Are you in the game?!

First of all, I guess I should say that I am a fan of Purefoods.hehehe Why? No particular reason. It’s a surprising victory for the Giants because they were up against the much favored Beermen. SMB’s roster this year is the deepest, most-talented, and experienced roster in the PBA. The Beermen is headed by high-flying Danny Seigle, bigmen, Enrico Villanueva, Pena, Ildefonso and backourt-generals, LA Tenorio, Hontiveros and Olsen Racela. In their bench resides, Gabby Espinas, Wesley Gonzales, newly acquired gunner Larry Fonacier, Lordy Tugade, Chris Calaguio, Willie Wilson and quality rookies Eman and Jonas Villinueva. What a line-up. All players can be part of the best-5 of the other teams. Purefoods is not even close to the depth of the San Miguel Beermen line-up. I think the closest to SMB is Talk n Text Phone Pals with Asi Taulava, Jimmy Alapag, and gunner Renren Ritualo.

Congrats to the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants. I hope they will perform well when the regular season comes.

Nostalgic.

When I saw this video, I felt good. It’s nice to remember the good old days of the PBA. To the avid fans of PBA, I bet you’ll feel the same. hehehe PBA plays are not as fantastic and exceptional like the plays in the NBA but it’s certainly entertaining to watch.

After the Draft day, the Welcoat Dragons continued in building a solid frontline by acquiring Nic Belasco from the Alaska Aces for JunJun Cabaty, the son of former PBA star, Sonny Cabatu. I’m happy with this move of the Dragons. By having Belasco, they now have a presence of a veteran in the team. Belasco is a certified PBA veteran and has championship experience. Beyond his basketball skills, he can impart so many things to the Welcoat team. On the side of the Aces, letting go of Belasco is not really a big loss since they’ve acquired two undersize bigmen in the person of UAAP standout, Ken Bono and University of Visayas star, JR Quinahan. The two stand around 6′4″ but operates effectively inside the paint.

Yousif Aljamal, the 8th overall pick by Air21 is headed to the Talk n Text Phone Pals to reunite with his San Beda head coach, Frankie Lim. Lim is the team manager for the Phone Pals. The exchange for Aljamal is yet to be revealed.

Meanwhile, Marc “BigMac” Andaya is now a part of the Red Bull squad. He was freely acquired by Red Bull from Air21. I expect “BigMac” to improve in Red Bull. I think this move is a big break for him because Coach Yeng Guiao of Red Bull is very good in improving and exploiting the potentials of young players.

Purefoods, out of nowhere signed rookie free agent and PBL veteran, Chico Lanete for a 2-year, 5 million contract. I’m very surprised with this move. I think Purefoods doesn’t need a wingman or a shooting guard. Lanete plays the 2 spot and the point as well. He can shoot and slash but lacks consistency. The team, despite acquiring Rommel Adducul still needs a big man rather than a guard. I hope they’ll still make some moves in the next days…

After the 2007 PBA Draft Pick last Sunday, 17 PBA hopefuls were given the chance to play in the Pro league. Welcoat Dragons opted for Joe DeVance as their no.1 overall draft pick. The 6′8″ Samigue Eman landed no. 2 with the San Miguel Beermen. Eman by the way is from Davao City. He is a product of the University of Mindanao Wildcats. The other players selected were:

Sta. Lucia - Ryan Reyes at No. 3
Air21 - JC Intal at No. 4
Air21 - Doug Kramer No. 5
Alaska - Ken Bono No. 6
Alaska - JR Quinahan No. 7
Air21 - Yousif Aljamal at No. 8
San Miguel - Jonas Villanueva No. 9
Brgy. Ginebra - Macky Escalona No. 10

In the second round, In the second round, Ronjay Buenafe went to Coca-Cola, Arana to Welcoat, Melvin Mamaclay to Sta. Lucia, Marvin Cruz and JR Masbang to Air21, Jojo Duncil to Red Bull and Ardy Larong to Alaska.

This year’s draft isn’t as deep as the previous drafts in terms of talent and size.

“Team Pilipinas” went home without the crown but with pride. They brought not the olympic dream but the respect of the Asian countries and the rest of the world.

This is how to look at it in a positive wy, but hey, I must say I am upset with the outcome of their quest for the Olympics. I do believe the team had what it takes to win in the FIBA-Asia. Yes, the team was in the “Group of Death,” but the way the team was beaten by Iran and Jordan, was unpleasant. I would prefer seeing them beaten, playing a good game than winning despite playing a bad game. I mean, National teams are supposed to be playing their A-game every outing, whether against a strong or weak team. The opposing doesn’t really matter at all. Team Pilipinas can very much beat any team in the Group of Death.

Team Pilipinas beat China twice but hey, China’s squad wasn’t the A-squad compared to the Philipines (Asi Taulava is not the best center, but the only center who can compete internationally). And yet, the games were close. The victories over China is the “conswelo de bobo” for team Philippines.

These are just my thoughts. Feel free to share yours.