KKS Trade Reaction: Monfort to NLEX

Where did this guy's game go?
(Photo credit: Slamonline.ph)

Remember when we used to laud Marnel "Mac" Baracael as possibly the best two-way and PBA-ready player of the SMART Gilas I lot? A roster that boasts of Chris Tiu, JVee Casio, Mark Barroca and even the then unproven Fil-Am pair of Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz? We were that high on him, because he was that good a player.

Until he got drafted into the PBA.

For whatever reason, Baracael lost his way from being a legit "3 and D" guy who could cover spots 1 to 4 and somehow transformed into a mindless jackass, err, jacker. Defense? What defense?

This is why Emman Monfort's name is on this entry's title and not Baracael's. Because the 5"6 point guard who came out of the Ateneo basketball program has managed to make a name for himself in the pros, even when most had him pencilled as a future non-rotation player a.k.a. ABL/ D-League/ PCBL starter (this writer included).

On to the grades then.

The road less traveled

Someone find Asi a playmate
(Photo credit: Sports5.ph)

Logically speaking, it is never wise to go out on public to say that you're actually considering building your team around a 42-year old center-- no matter how "ageless" he appears to be. It reeks of desperation, of failure to find another, younger, talent to go with.

And that is why the NLEX Road Warriors and their head coach Boyet Fernandez need to make some major changes going into the 2015 PBA Draft and next season.

Sure, Asi Taulava has been nothing short of "PBA Mythical Five worthy" the last two years since his return from the ASEAN Basketball League (wherein he left as the reigning Most Valuable Player), but in today's young PBA there should be more emphasis on running and scoring from all angles rather than just waiting to see what sticks and whoever catches fire.