Weighty trade
Trading players is part and parcel of any professional league. Teams engage in it as a way to build rosters that suit their style or collective vision with the end view of being competitive. So when a proposed trade is deemed to be “disproportionate” in one form or another, expect howls to be thrown left and right.
Such happened over the weekend in the Philippine Basketball Association when news came out that the Kia Picanto, the holders of the number one pick in this year’s rookie draft happening on Sunday, Oct. 29, have agreed to trade the first pick to the powerhouse San Miguel Beermen.
In the said trade, San Miguel is letting go of role players Jay- R Reyes, Rashawn McCarthy and Keith Agovida or the Beermen’s own first-round pick in this year’s draft.
It immediately drew flak from many in the PBA- dom, including officials from rival teams, who saw it as hardly a fair trade.
In the aftermath, revisions were made with players like Matt GanuelasRosser, Gabby Espinas, Ronald Tubid and Yancy de Ocampo being part of the deal for the first pick in varying forms.
As of this writing, the Commissioner’s Office has yet to act on the proposed deal. Now. That the proposed trade between Kia and San Miguel has drawn so much criticism is not at all surprising.
For a deal as “weighty” as it is, one just cannot dismiss it as plainly as it is being presented for it is far more complex than that. And it goes beyond the players involved.
On one end you have Kia, which has been bottom-scraping for much of its PBA existence, passing up on the opportunity to secure a player that could change their fortunes with the top overall pick — expected to be FilipinoGerman and Gilas player Christian Standhardinger.
And the Picanto are passing it to the Beermen, a team which has been the gold standard of the league for the last couple of seasons and just narrowly missed winning a second grand slam in its franchise history.
I am sure the players being offered by the Beermen would help Kia in its campaign in their own ways, but will they have the kind of impact as Standhardinger will have? I am going out on a limb here and say no.
At 6’ 8”, mobile and someone who does not mind mixing it up inside the paint, Standhardinger is a kind of talent that is a rarity now in the PBA. Never mind if the team that gets him may have to wait some months still to get his services as he is under contract to play in the ASEAN Basketball League until early next year. His skills set is something any team can use in the PBA, bottom line.
Yet Kia stands to lose the chance of getting him, for “less” in return at that.
More mind- blowing, San Miguel stands to get Standhardinger, with the latter teaming up with fellow big man and the league’s reigning fourtime most valuable player June Mar Fajardo.
Imagine the havoc these two players can create playing along each other and with the likes of Alex Cabagnot, Chris Ross, Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter. Invincible, right?
It does not help Kia’s case in this that it has been deemed as “regressing” in its development after a series of questionable personnel moves that saw it trading away Troy Rosario, Aldrech Ramos, Niño Canaleta, Paolo Taha, Alex Mallari and Michael DiGregorio, among others, players that could have surely helped them in the league.
Heck, the Picanto even parted ways with playing coach and crowd-drawer Manny Pacquiao, leading to further speculation that they may be having difficulty in maintaining a franchise in Asia’s first play-for-pay league.
Considering the potential impact that the Kia- San Miguel trade carries, the league has to evaluate it thoroughly and come up with an acceptable resolution that the entire PBA-dom can come to terms with. Failure to do so can be detrimental in more ways than one.