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| More "you reach, I teach" sessions for Mallari now that he's with James Yap |
In a surprising turn of events, the San Mig Coffee Mixers decided to part ways with underutilized yet very promising former PBA Finals MVP Jonas Villanueva, JC Intal and Aldrech Ramos to bring in Petron's rookie Alex Mallari, Barako Bull veteran and under-sized power forward Leo Najorda and another rookie pint-sized point guard Lester Alvarez.
See, we tried to defend this move by saying that the Mixers did it in order to stretch their rotation and become "deeper." Then we took a look at the names on the roster, the ones that they're sending away and the ones who are coming in and it didn't take too long for us to realize that that rationale wasn't going to stick. There's Villanueva, a guy who was plagued by injuries under head coach Tim Cone but showed that he knew how to run the point position to a "T" when he's healthy. Intal may have not blossomed into the elite perimeter defender/ Scottie Pippen to James Yap's Michael Jordan project that we all hoped for but the guy has tremendous hops and can move on the hard court. Then there's rookie Aldrech Ramos, a 6"7 guy who plays defense and has a nice soft touch from the perimeter.
