MANILA, 4 January — The major shakeup in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) that is traditionally taking place sometime after the end of every season has occurred much earlier than expected.
The wheeling and dealing among teams have begun in earnest even before the end of the PBA’s 26th season.
The first trade in the off-season saw Tanduay’s franchise player Eric Menk, who is arguably the best player in the league today, going to Barangay Ginebra in exchange for two players and two future first round picks.
Menk was swapped for streak-shooting Elmer Lago, the 1999 Most Improved Player, Fil-Italian center Alex Crisano and two future draft picks.
Tanduay also traded ace shooter Dondon Hontiveros to San Miguel for the hardworking Freddie Abuda, and 6-foot-9 Bonnel Balingit and 6-foot-6 Chris Cantonjos to Purefoods for seven-footer Eduard Joseph Feihl. Purefoods, however, immediately released Feihl to Ginebra for a future draft. But, actually, a head coach, and not those marquee players, was the first, unfortunately, to get involved in the first major shakeup in the off-season. The first casualty was Louie Alas who lost his job as coach of Talk ‘N Text after the Phone Pals failed to reach the semifinals of the Governor’s Cup.
Alas’ ouster came after the Phone Pals were eased out by San Miguel Beer in the quarterfinals of the season-ending Governor’s Cup — and after two years of trying, and failing, to get the ballclub out of a long dry spell in the league. Talk ‘N’ Text management and Alas, who has a live contract with the team up to the end of the 2002 season, said it was a mutual decision.
"We have nothing but the highest regard for Louie Alas. He is a great person and an outstanding individual. We don’t rule out working with him again in the future," said Ignatius Yenko, the team’s representative to the PBA board and currently the league’s chairman.
"I felt that I had done as much as I could for the team and that it was time to move on. The Phone Pals are a talented team with a very supportive management. I believe they have a great future and I wish them well," said Alas, who plans to proceed to the US shortly to observe coaching techniques in the NBA and various collegiate leagues. Obviously, the Phone Pals’ early exit in the quarterfinals prompted management to finally lower the proverbial sword of Damocles on Alas, who assumed the coaching job in the 2000 Commissioner’s Cup.
The 34-year-old Alas had signed a lengthy, multimillion peso contract with the Manny Pangilinan franchise when he took over the job from Eric Altamirano, who is now coaching Purefoods.
But after the Phone Pals suffered a heartbreaking 63-77 defeat to San Miguel Beer that formalized their ouster in the season-ending, import-laced conference, the management made it known that it’s looking for Alas’ replacement ending what could be a short — five conferences to be exact — and fruitless stint in the pro league.
It marked the ballclub’s fifth consecutive loss in the tournament and the third time for the season — and the fourth under Alas’ tutelage that the Phone Pals missed the cut into the semifinals.
Counting their loss to San Miguel, Alas has compiled a 31-36 win-loss record with Talk ‘N’ Text since coming over from the MBA’s Manila Metrostars in the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA). Whatever success he had in the MBA, he failed to bring to the Phone Pals.
The farthest Alas has led the Phone Pals in six PBA conferences was the semifinals of last year’s Governor’s Cup, where they were beaten by eventual champion San Miguel.
The Phone Pals failed in their bid to win only their second title since assuming the Pepsi franchise in the 1996 Commissioner’s Cup — and Alas himself failed to live up to the expectations of the management which moved practically heaven and earth to boost their campaign.
High point of such moves was the processing of Paul Asi Taulava’s muddled papers with the Department of Justice that paved the way for the sensational 6-foot-10 Fil-Tongan to return to the league halfway in the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup. This had only buoyed up expectations that the Phone Pals would barge into the finals. Sadly, the brilliant bench taskmaster just couldn’t live up to it. Deep inside him, he knew he failed his team — and himself.
"It’s management’s prerogative to hire people it feels it can trust and can best serve its interests," said Alas, a former Adamson point guard. Five conferences had passed on since then, but Alas simply could not work wonders on a team that was tagged as a potential title contender prior to the Governor’s Cup owing to the return of Taulava to its fold. Pangilinan, the Talk ‘N’ Text owner, had earlier given Alas an ultimatum to win the Governor’s Cup crown, otherwise, he had no other option but to fire him.
Team manager Frankie Lim bared that Pangilinan had met the players behind closed doors at least twice at the end of the eliminations after the crew failed to avail of a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals when they could have easily achieved it.
Ironically, Alas was excluded from the "bull sessions" thus raising speculations that he was on his way out.
Insiders said it was during these meetings that the players raised a howl against Alas’ coaching style, pointing pistol fingers at the many-time national team mentor whom they said had failed miserably in keeping the momentum after the team had gotten off to an amazing start.
The Taulava-led Phone Pals got off to a sizzling start in the eliminations as they racked up seven wins that enabled them to gain a share of the lead in the Governor’s Cup, only to fumble and tumble the rest of the way.
Alas practically put his head on the chopping block when the Phone Pals lost to defending champion San Miguel 63-77, ending their season with a horrible five-game losing streak.
The slide was the Phone Pals’ worst ever in 17 months under Alas, also the former Purefoods assistant coach.
Overall, they closed out their forgettable campaign with a 7-7 win-loss cards, good only for a fifth-place finish in the 10-team tournament — which clearly was simply a bitter pill to swallow for management.
Talks about Alas being kicked out went up in the air long before the Phone Pals had dropped all their last four games in the elimination round, the last a 62-84 blowout they suffered at the hands of Pop Cola.
The rumblings began even in the preseason when Alas had a direct hand in retooling the team.
There were players he could have taken in but didn’t. Instead, he tapped in others whose purposes in the team are clear only to him.
During the season and particularly in the Governor’s Cup there had been reports that some players disgruntled with Alas want to bolt out of the team. The team’s problem was only temporarily remedied when the Phone Pals went on a confidence-building seven-game winning spree. With their early exit, veteran center Jerry Codinera, forward Victor Pablo and guards Gherome Ejercito and Bong Ravena have all asked to be traded to other teams.
Codinera, a two-time PBA Mythical Team member, was reportedly griping about a lack of playing time. He was rumored to be headed to Ginebra in a deal that would extend his expiring contract with the Phone Pals.
Codinera had once played alongside Ginebra mentor Allan Caidic on the national team.
That’s why even a title in the last Governor’s Cup was no guarantee of Alas’ continued stay with the ballclub, which first broke into the league during the 1990 season.
Talk ‘N’ Text, since then, had stepped up its hunt for Alas’ replacement to prevent four key players from leaving the team. Historically, the franchise — that is now named Mobiline after inheriting it from Pepsi in 1996 — has had miserable campaign for most of its 11-season existence in the league.
For years, the team has been regarded as the whipping boys of other highly-competitive teams in the league. It has never been tagged as a potential title contender in any conference since barging its way into the league in 1990 as an expansion team. But Mobiline finally ended an eight-year championship jinx when it captured its first crown by ruling the Centennial Cup in 1998 under Altamirano’s mentorship.
