On the offensive

Your team or mine?
(Photo credit to the owner)

How many players does it take to score a basket?

This is going to be Coach Pido Jarencio's biggest challenge as he leads a retooled Global Port Batang Pier squad that does not only feature elite scorer Terrence Romeo and the promising Stanley Pringle, but also veteran assassin-by-trade Joseph Yeo, trigger happy point man Jonathan Uyloan and rookie Roi "I'm not a basketball diva" Sumang. 

Granted, the Batang Pier squad enjoyed some success when they played a three guard unit with Asian import Omar Krayem-- but that was more to Krayem's versatility and efficiency than Coach Pido's Xs and Os. Krayem pretty much covered for Pringle and Romeo, sliding comfortably at the small forward spot.

Yeo? We are not too sure he can play defense like Krayem. We don't think he will have any troubles deferring to the younger guys on offense (having played with Mac Cardona early in his career), but it's on defense where this Romeo-Pringle-Yeo troika might fail. Remember, Batang Pier had Krayem AND Denok Miranda last conference to "save" Romeo and Pringle.

Natural Born Killer

He shoots, he scores.
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

The last of a seemingly dying-breed in this day and age of social media marks and "experts," GlobalPort Batang Pier's resident star Terrence Bill Romeo continues to shine for his team this PBA Commissioner's Cup with one sterling performance after another.

It's hard to be a natural born killer, scorer, like Romeo nowadays since if ever a basketball player would score 30 points in a hotly-contested game, marks would look at the other numbers-- how many shots did he take, how many misses, the number of assists he issued and what not (specially if his team is on the losing end). This scenario has caused a lot of superstars, here and abroad, to change their game to try and please the masses. Some specialists are even left off teams simply because they're dismissed as one-trick ponies who are of no good to anyone when unable to score or do a certain task that they're known for.

Romeo continues to open the gates to superstardom when the "experts" leave him off the discussion because "he's too ___" or "he doesn't do ____."