While Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and TNT Tropang Giga are currently battling in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, the other 10 eliminated teams are preparing for the Philippine Cup.
What should these teams do in order to have a successful title run?
- Rain or Shine Elastopainters
There’s no doubt that Coach Yeng Guiao has revitalized his squad to become a title contender. But the “Bayan Ng ROS” have always been eliminated during the semifinals for the past 3 conferences.
In order for this issue to be resolved, Coach Yeng and his coach must decide who their main go-to guy is. A solid star player for their team.
Rain or Shine has depth in all of their departments, guards, big men, wings, vets, rookies, and upcoming stars but it seems that the team has no 1 player that will take over the game during crunchtime.
So for that “semis curse” to be broken, a player must take the spotlight and claim his ownership of the team.
- San Miguel Beermen
How many is too much? SMB is the PBA’s winningest team as they hold the record for most championships won by a franchise as well as being the absolute beast during the 2010’s.
With the late addition of veteran Head Coach, Leo Austria, who is also the one responsible for giving SMB all of their titles during the entire 2010s, he’ll know how to handle his squad and make the necessary adjustments.
My suggestion? Get solid role players by trading away your rotting border-line-star players. Let go of Simon Enciso, Jeron Teng and Kris Rosales and trade for actual practice players.
Also, try and develop some young players on your own and not get from your “farm teams”.
- Converge FiberXers
Truth be told, the FiberXers have an abundance of big men in their lineup.
The team currently has Justin Arana, Jeo Ambohot, Paolo Javillionar, Bryan Santos and their number 1 overall pick from last years’ draft, Justine Baltazar. It may be time to ship some of these players away for some draft picks or possible, another star player?
Jordan Heading is also performing very well along with Alec Stockton but the team needs one star player to get over the “quarterfinals hump” that they are experiencing for the last 2 conferences.
- Meralco Bolts
Almost similar to the problem of Converge, Chris Newsome of the Meralco Bolts needs another co-star in order to win another title.
They won last season’s Philippine Cup title but during the last 2 conferences, they have failed to move past the Semis as they kept on getting eliminated by Ginebra.
Maybe it’s time to get rid of some of their veteran players like Allen Maliksi and Raymond Almazan?
- Magnolia Hotshots
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, the Magnolia Hotshots need to have a new Head Coach in order to win a title again.
Their last championship was way back in 2018 during the Governor’s Cup. It’s been way too long already.
Health issues have now become a problem for Paul Lee while both Mark Barroca and Ian Sanggalang aren’t the top-tier players they once used to be.
Yes, they got young guys like Jerom Lastimosa, Zavier Lucero, and Jerrick Ahanmisi but a new mentor is a must for this team to revive their old glory.
- NorthPort Batang Pier
2 things, avoid off-court issues and get a quality big man.
The past few conferences, we have heard Fran Yu and John Amores get involved in off-court dramas which really affected the team when they actually played basketball. So try to be nice when the cameras are turned off.
Maybe it’s also time for them to trade for a decent big man because let’s get real here, Cade Flores, Abu Tratter, and Damie Cuntapay aren’t getting the job done in the shaded area.
- Phoenix Fuel Masters
This team has been mid for so long now. Maybe it’s time for an actual rebuild?
Jason Perkins cannot be the cornerstone of their franchise, RJ Jazul and RR Garcia have proven just to be rotational veteran guards and their young players which are Ricci Rivero, Ken Tuffin, and Kai Ballungay have been underwhelming since getting drafted.
There’s nothing wrong with tanking and giving away key players in order to receive valuable assets.
- NLEX Road Warriors
Please just give Robert Bolick some help. Without him, this team would be straight-up winless for the past few conferences.
Bolick is a star player stuck in a horrible team. Give him some help, he’s an elite 4-level scorer. If they can’t do that, why not just trade him for some high-value lottery picks?
The team has failed to make the playoffs on a consistent basis in the past few conferences anyway.
- Blackwater Bossings
Give the ball to Sedrick Barefield and get out of the way.
This team needs a miracle of having a newly retooled coaching staff, drafting or trading for good role players while making sure Barefield gets to score as many points as possible. He’s also on pace for winning Rookie of the Year this season.
He’s the star of this franchise, just let him cook!
- Terrafirma Dyip
Pray and ask for help from the Lord God Almighty.
Also, just hope that the PBA Board of Members would finally approve the Starhorse Shipping Lines in purchasing your franchise. There’s still time left before they give it a go-signal.
In the meantime, try and compete every day. Don’t trade any of your players and just have fun playing basketball.
