Please call again later

Did Captain Jimmy retire a bit too early?
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

So winning a (single) championship DOES take a toll on a team when asked to do it all over again the very next conference.

No one bought it in the PBA Commissioner's Cup with the sudden drop in performance of the San Miguel Beermen but now we see that the same conference's title-winners, Talk'n'Text Tropang Texters, are suffering the same slow-start fate as the PBA Philippine Cup champions. On a side note we'd like to half-heartedly apologize to the San Miguel Beermen (we still think they could've and should've done better, given their overall roster), on another, we'd like to think that if a team like the Purefoods Star Hotshots could manage to rattle off four straight, then so should the other souped up teams like SMB and TNT (at least two consecutive titles, yes?)

So here is where the Texters are, currently:

Three wins and four losses.

Exercise in futility

At the start of the PBA season, it was agreed upon by the PBA board that teams will be allowed an optional, secondary import of Asian lineage as long as he stands 6"3 and below (the first being the "regular" import of 6"5) for the season-ending PBA Governor's Cup. Truth be told, the idea in general is more of a marketing/ public relations-driven campaign to further the brand instead of improving the level of play in the league.

We already know that the Filipino basketball talent is at par (if not better) than most in the East Asian region. We have known this for so long, specially if we are talking about guys who stand 6"3 and below. This is why every one from Johnny Abarrientos, to Kenneth Duremdes and now Jayson Castro and Paul Lee are able to make their foreign counterparts look a step and skillset slower and lower. So we could fully understand why some of the PBA teams deemed it unnecessary to add another name on the roster, limit their locals' minutes and add to the payroll.

Why?

Because it is "optional."