MANILA, 3 August 2006 — Coca-Cola will stay in the Philippine Basketball Association.
Only problem is, how will the Tigers stay competitive after dealing away their reliable centers?
A few days after a one-sided trade surfaced, management of the team yesterday issued a statement that it will stay in the PBA, even as efforts are being pressed by a lot of quarters not to let that controversial trade materialize.
Rumors of the team leaving the league surfaced after Coke had dealt Fil-Americans Rafi Reavis and Billy Mamaril to Barangay Ginebra for practically nothing in return.
It was a deal that got off the ground with Air21 a willing conduit since the sister teams could not exchange players.
The deals also made Ginebra, which already has Eric Menk, Rommel Adducul and Andy Seigle, rock-solid in the frontline while effectively weakening the Tigers to the point that most everyone saw it as a sign that the team was disbanding.
A similar scenario happened in recent memory, with Shell entering into a one-sided deal with Alaska before disbanding at the start of the year.
Tanduay also pulled the same trick, shipping marquee names Menk, Rudy Hatfield, Dondon Hontiveros, Pido Jarencio and Jeffrey Cariaso to different teams before pulling the curtains down on its return stint in the league three years ago.
“The team is committed to stay in the (PBA) league and has no intentions of breaking up,” Bobby Huang, president of Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc., wrote in an official statement.
Huang’s statement comes after some board members raised informal protests on why the deal was approved by Commissioner Noli Eala.
The transaction shipped Reavis and Mamaril and rights to the deported Hatfield to Ginebra in exchange for marginal players Khalani Ferreria and Manny Ramos and future draft rights.
Air21, a team notorious for dealing away high-priced players, acted as the “bridge” for the deal, getting Ervin Sotto and Aris Dimaunahan from the Gin Kings while doing away with relief center Ryan Bernardo (to Coke) and future draft picks.
Sta. Lucia board member Buddy Encarnado was the first to react to the trade, saying it was so one-sided that he had formally asked Eala to void the transaction “to serve the interest of the league.”
Eala, meanwhile, said that his office will look into the matter seriously and determine whether league rules were broken. Otherwise, the deal will be officially signed within the coming days.
The “conduit” rule was put in place during the last years of Jun Bernardino’s watch as commissioner, when the San Miguel Corporation went on a buying spree and bought the Purefoods and Coca-Cola companies together with their respective PBA franchises.
It was meant to precisely avoid making the four teams under the San Miguel umbrella deal with one another in terms of player transactions.
A coaching change will be made official before the end of the week, which involves Jong Uichico leaving his old job at San Miguel to assume head coaching responsibilities with Barangay Ginebra.
Siot Tanquingcen, the youthful tactician responsible for two Ginebra titles, will again be Uichico’s assistant as Chot Reyes, who was plucked out of his old job at Coke to concentrate on the national team, replaces Uichico.
Meanwhile, Talk ‘N Text cornerstone Asi Taulava inked a two-year extension with the Phone Pals recently.
The 6-foot-10 man-mountain, arguably the most dominant pure center in the league the past five years, will receive the maximum allowable salary of P350,000 a month excluding perks and other bonuses.
The Phone Pals have earlier retained the services of playmaker Donbel Belano as backup for Jimmy Alapag for the next three seasons.
Taulava led the league in scoring from 2001 to last season before Ginebra’s Mark Caguioa took the title away last year. Taulava averaged 20.1 points per game from 2001-2005 before shooting just 14.9 points under new coach Derrick Pumaren this year.
