Still and all, basketball is a team game
die is cast as Christian Standhardinger, the 6-foot-8 Fil-German juggernaut, is now with San Miguel Beer in a trade with Kia that some misguided minds mocked as foul when it was not.
Before this piece went to press, the issue has been resolved as the teams promised to abide by the decision to be made by Commissioner Chito Narvasa of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)
regarding Kia’s number one pick (Standhardinger), which San Miguel snagged and shipped out Ronald Tubid, J.R. Reyes, Rashawn McCarthy and its No. 1 draft pick in 2019.
OK, to clear matters up once more, here’s history for you.
Kia (then Mahindra) also traded its number two pick in 2015, Troy Rosario, to Talk ‘N’ Text in a deal that involved Rob Reyes, Aldrech Ramos
and KG Canaleta, all of whom are no longer with Kia as one later ended up in retirement (Reyes) and Canaleta with Blackwater and Ramos Star Hotshots.
That same year (2015), TNT got the number one pick from Blackwater that it used to get FilTongan Moala Tautuaa in a three-way trade that involved Kevin Alas, who ended up with the Texters, KG Canaleta (Nlex) and Blackwater getting Larry Rodriguez, now retired.
Alaska, in 2006, got Rich Alvarez (top pick in 2005) and promising rookie Tony de la Cruz for a song.
The simple, but oftentimes overused premise that invites discourse is this: Why trade a top pick that could nail you a potential great player for a host of players of lesser light?
There are two sides to basketball success: One is to build a super team made up of the best players (even if these players cannot achieve chemistry) and the other, build a team with a host of players who can play their roles as players and as such, play as a team. It all boils down to philosophy. San Miguel, a screaming epitome of success, is of course expected to take the usual path, which is to get the best players and put them in one team, hoping that these players meld together into one fighting unit under a system employed by a coach.
Flipping this, I am sure people would question if San Miguel, given its vast resources, would prefer to build a team composed of role players, which it actually did in 1997.
Basketball experts, I am sure, would recall the team made up of an Olsen Racela, who could not shine as a rookie in Purefoods, Mike Mustre, Freddie Abuda, Ronilo Padilla, Gilbert Castillo and Nelson Asaytono. Allan Caidic, Bong Alvarez and Samboy Lim were there, too, but they were obviously on the sunset path of their careers. That team actually performed admirably under coach Ron Jacobs, placing third twice in the 1997 season.
And there’s another route to basketball success, a longer path that does not involve a lot of star players and a longer, laborious and muchmore meaningful path to success. To cite a recent example. There’s Yeng Guiao, who built the Rain or Shine franchise into a champion team. And his 2012 champion team was built with players like Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood, JR Quinahan, Paul Lee, Jeff Chan, Larry Rodriguez, Jireh Ibanes, Jonathan Uyloan, Ronnie Matias and Jervy Cruz. Although it won the title with import Jamelle Cornley, this team cannot be considered a super team by a basketball fanatic’s standards.
Consider the 2016 RoS champion team, too, that almost had the same players but with additions like Jericho Cruz, Jewel Ponferrada, Don Trollano, Raymond Almazan, and Chris Tiu. Still not a super team by a basketball fanatic’s standards. So what am I driving at here? First, a top pick could spell some success in rebuilding a franchise, if not a winning season. Examples are Allan Caidic (1987, Presto), Benjie Paras (1989, Shell), Vergel Meneses (1992, Presto), Willie Miller (2001, Red Bull), Kelly Williams (2006, Sta. Lucia), June Mar Fajardo (2012, Petron), Greg Slaughter (2013, Ginebra).
On the flip side, though, it may not be. Examples are Andy Seigle (1997, Mobiline), Rich Alvarez (2005, Shell), Japeth Aguilar (2009, Burger King), Nonoy Baclao (2010, Air21 in a year that Rabeh Al Hussaini could have been top pick).
But going to this route of number one picks as a measure of success brings forth the conclusion that it’s all about one player. Because it is not. Last I checked, basketball is still a team sport with five players on the floor at each time.
Those who insist that it’s all about one player are giving the game a bad name. Even Michael Jordan, LeBron James or Steph Curry cannot claim that they won NBA titles on their own.