PBA Commissioner’s Cup defending champion San Miguel Beer is in danger of not making it to the eight-team playoffs. There’s still a slim chance they’ll advance with three games left in their schedule but at 4-5, San Miguel is in deep trouble considering next in line are NorthPort (7-3) tonight, Converge (8-3) on Friday and TNT (6-2) on Sunday.
The Beermen got off to a rough start, opening at 1-2 and former head coach Leo Austria was brought back to the saddle to right the ship. Since Austria’s reinstatement, San Miguel has gone 3-3. In EASL, San Miguel is the only winless team, losing five in a row by an average margin of 14.4. A 31-point spanking by Hiroshima last Jan. 8 was painful.
San Miguel’s import situation has been a damper. Bennie Boatwright took the Beermen to the throne in the previous Commissioner’s Cup but he’s not available this time, still recovering from heel surgery last August. Nine of 13 teams haven’t changed imports this conference. San Miguel tops the list with most replacements, from Quincy Miller to Torren Jones to Jabari Narcis to Malik Pope. Terrafirma, Eastern and Meralco are other teams that switched. The Bolts went from Akil Mitchell to DJ Kennedy and back to Mitchell. Terrafirma took in Brandon Edwards to replace Ryan Richards while Eastern started with Cameron Clark then slid in Chris McLaughlin.
Pope, 28, is nowhere near the caliber of a Justin Brownlee or Rondae Hollis-Jefferson or Boatwright. From his four-year varsity career at San Diego State to his stints in seven countries, he’s never averaged more than 12.8 points, his norm as a collegiate senior in 2017-18. In his San Miguel debut last Saturday, the 6-10 center scored a quiet 14 points on 10 attempts in 38:18 minutes. The Beermen lost to Meralco, 100-93.
San Miguel’s over-reliance on eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo has shortened the team’s rotation to a crippling level. Only four locals are averaging at least 20 minutes with JMF leading the pack at 39:44. The others are Marcio Lassiter (28:00), CJ Perez (27:26) and new hire Juami Tiongson (22:57). Crowd favorite Kyt Jimenez is gone and Jeron Teng has played only two games, averaging 2.5 points.
San Miguel’s average age is close to 34 years old with only hardly-deployed rookie Avan Nava less than 30. It’s a reason why the Beermen are last in the league in fastbreak points (7.6). However, San Miguel is No. 1 in rebounding and second chance points, mainly through JMFs efforts. He’s averaging 18.2 points and 17.1 boards. Only two other locals are averaging in double figure points, Perez (15.9) and Tiongson (10.1). San Miguel is No. 11 in offense and field goal percentage, indicating an imbalance in spreading the wealth. It doesn’t help that the Beermen are only No. 9 in assists and next to last in average free throw attempts (20.3). San Miguel still has an outside chance to barge into the playoffs but if they latch on to No. 7 or No. 8, a twice-to-win disadvantage wouldn’t be a pleasant welcome to the quarterfinals.