KKS reaction: Gary David, UFA

After choosing to sit out the 2nd half of an elimination match between his Meralco Bolts and sister team NLEX Road Warriors, Gary David finds himself in an even deeper hole than anyone ever expected.

We all thought that the story was over, since the Bolts’ management were said to have been “ok” with the idea of suspending and fining David for his insubordination, but now we are receiving reports that the former Gilas stalwart has been demoted to the unrestricted free agency list.

Cool, clutch Casio

Sinong nagsabing SHOOTER lang ako?

Five years ago if you were to tell us that JVee Casio would be playing on a title contender in the PBA as one of its leading men, we'd sign off on it in a heartbeat.

But if you were to add that he'd be playing point guard... Maybe not so much.

See, Joseph Evans Casio has a God given gift: to break the hearts of many opponents and their fans with heart-breaking triples. To shoot his team back into games and on to victories be it blowouts or buzzer beaters. Casio will score, he is a scorer by trade. To say otherwise would be blasphemous. He is a caricature of Ren Ren Ritualo straight out of a Washington Young "Pupung" comic strip.

Welcome to the PBA Global Port Batang Pier

The dream has finally turned into reality.

Champion sports aficionado and shipping mogul Mikee Romero has finally turned his boyhood dream into reality: earning the PBA Board of Governors' nod in acquiring the Powerade Tigers franchise thus joining Asia's pioneering basketball league of over thirty-five years.

What this means:

1. No more drama
Last season's magical, Cinderella story run to the Finals and superstar Gary David's "takeover" of the league was marred by rumors of the Tigers' demise. There were reports that the team was for sale and worse, on the verge of being disbanded with all of its players, coaches and staff left under the cold and lonely rain. Well, Romero's multi-million Peso acquisition assures us all of continuity in terms of the players-- since the core guys; David, JVee Casio, Rabah Al Hussaini and Sean Anthony are signed to long-term contracts while the reserves led by Rey Guevarra, Rommel Adducul, Rudy Lingganay and Jondan Salvador.

Sold! Mikee Romero buys Powerade franchise

Casio needs to be THE man

According to reports, champion sports figure Mikee Romero has officially bought the Powerade Tigers' from Coca Cola through his company, Sultan 900. This finally rids us all of the unwanted drama that marred what was a beautiful and eye-opening season for the Tigers, who could've been built into a title contender had it stuck to its Philippine Cup core.

With star Gary David leading the pack, the Tigers looked every inch like a title team with guys like Doug Kramer, Sean Anthony, Rommel Adducul, Alex Crisano and rookies JVee Casio and Marcio Lassiter. All the team really needed back then was more time to jell and who knows just how far they could've gone had Lassiter not been pressured with all the trade rumors come 2nd conference before finally being dealt to Petron in the 3rd and Kramer sent to Barako Bull Energy.

Gary David is no LeBron. And he shouldn't be.

He shoots. They follow.

While this writer strictly adheres to his own "No NBA" policy (because "there are other, more interested men" as said by Thomas Wayne on Batman Begins. And seriously, who needs another NBA blogger when we have friends like Voltaire Lozada who's one of the under-rated yet rising minds out there?), let's just use the high and mighty, 3x NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James to better quantify or argue for/against the perceived reputation among fans/haters of one Gary David.

What uniform he'll be donning by next season is up in the air, but this we all know for sure-- he'll definitely be suiting up for PILIPINAS this coming FIBA Asia tournament. He will also be expected to provide the outside shooting opposite Smart Gilas 2 teammate Jeffrei Chan of the Rain or Shine. Now, the thing that has grown bothersome/ tiresome really is some fans perception of David as being a glorified ballhog. To the point that they've made fun of Mico Halili's "El Granada" moniker and changed it to "El Buwaya."

An MVP without a ring

What a year for Gary David

It's still too early, and Barangay Ginebra's Mark Cagouia could suddenly lead his team all the way to the finals and at the very least salvage 1st runner-up (tying Powerade's Gary David's feat this season) but based on all the statistics, David is in line to win the PBA's coveted Most Valuable Player award at season's end.

Granted, the one factor that trumps even the greatest of points-rebounds-assists/ efficiency averages: the media and players' votes, could overturn such ruling but you cannot make an argument against David. There's just no point in making one. The man averaged 25 to 30 plus points at different times in all three conferences, the Tigers' offense ran through him and he's the only player in recent memory since San Miguel's Nelson Asaytono that has the green light from the coaching staff to keep shooting 'til his arms fall off.

Powerade is the PBA's Team Die Another Day

Hi! My name is Sean Anthony.

For a minute there, the Barako Bull Energy looked like they were headed to another victory behind the efforts of a seemingly rejuvenated Danny Seigle (20 points in 25 minutes). Things were starting to go their way despite trailing most of the time-- Gary David was hurt, which pretty much meant that the Powerade Tigers' offense was supposed to go down the toilet right?

Wrong.

In yet another sickening display of half-assed effort, the Energy surrendered to the young Tigers who only had import Omar Sneed (24-15-8) to turn to in the second half. The JayR Quinahan doppleganger was making plays for his teammates, pretty much making a mockery of Don Allado's so-so defense and whichever power forward/ center was sent his way.

Stubborn Energy

Di pa sila tapos!

Just when we were ready to write them off, the Barako Bull Energy won over the Meralco Bolts in a pulsating Sunday afternoon game, 81-79. The victory created a playoffs scenario for the 6th and final semis slot among the Energy, Bolts and Powerade Tigers.

This could've and should've been prevented outright by the Energy had they managed to hold on to their 17-point in-game lead. Of course, Coach Junel Baculi and his boys led by a motivated Danny Seigle will take the W and it's not everyday that you can weather a 40-point explosion from Bolts import Mario West.

Good Defense > Good Offense

Big Game James' new well-rounded
game trumps David's electric scoring

Yesterday's "semis-positioning" game in Legazpi City between the BMeg Llamados and Powerade Tigers proved not only to be entertaining on all fronts, but the adage that "good defense will always triumph over good offense." The Llamados won in overtime, 110-98, but it was more than just a Wild Wild West shootout.

Granted, both teams scored in amazing fashion with the score locked at 90 a piece at the end of regulation. But once we hit OT, the Llamados buckled down to work defensively and crashed the boards while the Tigers were starting to shoot blanks-- with season Most Valuable Player frontrunner Gary David, the Miracle Man, obviously tiring out.

Mikee wants in; NOW

omero: All he does is WIN

Mikee Romero, he of the famed Harbour Centre Batang Piersquad that rummaged through the Philippine Basketball League so much so thatteams gave up altogether and abandoned ship in favor of winning elsewhere, is bent on breaking into the next frontier—the Philippine Basketball Association.

If ever, this would be Romero’s 2^nd PBA salvo following a brief partnership with Air21 Express which was christened the Burger King Titans for may be a conference and a half before plans went kaput. Now, the champion and rising sportsman is reportedly bent on entering the pros by any means necessary. If he needs to buy a new, 11^th PBA franchise, then game on. If there’s a team that’s on its way out (read: Powerade), then give Romero a call. There’s no B.S. surrounding it, and Romero surely doesn’t need the added exposure much like the San Miguel and MVP teams for his day job—the man is all about competition with basketball being one of his first loves.

What to make of Powerade

Yan yung larong Arriba Letran!  

Are they here to stay, buying time or are on they way out?

Those are the questions tacked on the insides of my brain whenever the Powerade Tigers hog the limelight by virtue of the scoring prowess of ace Gary David. It's really hard to measure the value of a PBA superstar specially when you know he's on a team that's probably not going to make deep runs for the foreseeable future.

Not when they opted to trade away David's true successor and the 2nd most important player in their rotation the last two conferences in rookie Marcio Lassiter. Yes, JVee Casio has been gifted with more than the lion's share of Skip Bayless' precious "clutch gene" but you don't build teams around point guards. It's either a wing or a big. That's it.

Boosters on full tank; run over Tigers

The game was decided in favor of the Petron Blaze Boosters the minute the Powerade Tigers' Rabeh Al Hussaini blew his top (as always) and got himself ejected on yet another immature play.

Al Hussaini's best years were under Coach Norman.
You know, when he was focused.

Yes, the Boosters were already up in the score cards after the 1st half thanks to a more aggressive (and well rested) looking Alex Cabagnot, Arwind Santos and import Eddie Basden. But the game was close early up until Al Hussaini lost his cool to the man who replaced him in the Boosters' fold-- Dorian Pena.

Pena was doing nothing out of the ordinary (for the bruising enforcer anyway), so the brunt of the blame falls squarely on Al Hussaini who managed only 4 points and 0 rebounds while playing in spurts in the first two quarters. The Tigers fought back and even took the lead when Al Hussaini was on the bench behind veterans Rommel Adducul and Jondan Salvador who were all too happy to dish out the same Pena, WWE-style physicality in the paint.

Act a fool

Coach Bo Perasol is losing his guys one by one

After going on public to dismiss any other and all trade rumors concerning the Powerade Tigers in the PBA after sending Marcio Lassiter to Petron, team executive Ronnie Ascuncion (the guy who replaced the respected JB Baylon) went back on his word and did what should be Phase 2 to the "master plan."

Big man Doug Kramer, who enjoyed a prolific Philippine Cup before struggling to find minutes in the big import-flavored PBA CC, was sent to the Barako Bull for undersized veteran power forward Jondan Salvador. Now, by all accounts, there was a time that Salvador could be argued as the better and more polished post player of the two. But as far as their PBA careers go, Kramer is on his way up the ranks of solid bigs in the mold of Dorian Pena and Sonny Ali Peek, while Salvador is being shipped from one team to another as an end-of-the-bench rotation player ala  now new Tigers teammate Alex Crisano.

MV-Ring

Can you hear it Gary?
We can. They're saying M-V-P.

In the NBA, the Most Valuable Player award is given after the regular season regardless if the leading candidate makes it all the way to the Finals or not. That is why we've all had the privilege of recognizing some of the world's greatest basketball players who may or may not rule your television sets or play on the biggest stage of them all.

The same cannot be said however, for the PBA. Since our favorite basketball association plays three conferences in a season, the MVP trophy is given only after 2 3/4 of the season has been played. The last couple of MVP awardees have all enjoyed championship runs, the most recent being Jimmy Alapag of the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters.

But this year, it looks like we're in for one of those "history in the making," "feel good" stories.

Done Deal

Rabeh: Dominant when/if focused

Try as we may to believe that the PBA is one and on the same page in ensuring that fans get their money's worth in games which requires healthy competition and league-wide balance, at day's end it's still a business wherein winning at all costs will always be at the minds of players, officials and most of all, team owners.

Weeks after the initial trade between Powerade and Petron Blaze was vetoed (and met with so much venom you'd think the San Miguel franchise suddenly became the local, basketball version of the WWE heel stable Evolution), it's now back on the table with the same lead players but different support/ spare parts.

Number 19

Hall of Famer

Last night, the Powerade Tigers (who lost 100-102 to the Alaska Aces) retired the jersey of one Kenneth "Captain Marbel" Duremes in a half time ceremony that lacked the superstar fanfare that a player of his caliber deserves.

Lassiter, David ambush Petron in Legazpi

Pinoy Jordan, Pippen and a pocket-sized Toni Kukoc

The way things are going, the Chicago Bu, erm, Powerade Tigers are on their way to another impressive run this Commissioner's Cup behind the torrid shooting of KKS Bataan Bomber and super rookie Marcio Lassiter. In last night's game, the Tigers pretty much caught the Petron Boosters with their pants down and just slaughtered them from one end of the Legazpi City basketball court to the other.

With Tigers' import Dwayne Jones proving to be too much for counterpart finesse big man Nick Fazekas, David and Lassiter pretty much cherry-picked their way to open and uncontested jumpers finishing with 25 and 23, with Lassiter adding 11 boards on plenty of weak-side rebounding.

If at first you don't succeed...

Rabeh: big man who could
balance the Tigers' attack

After PBA Commissioner Chito Salud vetoed the initial trade that would've sent the Powerade Tigers' super rookie Marcio Lassiter to the Petron Blaze Boosters for little used sophomores Noy Baclao and Rey Guevarra, a new deal is reportedly in the works.

Clearly, both teams are in connivance to somehow make sure that Lassiter ends up with the Boosters regardless of the names that they have to send over to the Tigers. As of this writing, rumors have it that temperamental power forward Rabeh Al Hussaini will take Baclao's spot in the revised offer.

Personally, this would be a better deal since it gives the Tigers a reliable, scoring big man and a back-up guard rather than a player whose best (defensive) years were spent in college (the added weight obviously hasn't helped Baclao one bit-- it has only slowed him down and made him even more of a liability since his offensive skills are quite limited inside the shaded lane as a drop-pass/ offensive rebound/ putback option).

Back in the fold (?)

It's been a busy off-season for the PBA these past few days, headlined of course by the great Kerby Raymundo and Dylan Ababou to Ginebra trade that sent JC Intal to B-Meg and Ronald Tubid and Reil Cervantes to Barako Bull, followed by Meralco's pick-up of Paul Artadi for Chico Lanete and Air21's (formerly Shopinas.Com) shoring-up defensively with the acquisition of Bitoy Omolon and Mark Isip.

Big Daddy Douthit to provide Air21 with veteran
savvy, championship poise and muscle

There's also the impending return of naturalized center and SMART Gilas standout Marcus Douthit, who will suit up mid-February with Air21which hopefully increases the team's chances to secure a victory in their young team's history. Right now, all Air21 really needs is a pass-first point guard who will utilize a projected line-up of RJ Jazul, Omolon, Isip and Douthit with promising frontliners Magi Sison and Elmer Espiritu ready to come off the bench. Pong Escobal has always been a favorite, but his speed has become an issue in the pros.

Either way, their chances have definitely increased and things are looking up for the Lina franchise.

But all that has been trumped by the reported re-acquisition of the Powerade franchise by San Miguel Corporation which could very well hurt the PBA on all fronts. Granted, SMC and Powerade has denied it, dismissing the news as a "non-issue," but as the old adage goes, "if there's smoke, there's sure to be fire."

There has been reports that a "super rookie" from the Powerade camp is being offered for a trade, which in turn might start a domino effect. Much like how Santa Lucia made sure to make a lot of money out of its championship roster before selling to Team MVP (instead of simply holding on to the players like Kelly Williams, Ryan Reyes, Joseph Yeo and Denok Miranda).

On a positive note, Gary David received a 3-year extension worth the max contract of P 420,000 a month-- and rightfully so. If the Powerade sale does go through, let's all pray that the Bataan Bomber goes to a title-worthy team and not be left behind as he always does.

With the success and fame being enjoyed by the league, its teams and players, what it doesn't need is a PR hit (4th SMC team in a league that already features 2 teams each for MVP and the Linas). Perhaps the PBA can look into another franchise from the amateurs to make the leap into the pros? Invitational style?

In God's Time for Gary

Best Player of the Conference. Hands of fire and yet no rings.

Already a late bloomer by PBA Draft standards, Gary David made his way into the pros via the Coca Cola Tigers who took him 10th overall at the ripe old age of 26. Chot Reyes, then Tigers' head coach, took the Bataan native after an impressive PBL showing in which he was named MVP while playing for the Montana Pawnshop Jewelers.

Some of his draftmates include Top 5 picks Rich Alvarez (Shell), James Yap (Purefoods), Marc Pingris (FedEx), Ranidel de Ocampo (FedEx) and Sonny Thoss (Alaska). This writer shudders to think what would've happened had then Aces' coach Tim Cone opted to build his triangle offense around David instead of Thoss. He'd have the Michael Jordan-type scorer ideal for his Tex Winter-orchestrated system which, paired with David's loyalty and low-key demeanor, would've been flat out awesome to behold.

Enough of the what if's then and back to David's chances of ever winning a PBA title as a prime contributor. Zandro Limpot, Jr. suffered the same fate as David, going through several years posting what would be deemed today as LeBron James-like numbers for Santa Lucia. There was nothing the 6"6 Surigao del Sur native couldn't do on the hard court. He could score from all angles, post-up, play defense, block shots and even handle the ball from end to end.

What he didn't have to show for from being drafted in 1993, traded to Ginebra for Marlou Aquino in 2000, and again in 2004 to Purefoods until 2005 was a PBA championship. He came close a couple of times, but was never smiled upon by the heavens.

Limpot's only title came in 2006, where he was sparingly used by coach Ryan Gregorio at Purefoods in favor of young Marc Pingris, Kerby Raymundo, James Yap, Roger Yap and PJ Simon who were all on the verge of superstardom. He was 35 at the time, much like David is 34 now.

The biggest difference of course, is that Limpot was already at the tail end of his career while David seems to be defying all odds in an effort to capture that which eludes him most. David shouldn't be scoring 30 points a game anymore, with young teammates such as JVee Casio and Marcio Lassiter all but ready to take over. He shouldn't be playing close to 40 minutes a game (considering his age) and yet his head coach Bo Perasol has no qualms about keeping him on the floor over his younger peers (who are proving to be rather injury prone this early in their careers).

You'd think that he shot his team out of the Finals much like Nelson Asaytono did a decade ago with San Miguel and Allen Iverson in 2001 with the Philadelphia 76ers to get his 30 points clip but no. David did it with great efficiency, averaging 34% from deep and 40% from two. Numbers that don't really jump out at you, but still high considering the pressure placed on him to carry the brunt of the Tigers' "all or nothing" offense.

At one point during the conference, David admitted that he even questioned himself-- being the only guy from that FedEx/Air21 team a few years back that couldn't get over the hump. Arwind Santos was traded and won big with Petron. Ranidel de Ocampo was traded and likewise found success with Talk 'n' Text. But how come no one has ever asked for David? How is it that teams seem to be uninterested with arguably the league's best scorer up to this very day? We live in 2011, and if certain powerhouse teams want a player, they usually get him no matter what (welcome to the PBA).

But the one thing that you'd have to give David credit for, is even though people call him out for his defensive deficiencies, and how other SGs in the PBA have made the big leap to stardom (something that didn't come as soon for the 34 year old), he stuck to his guns-literally- and played/ plays the way he knows how.

Will David ever win a title in the PBA? Is it the validation his career needs?

A great shooter/ scorer named Reggie Miller retired without a ring, and no one faults him for that. He is loved for it, respected and admired.

For now, it's all in God's time for Gary.

Keep shooting!

Welcome idol! Bataan Bomber > El Granada. Pumayag ka na boss
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