(Last of Three Parts)
Like most degenerate gamblers out there, we want to spend the bulk of our cash on actual gambling, not paying side-court tickets to see half-assed players being manipulated by coaches with half-crazed plays. So we started with this three-part series, not only to track Meralco Bolts' rampant failure in their four years in the league, but to share it with the world!
We conclude the series about Bolts players who have disappointed their fans this season and maybe even in the next, as well as throw intentional jabs at coach Ryan Gregorio, who has turned a promising team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) into something short of laughable.
In the previous two articles, we stick our necks in the line to choose Gary David and Danny Ildefonso as possible role players and not much else based on a couple different factors including; expectations, salary, overall team performance, and in the case of coach Gregorio all of the above.
To emphasize this again, just to be clear, this is not a list of the worst players in the PBA, or players who have had the worst season, just the three most disappointing Meralco Bolts players based on this season alone.
John Wilson
John Wilson had a great start with the Meralco Bolts after he was acquired together with Noy Baclao from the Air 21 Express in exchange for forward Vic Manuel, veteran center Carlo Sharma, and second round pick in 2015. He could have easily been crowned as the PBA’s sixth man of the year and deserved every vote that he received. The Bolts used him perfectly, he was knocking down shots consistently (12.93 points per game during the 2013 Philippine Cup) and everything just seemed to work.
Then the season-ending Governor’s Cup started and a new kind of John Wilson started to rear his ugly head. The jacked off-balance triples that went in early in the season were not there anymore. They weren't falling as expected and when they don't fall the poor shot selection becomes way more noticeable (3.0 points per game, 40 percent shooting, and am efficiency rating of 12.70 in the current conference).
Recently, the Bolts looked like they had one last battle in them as they fought for a possible playoff spot. However, Wilson’s numbers were nowhere to be found. It was not really his fault for playing only for three minutes in a humiliating loss to Air 21 Express last 4 June 2014, but in the limited time he was on court, he absolutely killed the Bolts’ playoff hopes.
Not only has he not looked like a sixth man of the year, but at times he looks more like a D-League player than a quality bench player. If his shot starts falling again next season he could definitely return to his sixth man ways, but he's always gonna be bad when it comes to shot selection and defense and those things aren't changing. From a possible reigning sixth man, to someone that has the potential to become the second coming of Ato Agustin, Wilson turns in the third most disappointing season for the Bolts.
Hopefully, Wilson works himself back into shape during the off-season and actually gets back to contributing at PBA level at the start of the 2014 Philippine Cup before he decides to spend an entire off-season eating fried cheese curds and mozzarella sticks from Chilis.
(End of Series)
(Part 1, Part 2)
We conclude the series about Bolts players who have disappointed their fans this season and maybe even in the next, as well as throw intentional jabs at coach Ryan Gregorio, who has turned a promising team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) into something short of laughable.
In the previous two articles, we stick our necks in the line to choose Gary David and Danny Ildefonso as possible role players and not much else based on a couple different factors including; expectations, salary, overall team performance, and in the case of coach Gregorio all of the above.
To emphasize this again, just to be clear, this is not a list of the worst players in the PBA, or players who have had the worst season, just the three most disappointing Meralco Bolts players based on this season alone.
John Wilson
John Wilson had a great start with the Meralco Bolts after he was acquired together with Noy Baclao from the Air 21 Express in exchange for forward Vic Manuel, veteran center Carlo Sharma, and second round pick in 2015. He could have easily been crowned as the PBA’s sixth man of the year and deserved every vote that he received. The Bolts used him perfectly, he was knocking down shots consistently (12.93 points per game during the 2013 Philippine Cup) and everything just seemed to work.
Then the season-ending Governor’s Cup started and a new kind of John Wilson started to rear his ugly head. The jacked off-balance triples that went in early in the season were not there anymore. They weren't falling as expected and when they don't fall the poor shot selection becomes way more noticeable (3.0 points per game, 40 percent shooting, and am efficiency rating of 12.70 in the current conference).
Recently, the Bolts looked like they had one last battle in them as they fought for a possible playoff spot. However, Wilson’s numbers were nowhere to be found. It was not really his fault for playing only for three minutes in a humiliating loss to Air 21 Express last 4 June 2014, but in the limited time he was on court, he absolutely killed the Bolts’ playoff hopes.
Not only has he not looked like a sixth man of the year, but at times he looks more like a D-League player than a quality bench player. If his shot starts falling again next season he could definitely return to his sixth man ways, but he's always gonna be bad when it comes to shot selection and defense and those things aren't changing. From a possible reigning sixth man, to someone that has the potential to become the second coming of Ato Agustin, Wilson turns in the third most disappointing season for the Bolts.
Hopefully, Wilson works himself back into shape during the off-season and actually gets back to contributing at PBA level at the start of the 2014 Philippine Cup before he decides to spend an entire off-season eating fried cheese curds and mozzarella sticks from Chilis.
(End of Series)
(Part 1, Part 2)
now its clear that we'll gain nothing from the losses we suffer this seaso, no thanks to coach RG trading style, which is really bulok and stinky... pls see related article at spin.ph
ReplyDeleteThanks to trade with Meralco, Rain or Shine again stands to get PBA rookie draft lottery pick
From: Snow BaduaJune 13, 2014, 02:30 pm
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Thanks to trade with Meralco, Rain or Shine again stands to get PBA rookie draft lottery pick
Matt Ganuelas, left, Bobby Ray Parks, and Stanley Pringle are three of the prospective rookies which Rain or Shine hopes to see in the 2014 PBA draft class. Jerome Ascano
RAIN or Shine already owns one of the deepest and youngest teams in the PBA at the moment - yet it is bound to become even better through next season's rookie draft.
Thanks to a deal with Meralco in August 2012, the Elasto Painters may end up with another lottery pick in the coming rookie draft to shore up a team that already counts on the likes of Gilas Pilipinas mainstays Jeff Chan, Paul Lee and Beau Belga, as well as Chris Tiu and Raymond Almazan.
As it is, Rain or Shine, now one of the most competitive teams in the pro league, have found a goldmine in trades with Meralco, including a three-way trade also involving Air21 that saw the team gain first-round picks in 2011 and 2013 which the Bolts got from the Express.
That deal saw the Painters give up Sol Mercado and Paolo Bugia, who ended up at Meralco. In return, Rain or Shine got Beau Belga, Ronjay Buenafe, Ronnie Matias and the two first-round picks. Air21 got Reed Juntilla, Jay-R Reyes and a second-round pick of Meralco.
Rain or Shine used those two first-round picks to grab Lee, who ended up as the Rookie of the Year in 2011, and Almazan, the No. 3 pick overall in this season's draft.
“Lumalabas kasi dun laging pandagdag sa trade 'yung (mga draft) picks, nagkataon magaganda ang pool,” said Rain or Shine co-owner Raymund Yu.
Now the Elasto Painters stand to reap the benefits again from the straight swap in 2012 that saw them deal Buenafe for Meralco's 2014 first-round pick, which could turn out to be very valuable considering the season the Bolts have had so far.
At the moment, Meralco's pick is at No. 2 behind only GlobalPort, low enough to put the Elasto Painters in the lottery with great odds to win the top pick overall in the draft set on August 24 at Robinsons Place in Ermita, Manila.
And this early, Rain or Shine has made it clear that it has no plan to trade away the draft right as it looks forward to dipping its hands into a draft pool which the team hopes would include ABL star Stanley Pringle, former UAAP MVP Bobby Ray Parks, Chris Banchero, and Matt Ganuelas, among others.
where's jr reyes, (traded to ginebra for the injured kerby raymundo), ryan buenafe (now with globalport) and bugia? sana may raymond almazan n tayo ngayon at possibly ray-ray parks or a banchero or pringle. bwiset k ryan gregorio.... bwiset ka.... mahiya k nman, pls
pba really sucks.... talagang iniensure nila (commisioners & officials & refs) n pumasok ang mga SMC teams s top 4. if youre watching right now the game air 21 vs SMB, nung lumamang ang air 21 nung 1st q, biglang nag-iba ang tawag ng mga refs, starting nung tawag kay poligrates against ross, tapos puro technical n inabot ng air 21, the refs are not allowing air 21 to play hard defense against the beermen while not doing the same with SMB, very frustrating, sean was thrown-out becoz of 2 techs, one against maierhofer who was grabbing his jersey and clearly commiting a foul, & the other against the flopping tubid. now we can see the air 21 losing the concentration becoz of the booboo calls commited by the refs.... surely & clearly, the PBA was under SMC's hand. SMC dictates the PBA
ReplyDeleteGrabe na ang garapalan sa PBA. Obvious na.
ReplyDelete