Purefoods, SMB, Rain or Shine, Alaska all gain thumbs-up from our man on the beat. See PBA preview SAN MIGUEL BEERMEN 2013-14 Record: 25-17 Rookie: Ronald Pascual New acquisitions: Nelbert Omolon Strengths: With the brand-new season comes brand-new hope for San Miguel Beer, which is starting the 40th season with a new coach in Leo Austria. Austria was at the helm when the Beermen ruled last year’s Asean Basketball League championship, dethroning Indonesia Warriors via a 3-0 Finals sweep. Though the ABL is a completely different league from the PBA, San Miguel hopes that Austria’s winning attitude could rub off on the Beermen, whose last PBA championship happened in the 2011 Governors Cup. Every time you look at San Miguel, one has to begin with reigning league MVP June Mar Fajardo. His size, his strength, plus the wealth of international experience gained while playing for Gilas Pilipinas the past two months, will all be beneficial for the Beermen, who are out to finally live up to expectations this season. Complementing the 6-10 Fajardo are San Miguel’s armada of outside gunners like Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Lutz, Chris Ross, Ronald Tubid and even rookie Ronald Pascual, who emerged as the third overall pick this year. Weaknesses: San Miguel has one of the strongest rosters on paper, but a quick look at the team’s history over the past three seasons would show a revolving door as far as players and coaches are concerned. Since the 2013 season, only five players have managed to stay within the flagship team of San Miguel Corp., namely Santos, Lassiter, Lutz, Fajardo and Paolo Hubalde. Also, over the last two seasons, the team has seen coaches come and go, namely Serbian Rajko Toroman, Olsen Racela, Gee Abanilla and last season’s active consultant Todd Purves before Austria was appointed as the Beermen’s new coach a few months ago. With each coaching change, comes a new system and new coaching style. Stability, or the lack of it, is the Beermens main problem. Forecast: San Miguel remains at the top five teams to beat this season. But for the Beermen to fully realize their potential and end the season with a championship, it is imperative for the players to completely buy into Austria’s system.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 09:34:31 +0000