KKS Trade Reaction: STAR Reloaded

Garcia the STAR
(Photo credit: Interaksyon.com)

Once there was a wide-eyed young man named Jason who was given a champion car by his parents, who were both established champion racers. At the prodding of his parents, Jason quickly signed up for a race with the same car only to find himself falling short-- again and again.

That was when Jason realized that it might not be as easy as inheriting a simple champion car. That maybe, the driver needs to be up to that level as well.

Which brings us to the STAR Hotshots.

If you are a STAR fan who had to endure two conferences worth of abysmal coaching and subpar play, then please allow us to congratulate you. Your team was supposed to suck for a few more years owing to the title romp you enjoyed under the Tim Cone (and Joe DeVance) era. That was supposed to be the tradeoff for all those championshipsssss. But well, head Coach Jason Webb just found himself a few more "championship" pieces, young ones at that, to hopefully get back in the title race.

The value of role players

Petron needs more guys like Pena

Another day, another mind-boggling loss for the stacked Petron Blaze Boosters this time at the unimaginable hands of the rag-tag Air21 Express. It would've been acceptable had the Boosters lost by a couple of points or on a heart-breaking play, but they were just flat-out embarrassed this afternoon by a team whose most household name is their Coach who did all his winning (at the moment) back on the college level.

Losing 97-76, the Boosters looked more erratic than awful on the court. They were trying to make the extra play, revived by the solo coaching job of one Olsen Racela, guys like Joseph Yeo and Alex Mallari appeared to have that extra pep in their steps. But they were just being outperformed by the Express which has appeared to have hit the lotto by opting to go for a more traditional set-up.

Express needs chemistry

Coach Franz is living on a prayer
(nagdadasal ng isa pang trade)

While Air21 Express head coach Franz Pumaren continues praying to the Lord Almighty for another trade that would help his cause (his team, with new/ returning team manager Lito Alvarez, did so in the off-season but Coach Franz might not want to push his luck now), we argue that it's not about getting another contributor-- but actually developing on court team chemistry. At the moment, the cellar-dwelling Express look like a bunch of "2nd chance getters" who are looking to pad their stats (think of it as a paid tryout for other teams) rather than to win games.

Wynne Arboleda, John Wilson, Bitoy Omolon, Mark Isip and Yousef Taha. After that there's Bonbon Custodio, Nonoy Baclao and Rob Reyes. The buck stops there. Nothing (or no one) more, and nothing less. Ok, fine, we'll show love to Nino Canaleta but only because he's been drilling threes (still not playing defense though).

PBA Draft Class 2012: Young and restless

The Kraken more role player than star?

Now that Calvin Abueva, picked number 2 overall by the Alaska Aces and arguably the most feared/ revered player of the lot, made his PBA debut with last night's 88-86 triumph over the Petron Blaze Boosters, we can proceed with an initial report on how the rookies have fared so far.

1. June Mar Fajardo (Petron)
He's been solid, but obviously still raw. Not to say that he doesn't know what to do with the basketball unlike big guys before him such as E.J. Feihl, James Walkvist and Samigue Eman, but right now it would be safe to say that Fajardo is more on the track to be the next Sonny Thoss than Danny Ildefonso (not that it's a bad thing). Petron's been wasting some of its sets in trying to get the big man ready down low, but they're better off running and Fajardo doing the dirty work.