Trade RXN: Standhardinger to SMB

Soon to be unleashed.

Ah, the controversial deal that helped open a can of worms which could possibly a) end the Chito Narvasa reign , b) force PBA teams to bolt and or c) earn us a FIBA suspension.

The cellar-dwelling Kia Picanto opted to send the rights to their 2017 1st round draft pick to powerhouse San Miguel in exchange for Rashawn Mccarthy, JayR Reyes, Ronald Tubid and a 2019 1st round draft pick. The Beermen then wasted little time in making it known and eventually using that pick on 6"8 Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger who held his own and averaged near double-doubles in FIBA play.

Let's break this trade down, shall we?

#NarvasaResign

Man on fire
(photo courtesy of Rappler,com)

It has been a while, and we are quite thankful that there are some of you who still patronize this page and digest whatever understanding of Philippine basketball we have to offer despite the dwindling number of entries.

We have apologized quite a few times already, so there is no point in adding yet another paragraph just to do so. Long story short: life happens.

That being said, PBA Commissioner Chito Narvasa has recently come under fire after 1) approving a "lopsided" trade that sent the 2017 PBA Draft 1st pick Christian Standhardinger to the San Miguel Beermen and 2) revealing that it was TNT personnel Magnum Membrere who processed Standhardinger's Draft Application, which put TNT under a bad light obviously.

2017 PBA Mock Draft 2.0

Number 2? Or Number 1?
(Photo credit: Inquirer.net)

12. TNT - Louie Vigil, SF, 6"3
A bit under-rated, Vigil is a legitimate PBA 3 who can play both ends of the court. In college, he has shown that he can fill in the gaps when asked to defer to his superstar seniors AND also step up to plate as team alpha. TNT just hasn't been the same since they dealt Larry Fonacier and blindly expected Matt Ganuelas Rosser to fill in that void (they traded him for point man RR Garcia which was brilliant). This move also saves Troy Rosario from looking stupid trying to learn the small forward spot on the fly when he's a natural stretch 4.

11. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel - Julien Sergent, SF, 6"3
Sergent has all the tools that coach Tim Cone just loves to work with; Ginebra doesn't need him to contribute right away, so he can be used as a practice player to help him develop into either a stopper (which he showed flashes of for DLSU) or a finisher around the rim. That small forward practice battle with Aljon Mariano, Kevin Ferrer AND Art dela Cruz should be crazy fun.

10. TNT - Jett Manuel, 6"0
Ryan Reyes is old. UP is Team MVP's latest project. Everything just fits. TNT needs to reload shooter-wise and adding a scorer like Manuel gives them just that.

2017 PBA Mock Draft

Dragonfire. (Photo credit: Inquirer.net)

The names are in. Let's go with version 1.

12. Ginebra - Louie Vigil, SF, 6"3
Because you know... Ginebra's building their own UST team with Aljon Mariano and Kevin Ferrer already in the fold. Seriously though, Vigil is a smart and efficient player to have as a backup for Ferrer and Mariano at the 3 spot. He has good PBA size and the tv-friendly looks. There are other guys like Onuwobre that we'd want to go higher, but based on need... Ginebra doesn't really have much room for another big man while Jamil Sherrif, arguably this draft's best natural PG, is a bit too short with no range for the PBA style IMHO.

11. San Miguel Beermen - Julien Sergent, SF, 6"3

Sergent had spurts for DLSU wherein he really did look like a solid, defensive ace. However, he wasn't being used as much which we always found odd. The Beermen are currently stacked on all fronts, with the one opening being at the 3 spot with Arwind Santos on a bit of a decline (age) and Matt Rosser still trying to fit in. Sergent won't take MGR's spot right away, but if he sticks to his strengths (defense, speed, mobility) he could crack the roster as a serviceable role player.

10. TNT - Rey Nambatac, SG, 5"10
They have a plethora of bigs. What they need is a shot creator who can take the load off Jayson Castro. Sure, Nambatac's name doesn't really hit you like a Jeron Teng or Kiefer Ravena would, but if there's one thing about the former Letran Knight-- he doesn't shy away from taking the big shots. What's nice about Nambatac is he also crashes the boards and plays sturdy defense which makes him a possible candidate to one day succeed Ryan Reyes.


9. Star Hotshots - Lervin Flores, PF, 6"4 
Let's face it. To this day, Marc Pingris and Rafi Reavis are still the team's best big men. Which means, Ian Sangalang hasn't exactly lived up to what was expected (following his bouts with different injuries), while Kyle Pascual, Rodney Brondial and Aldrech Ramos are more stretch bigs than guys who can manufacture their own shots in the post. Flores is another mobile big, though based on what we've seen he is a bit more competent down low.

FIBA Asia Cup: Cursed

Not enough
(Photo credit: FIBA.com)

Against the South Korean men's basketball team, our Gilas Pilipinas (then, now... and the good Lord Almighty forbid, forever) appears to be cursed. There is just no other way to explain it.

We had a solid outing, our team shot 45% from the field, 44% from deep. We had 15 turnovers, sure, but that is still quite a respectable number when the opponent committed only three less. But what the hell- they shot 67% the entire night.

They shot 76% from three point territory, missing all but five of their 21 attempts. This was God's way of telling Magoo Marjon and friends to quit yapping about the whole "and the curse of Korea is about to be broken!" This was the Korean's way of telling us "that was 2013, this is 2017, get with the program."

FIBA Asia Cup: Thoughts on Gilas 3-0 start

PUSO

Three to nil.

Those are three wins over China, Iraq and Qatar in what was deemed by FIBA as the "group of death." Fortunately for us; China missed a few key players (though we were also without 3x PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo AND naturalized reinforcement Andray Blatche), Iraq's still developing its young basketball program while Qatar is rebuilding.

We are not trying to take anything away from our Gilas team, because they fought tooth and nail for each one of those three victories. We are just saying that for the time being, it appears that the stars are aligning to our favor after years of heartbreak and close shaves.


First, let us all thank Chot Reyes for coming back and spearheading this program. He could've walked away and kept to his corporate role. He could've said "no thanks" after all the (unwarranted) backlash the last time he coached Gilas.