There’s no doubt on which is the team to beat in the PBA Philippine Cup that gets going this Sunday.
Armed with the most talented team on paper and with solid backing from management, San Miguel Beer is, hands-down, the logical pick to win this tournament for a third straight season even before the first basket is scored.
The Beermen will be coming into the 42nd Season of the PBA possibly with their strongest team ever since the 1989 Grand Slam squad built around Ramon Fernandez, Samboy Lim and Hector Calma.
June Mar Fajardo, the MVP the last three seasons, banners a well-balanced, firepower-packed San Miguel crew that seems to have all the tools to duplicate that 1989 feat, and here are some reasons why:
First, the only weak spot in the San Miguel game, while also being its strongest point, is that Fajardo has not had someone who can ably relieve him of some of the big man’s load the entire season, with coach Leo Austria playing him like a horse game in and out which oftentimes results in fatigue catching up with the 6-foot-10 cornerstone.
And in a lucky twist, the Beermen were able to snag former La Salle ace Arnold Van Opstal from the Cadet Draft recently, bagging the finest big man available in the rookie proceedings that will assure someone reliable to make sure that Fajardo stays healthy the entire year.
Second, Fajardo has the most loaded support cast in the league, with Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot and Chris Ross still there and at the peak of their games.
San Miguel will not be lacking in offensive power against any team in the conference and the Beermen bolstered their guard rotation further by acquiring RR Garcia in a three-team trade recently, which gives Cabagnot even more leeway to be offensive-minded or vice versa.
And the biggest reason why this corner feels that San Miguel is practically unbeatable is that while the Beermen beefed up and got better, the other squads who have failed in stopping SMB in the all-Filipino the last two years stayed the same if not having gotten weaker.
Alaska, last year’s runner-up, will try to depend on the same core that blew a 3-0 lead in the Finals last season, getting very little from the Draft by signing Carl Cruz as the 11th choice overall.
TNT KaTropa, though still bannered by Jason Castro, is getting older by the year and will be breaking in a new coach in Nash Racela this season and the league hasn’t seen Cinderella finishes in the Philippine Cup in years.
Rain or Shine also will not be the same team that it used to be, with Yeng Guiao moving to NLEX and the Elasto Painters giving away two vital pieces of their dominant team – Paul Lee to Star and JR Quinahan to GlobalPort – in trades that were as surprising as Guiao’s transfer was.
This corner wouldn’t bet against the Beermen in this conference, or for the rest of the year for that matter.
*****
Another thing that could drive the Beermen harder this season is Fajardo, who already set a PBA record with a third straight MVP last season and could become the league’s most dominant big man of all-time with another this year.
I would also not be betting against Fajardo achieving the feat, and here is the biggest reason why I feel so:
Greg Slaughter, the only man tipped to challenge Fajardo for dominance in the paint – like what they had in their collegiate days in Cebu – will miss the whole of the Philippine Cup and a huge chunk of the next conference at best, leaving the San Miguel slotman practically unchallenged.
There are still several players with the size of Fajardo, but none have the same athletic ability, no offense to the veteran centers in the league like the 43-year-old Asi Taulava of NLEX and Sonny Thoss of Alaska.
The 7-foot Slaughter is recovering from arthroscopic surgery that repaired a right ACL tear and is scheduled to return, at the earliest, near the end of the Commissioner’s Cup.
With Slaughter out and with obviously no imports in the Philippine Cup, Fajardo is practically unstoppable one-on-one in the paint, and the opposing coaches would need to devise defensive schemes that would not allow Fajardo to dominate for them to have a chance to beat San Miguel.
Calvin Abueva of Alaska and Jason Castro of TNT KaTropa – who finished in the top three in the last MVP derby – are great all-around players themselves.
While Abueva is capable of grabbing the same number of rebounds that Fajardo can, he usually doesn’t score as much.
And while Castro can negate Fajardo’s scoring, the TNT point guard cannot rebound as many.
Plus consider this: both cannot block as many shots that Fajardo can and with San Miguel expected to win a lot of games, it will just add to the overall value of Fajardo in his quest for the MVP.
Armed with the most talented team on paper and with solid backing from management, San Miguel Beer is, hands-down, the logical pick to win this tournament for a third straight season even before the first basket is scored.
The Beermen will be coming into the 42nd Season of the PBA possibly with their strongest team ever since the 1989 Grand Slam squad built around Ramon Fernandez, Samboy Lim and Hector Calma.
June Mar Fajardo, the MVP the last three seasons, banners a well-balanced, firepower-packed San Miguel crew that seems to have all the tools to duplicate that 1989 feat, and here are some reasons why:
First, the only weak spot in the San Miguel game, while also being its strongest point, is that Fajardo has not had someone who can ably relieve him of some of the big man’s load the entire season, with coach Leo Austria playing him like a horse game in and out which oftentimes results in fatigue catching up with the 6-foot-10 cornerstone.
And in a lucky twist, the Beermen were able to snag former La Salle ace Arnold Van Opstal from the Cadet Draft recently, bagging the finest big man available in the rookie proceedings that will assure someone reliable to make sure that Fajardo stays healthy the entire year.
Second, Fajardo has the most loaded support cast in the league, with Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot and Chris Ross still there and at the peak of their games.
San Miguel will not be lacking in offensive power against any team in the conference and the Beermen bolstered their guard rotation further by acquiring RR Garcia in a three-team trade recently, which gives Cabagnot even more leeway to be offensive-minded or vice versa.
And the biggest reason why this corner feels that San Miguel is practically unbeatable is that while the Beermen beefed up and got better, the other squads who have failed in stopping SMB in the all-Filipino the last two years stayed the same if not having gotten weaker.
Alaska, last year’s runner-up, will try to depend on the same core that blew a 3-0 lead in the Finals last season, getting very little from the Draft by signing Carl Cruz as the 11th choice overall.
TNT KaTropa, though still bannered by Jason Castro, is getting older by the year and will be breaking in a new coach in Nash Racela this season and the league hasn’t seen Cinderella finishes in the Philippine Cup in years.
Rain or Shine also will not be the same team that it used to be, with Yeng Guiao moving to NLEX and the Elasto Painters giving away two vital pieces of their dominant team – Paul Lee to Star and JR Quinahan to GlobalPort – in trades that were as surprising as Guiao’s transfer was.
This corner wouldn’t bet against the Beermen in this conference, or for the rest of the year for that matter.
*****
Another thing that could drive the Beermen harder this season is Fajardo, who already set a PBA record with a third straight MVP last season and could become the league’s most dominant big man of all-time with another this year.
I would also not be betting against Fajardo achieving the feat, and here is the biggest reason why I feel so:
Greg Slaughter, the only man tipped to challenge Fajardo for dominance in the paint – like what they had in their collegiate days in Cebu – will miss the whole of the Philippine Cup and a huge chunk of the next conference at best, leaving the San Miguel slotman practically unchallenged.
There are still several players with the size of Fajardo, but none have the same athletic ability, no offense to the veteran centers in the league like the 43-year-old Asi Taulava of NLEX and Sonny Thoss of Alaska.
The 7-foot Slaughter is recovering from arthroscopic surgery that repaired a right ACL tear and is scheduled to return, at the earliest, near the end of the Commissioner’s Cup.
With Slaughter out and with obviously no imports in the Philippine Cup, Fajardo is practically unstoppable one-on-one in the paint, and the opposing coaches would need to devise defensive schemes that would not allow Fajardo to dominate for them to have a chance to beat San Miguel.
Calvin Abueva of Alaska and Jason Castro of TNT KaTropa – who finished in the top three in the last MVP derby – are great all-around players themselves.
While Abueva is capable of grabbing the same number of rebounds that Fajardo can, he usually doesn’t score as much.
And while Castro can negate Fajardo’s scoring, the TNT point guard cannot rebound as many.
Plus consider this: both cannot block as many shots that Fajardo can and with San Miguel expected to win a lot of games, it will just add to the overall value of Fajardo in his quest for the MVP.
