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Saturday, September 29, 2012

38 Things to Get Excited about in the New PBA season


Jaemark Tordecilla, Mikkel Bolante, and Karl Decena, InterAKTV · Sunday, September 30, 2012 · 6:59 am
The 38th season of the PBA is set to open on Sunday, and just in time, because we were starting to experience withdrawal symptoms while the league was on vacation. We listed down 38 things we can’t wait to see in the new season of the PBA (in no particular order).

1. The Return of the King


InterAKTV/Justin Gener
Mark Caguioa finally won the Most Valuable Player award at the tender old age of 32 last season. Sunday’s opening bout between Ginebra San Miguel and GlobalPort will be our first chance to see Mark the MVP on the court.

2. Willie Miller and Gary David on a single team


AKTV/Paul Ryan Tan
For most of their careers, Willie Miller and Gary David have played the starring role for their respective teams, but now they’re together at GlobalPort. Here’s a quick pop quiz: With the game on the line, whose number would you call: David’s or Miller’s? We’re glad we’re not Batang Pier coach Glenn Capacio.

3. From Lieutenant to Gin-eral


AKTV/Paul Ryan Tan
Even fans in Japan during the FIBA Asia Cup couldn’t help but get ahead of themselves, chanting “Heeh-neh-brah!” while LA Tenorio was playing for SMART-Gilas Pilipinas.

4. SMART-Gilas players back in the PBA


Photo from courtesy of Chot Reyes
Over the course of the Jones Cup and the FIBA Asia Cup in the offseason, the members of the SMART-Gilas national team, and Ranidel De Ocampo and Gary David in particular, built camaraderie through a series of shenanigans that included but may not be limited to dancing to Rick Astley and doing the Gangnam style, engaging in impromptu joke-offs at formal team dinners, and winning a Jones Cup title.
Now they’re back to being on separate sides with their mother teams but it would be interesting to see how that dynamic carries over to the PBA. What happens the next time De Ocampo is forced to give up a hard foul on a driving David? What happens when Gabe Norwood tries to dunk on Enrico Villanueva?

5. June Mar Fajardo


PBA/Nuki Sabio
The 6-foot-10 behemoth and top overall pick is already a towering defensive presence and is set to take over the starting role for the Boosters right away, overtaking his mentors Dorian Pena and Danny Ildefonso in the rotation.
Petron Blaze coach Olsen Racela, when asked about which past player June Mar compares to, said that he hasn’t seen anyone with Fajardo’s combination of size and skillset before — he reportedly knocks down jumpers and brings the ball down the floor with ease in practice. He’s only just scratching the surface of his potential and it would be interesting to see how much better he gets with experience.

6. Chris Ellis

This.

7. Cinderella teams

Last season held plenty of surprises, with Powerade riding an incredible scoring run from Gary David to make it to the Philippine Cup finals and Rain or Shine winning the Governors’ Cup over a favored B-MEG squad looking for a title in back-to-back conferences. With league parity at a high level right now, it would be interesting to see which teams are able to pull off shockers this year.

8. More PBA games at MOA Arena

Last season, PBA made history after the Governors’ Cup semifinals tiff between B-MEG and Talk ‘N Text became the first televised basketball event at the brand new SM Mall of Asia Arena. It’d be great to catch the other teams at the new state of the art venue.

9. Players diving on the floor

PBA commissioner Chito Salud promised rule changes that would encourage hustle plays, like being lax on traveling calls when players dive for loose balls. That means more scrappy play for the fans to enjoy.

10. Gabe Norwood 2.0


AKTV/Paolo Papa
After helping Rain or Shine win the Governors’ Cup title, Gabe Norwood seemed to play with more swagger when he joined SMART-Gilas. We can’t wait to see him display his confident new game as a vital cog for the Elasto Painters.


11. Manila Clasico


AKTV/Leslie Sy
Of all the big Philippine sports events, we feel that this is the most fun to attend in person because of its spontaneity. The cheers are never practiced and there are no drums to guide you. Instead, everything breaks out organically. When attending a Manila Clasico match, all you need to know is whether you’re for Ginebra or Purefoods; the rest just takes care of itself.
(Ginebra faces San Mig Coffee on November 4. Save the date!)

12. Norman Black at Talk ‘N Text


AKTV/Paolo Papa
Chot Reyes steered Talk ‘N Text to four titles and six finals appearance during over the past four years. It’d be interesting to see Norman Black get back into the pro game after a decade away from a PBA head coaching job.

13. Enrico Villanueva back as a Bull

We still have fond memories of Enrico Villanueva popping his jersey after monster dunks when he played for Red Bull, where he enjoyed superstar status after leading the team to the 2005-06 Fiesta Conference title. He may not be as explosive as he once was, but we’re hoping the old red jersey could bring out the Raging Bull in Villanueva.

14. Free Nonoy Baclao!

We’ve always been big fans of Noy Baclao, the soft-spoken former top overall pick from Ateneo who has spent the past year-and-a-half buried deep in Petron’s bench. Now he’s got an opportunity to showcase what he’s got on a young Air 21 team.

15. PBA goes retro


Robert Jaworski's Meralco jersey from 1971 in the defunct MICAA. Photo courtesy of Carlo Ricohermoso
Meralco will be sporting its throwback jerseys from its 1970s MICAA, while Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s new jerseys have an old school feel. We hope that this would be the start of a trend for PBA teams wearing retro jerseys and using simpler, more classic logo designs instead of cartoonish logos that were last popular in the mid-1990s.

16. Ginebra fans going crazy on social media

In sports, it’s not out of the ordinary for fans to celebrate on social media when their teams win. But Ginebra diehards are a different breed; they actually take to Twitter to pour out their sorrows, and those become trending topics.
Last season, they pondered how they would spend their summer without Ginebra, after their favorite team was eliminated. They also had a little fun with coach Siot Tanquingcen, playing a Twitter game with his name after a painful loss to B-MEG.

17. The Beast

We’ve seen Calvin Abueva beast it up in the NCAA. He won’t join Alaska until after the league wraps up, but we can’t wait to find out whether he could do the same in the PBA.

18. Awesome fan art

Wallpapers, infographics, photo memes… we love all of them!

19. AKTV’s courtside reporters

Admit it, you missed them as much as we did.

AKTV/Paolo Papa

20. Marcio Lassiter’s Petron debut

It feels like Marcio Lassiter was traded to Petron eons ago. Amazingly, he has never played a single game for his new team after missing all of the Governors’ Cup.

21. Chris Tiu in the PBA


PBA/Nuki Sabio
Sure he’s played in the league before as part of the original SMART-Gilas national team. Tiu was a big what-if for PBA fans after he skipped the draft last year despite being one of the more productive players — and certainly the most visible — among SMART-Gilas players. Now he gets to show people just how good he really is as he struts his wares a real PBA player.

22. A full season from the Cebuano hotshot

Dondon Hontiveros suffered an ACL tear in his first game last season, then saw limited action in the Governors’ Cup for Petron. He was traded to Alaska in the offseason, and he figures to get much more minutes with his new team than his old one.

23. Championship celebrations

We love how the goofy side of coaches and players come out when they win a PBA title.

AKTV/Paolo Papa

AKTV/Pranz Kaeno Billones

24. Championship celebrations featuring Erika Padilla

This deserves its own entry.

25. The big boys will be back


AKTV/Paolo Papa
It won’t be for a few months, but the Commissioner’s Cup will once again feature no height restrictions on imports.

26. Glenn Capacio, PBA coach

We’ll admit: We’re fans of Glenn Capacio during his playing days as a defensive stopper, so we’ll be rooting for him to do well as coach of GlobalPort.

27. The PBA’s next viral sensation

We just know that something goofy will happen, like the classic Mick Pennisi flop, and we’re eager to find out what it’ll be.

28. Jayson Sensation

Talk ‘N Text did not play in the finals for the first time in six conferences, and that allowed Jayson Castro to finally get treatment on his injured ankles. He was busting up everyone last season on broken wheels; we couldn’t imagine what he would be doing to the rest of the league when he’s completely healthy.

29. Extra Rice Incorporated layeth the smacketh down

Beau Belga and JR Quinahan are the new generation of the Bruise Brothers, the league’s foremost enforcers. During last season’s Governors’ Cup finals, Belga drew so much anger from the B-MEG crowd that he may as well have been a wrestling heel. We love it, just as long as he doesn’t hit anyone with a steel chair.

30. Big Game James


InterAKTV/Justin Gener
James Yap struggled for many parts of the eliminations last season, but always raised his game during the finals. He performs best when he’s on the big stage.

31. Sakuragi’s healthy finger


AKTV/Paul Ryan Tan
Marc Pingris fractured his left ring finger during the Commissioner’s Cup finals, and spent the whole Governors’ Cup playing with a broken finger. With the offseason break, Sakuragi finally was able to give it time to heal, and we hope that it actually had enough time to get healthy.

32. Cabagnot in the clutch


AKTV file photo/Paolo Papa
We know it’s going to happen: The Petron Blaze Boosters will be down late in a ballgame with just seconds to go. They’d call a timeout to set up a play, but it will be well-played, so Alex Cabagnot would have no choice but to take it himself. And he’d make the shot. We all know it’s going to happen, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.

33. In the red corner… Yousef Taha

We’re kinda curious what happens when GlobalPort plays Air 21 again because of this:

34. The comeback kids

They’re not star players, but we’re looking forward to seeing guys like Nic Belasco, Eddie Laure, Marvin Cruz, and Chris Pacana continuing their respective PBA careers after spending the past season in the ASEAN Basketball League.

35. More material for Rob Reyes

Have you been reading Rob’s excellent columns here on InterAKTV? If you haven’t you’re missing out. Check them out here.

36. Jayjay Helterbrand, elder statesman


PBA/Nuki Sabio
The 2009 PBA Most Valuable Player wants to play until he’s 40. If he continues to stay healthy, we have no doubt that he can do it.

37. Dynamite Danny playing like he’s 20


AKTV/Paolo Papa
We hope Danny Seigle can have another run like he did in last year’s Commissioner’s Cup, when he went gangbusters and played like it’s 1999.

38. Simon Atkins

We think he’ll be the first backup point guard to become a worldwide trending topic on Twitter.
What are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments.



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