Crown Jewel

Kumpyansa goes a long way
(Photo credit to the owner)

Credit Rain or Shine Elastopainters' head coach for turning another almost lost PBA career around.

He did it for the likes of Beau Belga and JayR Quinahan who pre-RoS were surely on their way out of the PBA as teams were looking for mobile, athletic bigs. He had a hand in the development of now legit PBA household names Cyrus Baguio, Larry Fonacier and Jeffrei Chan, turning them from good to great while other players of their caliber (the Baguio types: Val Acuna and PJ Cabahug, the Chan/Fonacier: John Wilson, Jimbo Aquino are dealing with life being in and out of the league/ glued to the bench).

Add RoS' new resident big man, 6"5 Jewel Ponferada, to the list.

Praying for the best

Our only concern here is,
Pingris, Fajardo, Aguilar AND Slaughter
are all playing HEAVY  minutes this conference
(Photo credit to the owner)

Just a quick update on our Gilas Pilipinas 17-man pool for the Olympic Qualifiers:

Ranidel de Ocampo is out recovering from a near-serious injury. Ian Sangalang has been absent from majority (if not all) of the team's only Monday practices. Paul Lee is still out. L.A. Tenorio for the most part of his PBA run this season, has been off. Collegiate standout and 2x UAAP MVP Kiefer Ravena has officially been added to the pool.

That makes three guys who will have to make up for lost time should they wish to rejoin the group, another guy who seems to be having some trouble getting back to top form and a young blood who fits the bill to a "T" as far as a well-rounded, highly-skilled national player is concerned, but in our honest opinion is probably NOT the guy we wanted to add right now.

The road so far

How long can The Rock carry NLEX
(Photo credit to the owner)

It is never easy being the youngest in the family: sure, you get spoiled from time to time being, literally, the "new kid in town" but it also means that you are probably getting a lot of hand-me-downs from your older brother/s or sister/s. We cannot speak for the affluent, but for us middle to low class citizens, that means having to deal with wearing your big brother's signature basketball shoes for the majority of your basketball-formation age.

Until of course you actually can ball OR is old enough to really throw a huge selfish fit that your parents have no choice but to buy you your own kicks.

Well, that is what Coach Boyet Fernandez and his NLEX Road Warriors had to deal with their first time out in the PBA. They were given a broken down team, with spare parts coming by way of sister teams Talk'n'Text and Meralco, and really did not stand a modicum of a chance at competing fairly against the powerhouse teams.

This season however, Coach Boyet is making it work (currently with a 4 wins and 5 losses card) thanks to Sean Anthony (35mpg 19ppg 13rpg 4apg) and the ageless Asi Taulava (33mpg 20ppg 13rpg 2apg) leading the way. Both of whom could be called as "hand-me-downs" if you will, but don't tell them that. Hell, you could even say that their old teams would probably want them back in the fold in some manner (both TNT and Meralco could use a lot of Taulava, even Anthony)

Oh Jimmy, My Jimmy

He still has it.
(Photo credit to the owner)

When Jimmy Alapag decided or agreed to unretire and suit up for the Meralco Bolts, just months after announcing his then official retirement, it was probably done in hopes of being one of the missing pieces to a budding contender. Because surely, who on God's green earth would give up the wonders of retirement, easing into a front office- good paying job and being able to spend more time with his family to play for such a lousy team that is currently at the bottom of the PBA Philippine Cup with a 1-8 record?

We accept the fact that Alapag is a modern day national hero; but we didn't know that he was a willing martyr to boot.

In nine games played, Alapag is averaging 21mpg 5ppg 1rpg 5apg and shooting 28.2% from 2 and 21.2% from 3-- most of these numbers are career lows FYI. The Bolts' system has been so chaotic, that we see Alapag playing heavy minutes one night, then handing over the keys to rookie shooting guard/ small forward Chris Newsome rather than the guy who was supposed to be his understudy coming out of college, another rookie, Baser Amer.

What in the blue hell? What is going on here?

Jordan Pippen

Jordan Pippen
(Photo credit to the owner)

“I’ll be Jordan on offense and Scottie on defense.”

You know what they say about sleeping in the bed that you made; good or bad, you are stuck with it and will always be responsible and accountable for your words and actions. For Barangay Ginebra San Miguel's Chris Ellis, the above quote was taken from a Spin.Ph piece written by Snow Badua when asked how he sees himself fitting in head coach Tim Cone's Triangle Offense moving forward.

24 minutes 5 points 5 rebounds 1 assist 1 turnover 34% from 2 and 13% from 3/ per game

There is hardly anything Jordan-esque, hell even Pippen-esque with those numbers in nine games played so far.

But making fun of Ellis, jocosely dubbed "Jordan Pippen," would be too easy and is not why we are here. We are here to help.

But being born and raised from the old school cement courts of Pasay, this is not for the weak of heart.

Out of focus

Looking for the D
(Photo credit to the owner)

This is not how a "liberated" Grand Slam team should be performing.

Flirting with disastrous start to the season, rookie coach Jason Webb and his STAR Hotshots are currently sitting ugly with a 2 wins versus 6 losses slate in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup. It honestly seems that while people were so busy looking at how Webb was supposed to run some Golden State-like, high-octane offense, the team forgot its championship defense somewhere in the middle of exorcising the Triangle Offense from their system.

For the numbers-hungry, STAR is averaging 91 ppg 46 rpg 16 apg while giving up 95 ppg 47 rpg and 19 apg to opponents. They are also committing 19 turnovers a match, which by itself tells you that this team has a lot of problems on so many fronts.

#FearTheBeer

The Architect
(Photo credit to PBA.Inquirer.net)

It took a lot of downsizing, some roster and coaching changes to get to where the San Miguel Beermen are now today; with last season's two-titled campaign proves that it is all worth it. And to be very honest with you, we do not see them stopping at any point in this season barring any serious injuries.

Currently sitting atop the standings with only a single defeat to their name, alongside Alaska and Rain or Shine, the Beermen are dominating the league yet again behind the fearsome foursome of 2x PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo (37mpg 20ppg 15rpg 2apg), 1x PBA MVP Arwind Santos (33mpg 15ppg 7rpg 2apg), Alex Cabagnot (32mpg 15ppg 4rpg 6apg) and Marcio Lassiter (27mpg 13ppg 5rpg 2apg) while getting ample support from the bench led by *surprise, surprise* Ronald Tubid (26mpg 9ppg 5rpg), Chris Ross, Gabby Espinas and Ryan Arana to name a few.

This team has been so good as of late that no one is really missing Chris Lutz or has bothered to go look for the Monstar responsible for taking the former SMART Gilas I standout's talent on the hardcourt.