Motoring on

Revilla and now teammate Taha
(Photo credit: PBA.inquirer.net)

We will be the first ones to say that when Chito Victolero resigned as acting head coach (in lieu of head coach/ newly-elected Senator Manny Pacquiao), we readily expected the Enforcers to go back to their expansion team ways and maybe just look forward to next season's PBA Draft.

Chris Gavina, Victolero's replacement, is not having any of it. In the on-going PBA Governor's Cup, the Enforcers are currently lording it over with an unblemished 3 wins, 0 losses slate anchored on the steady play of import James White (39mpg 28ppg 13rpg) and locals Aldrech Ramos (29mpg 14ppg 3rpg), L.A. Revilla (31mpg 9ppg 6rpg 4apg) and Nino Canaleta (30mpg 11ppg 3rpg).

The Right Gear

No joke.
(Photo credit: PBA.Inquirer.net)

So who’s laughing now?

Around this time last season, the Mahindra Enforcers (then Kia Motors/ Carnival) were being ridiculed not entirely for their poor performance (which was expected of a debuting franchise) but mostly because they opted to parade global boxing icon Manny Pacquiao as their playing-head coach. To make matters worse during the off-season, the team decided to trade their 2015 PBA Draft 2nd overall pick (which Tropang TNT would turn into wonderkid Troy Rosario) to acquire the services of journeymen: sideshow dunker turned sniper Nino Canaleta and one-time Gilas reserve Aldrech Ramos.

Nothing to see here

Still waiting for Garcia's break out year
(Photo credit to the owner)

Because really, are there actual fans of the following teams and not just of the individual players who were "carried over" from their idol's former squad?

Barako Bull Energy Cola
If only this team weren't so blatant in being the league's premier farm team, we would actually vouch for this line-up. RR Garcia, JC Intal, Mac Baracael, Jervy Cruz and either the old Mick Pennisi (seriously, this guy should consider retiring soon) or Prince Caperal. Then there are guys like Chico Lanete, Josh Urbiztondo, James Forrester, Emman Monfort and Willy Wilson coming off the bench. Okay, maybe they have a surplus of point guards, but this should make for an exciting run-and-gun squad right?

Right.

Who pads his stats first? Last season, it was Denok Miranda who was able to stat-pad his way out of the Energy camp. Will it be Intal, who is coming off a solid Gilas 3 stint? Will it be Garcia, the former UAAP MVP, who we thought would break out last season after being freed from the burden of having to play with college buddy/ rival Terrence Romeo only to learn that hey, maybe Garcia's not THAT special after all? Or will it be Baracael, who will most likely go back to his stretch four roots and remind us of how special a player he looked back when he played for Gilas I?

Your guess is as good as ours. Coach Koy Banal will make this team compete, but at day's end when they start winning someone's bound to pull the plug. Remember Joseph Yeo last conference? When he started running his mouth about how "free" they were? Yeah, he got traded soon. But not before BB's winning streak fizzled out..

Ninong Knows...

The power to surprise
(Photo credit: Sports5.ph)

... and that's not a joke.

Get it?

Daniel Orton sure did.

When Manny Pacquiao, global boxing icon, sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer and whichever title he'd like to be added next to his name from here on, opted to throw his gloves hat into the Philippine Basketball Association by way of expansion team Kia Motors, it was met mostly in a negative way.

Here's a guy who thinks he can just buy his way into the PBA, make himself head coach and worse-- skip the years of basketball training and education and actually don a legitimate basketball jersey with the letters PBA patched on it as compared to those who keep trying their luck in ballclub tryouts and the annual draft again, and again, and again.

Well, while the team finished their campaign with a paltry 10 wins vs 24 losses, they proved to one and all that they're not here just to feed Pacquiao's insatiable thirst for the spotlight. They showed everyone that they are in the PBA to compete, just like every other PBA team (okay, except for maybe that ONE team).

How does their marketing campaign go again?

"The power to surprise."

There's a new kid in town

Kia's L.A.
(Photo courtesy of Sports5.ph)

Much like how the Clippers have managed to steal some of the Lakers' thunder in Los Angeles, there is a PBA point guard who is slowly turning heads and opening eyes with his heady yet exciting brand of basketball by the name of L.A...

... Revilla, not Tenorio.

Now on his second year of professional basketball after playing only three (!) games last season with GlobalPort Batang Pier, Revilla is quickly making believers out of those who would bother to watch Kia Carnival games as its starting floor general. This year, Revilla is averaging 27 mpg, 9 ppg, 4 rpg and 4 apg which will surely increase if his current run in the ongoing PBA Governor's Cup continues. In the league's season-ending tourney, Revilla is putting up 34 mpg, 13 ppg, 5 rpg and 5 apg taking over a team that's being "coached" by Manny Pacquiao (Chito Victolero needs/ deserves a pay raise IMHO).

Denied, Eliminated

Giants in the PBA
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

It's tough playing in the PBA-- with the demand and expectation of management, family, friends and fans. To try and play at a very high level, and once there, to maintain it all throughout a grueling season of limited respite and recluse.

While eight teams will carry on into the Playoff rounds of the ongoing PBA Commissioner's Cup, four will be denied entry. Three of which have already been made clear to the masses: newcomers Kia Carnival and Blackwater, and newly-minted PBA All Filipino Cup titlist San Miguel Beer. The fourth one will be decided later on today, if it's going to be the AFC 2nd placers Alaska, or Global Port (depending on how Alaska's match versus Barangay Ginebra turns out).

Silver lining of course is that the four eliminated teams of this conference (plus performance in the 1st conference, so there's some math to be done) will be allowed to bring in imports of unlimited height (compared to the Top 8's 6"5 ceiling) plus an Asian reinforcement of their choosing (6"4 ceiling).

Here we take a look at what went right and wrong for the three teams that have been eliminated, and how their chances are going into the next conference.

KKS Scouting Report: 2013 PBA Draft Favorites (Part 2)

Continuing our Scouting Report on the 2013 PBA Draft “Favorites” with the exception of Carlo Lastimosa, SG, 5”10 and James Forrester, SG, 6”0 because, quite frankly, we didn’t know where Destiny Cable put AksyonTV not until maybe three weeks ago. 

And that’s only because we reset our television and put it on auto programming.

In case this is your first time to drop by our page, please feel free to check out Part 1 of our Scouting Report. We're going with the 2013 PBA Draft Favorites-- their Strengths and Weaknesses plus the PBA player that they remind us of (Ceiling would be who or what they could become and Basement would be, well, the basement).

Ryan Roose Garcia 5”9.5

Strengths: gifted with range, made giant leap from shooting guard to point guard, able to play off the ball and defer to superstar teammate/s, solid ball handling skills, heady point guard, savvy, can create own shot 

Weakness: man to man defense, late on switches, average frame might be a problem against stronger guards and fighting through screens, any questions pertaining to his relationship with a former teammate and a famous TV personality

Ceiling: More offensively potent Mark Barroca, minus the stingy defense  

Basement: Shorter RJ Jazul