

Eriobu is still a project, being a rookie and all, so we don't expect him to contribute to the Fuel Masters' cause right away as we wrote in an earlier entry. Jazul on the other hand, can start right away given his championship pedigree, point guard experience and floor spacing abilities.

Right now, we are looking at Jazul, Chico Lanete and rookie Gelo Alolino as the team's point guards. Alolino has a very mature approach to the game and is pass-first, but he will need to work on his offense a bit more if he wants to be a threat. Lanete has always been about scoring, which leaves us with Jazul.

Jazul can play both guard positions with relative ease. He's not the quickest out there, but he doesn't really turn the ball over as much when asked to run the offense.  His outside sniping also makes him a threat on the floor, which means that defenses can't focus solely on either JC Intal or hotshot rookie Matthew Wright. As for being a willing-passer, we think Jazul can easily adapt to his new role, since at the Aces he was asked to shoot more while JVee Casio did the orchestrating (a script that was changed only this conference, with Casio going back to his old "gunner" self which probably made Jazul expendable).

So who won the trade?

Right now, we're calling it even. Enciso can create his own offense, an area which the Aces lacked with the departure of Cyrus Baguio (who was ironically shipped to the Fuel Masters last season) while Jazul can run the point and knock down threes when needed.

In the next few years though, we wouldn't be surprised if Jazul takes a backseat for Alolino (or someone else) while Enciso continues to flourish with the Aces as its best perimeter scorer.

Who do you think won the trade?

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