Romero's PBA dream stays alive

MANILA, Philippines - With seven PBL titles and an ABL championship under his belt, AirAsia Philippine Patriots co-owner Mikee Romero is still hopeful of someday enjoying a royal reign in the PBA.

“It remains a dream,” said Romero’s chief lieutenant and Patriots team manager Erick Arejola the other day. “Maybe, when the right time comes, Mr. Romero could own a PBA team and contend for the championship. Mr. Romero loves challenges and that would be the ultimate challenge – to bring a team to the top of the PBA. Right now, his focus is the ABL.”

The Patriots captured the inaugural ABL crown in the 2009-10 season then lost to the Chang Thailand Slammers in the finals last campaign. Only one player, Warren Ybanez, was retained from the previous season’s lineup as new coach Glenn Capacio revamped the roster to rebuild from the disappointment of a wipeout in the title series.

Former PBA imports Steve Thomas and Gabe Freeman led the Patriots’ charge last season. The Patriots’ new imports are 6-9 Nakiea Miller of Iona University and 6-6 Anthony Johnson of the University of Louisana at Lafayette.

“The ABL doesn’t compete with the PBA,” said Arejola. “In fact, I think it’s a complementary league. We sign up former PBA players who want to prove they’re capable of going back. We’re lucky to recruit some collegiate stars as most of the top players are in the D-League. The ABL runs from January to June so after the season, the best performers get the chance to try out for the PBA.”

The former Patriots who moved from the ABL to the PBA this season were Alex Crisano, Chito Jaime and Allein Maliksi. “We’re happy when that happens,” said Arejola. “We want to give players more options to develop their careers. Jerwin (Gaco) was one of our players from the ABL’s first season who jumped to the PBA.”

Arejola said the ABL is on the verge of a strong breakthrough.  “We’ve got eight teams, a record high, in our third season,” he said. “There are two Philippine and two Thai teams. A Vietnam team is participating for the first time, replacing Brunei. The competition is outstanding. The TV coverage is Asean-wide. More and more fans are realizing we’re for real. Each team is allowed three Asean imports so that opens up opportunities for more Filipinos to play.”

Arejola said former Patriots coach Louie Alas begged off from continuing his bench chores, paving the way for Capacio’s arrival. “Glenn’s fine,” said Arejola. “We spoke with Glenn to check on his availability early. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for the job so we also spoke with Leo Austria and Bong Ramos. Then, we went back to Glenn after a month and he was still available. He took it as a sign. We’re assembled a competitive lineup with Al (Vergara) and Rob (Wainwright) as our leaders. Al played with us in the PBL but never before in the ABL.”

The Patriots’ rising star is 6-5 Aldrech Ramos, formerly with Smart Gilas. “Aldrech is an impact player and a future PBA first round pick,” said Arejola. “He plays three or four, can put the ball on the floor, has a good perimeter game. He’s a fighter and a shot blocker. We think he’s more versatile than (San Miguel’s) Junmar Fajardo and his advantage is the experience with Gilas.”

Only three players in the Patriots cast are without PBA credentials – Ramos, Eder Saldua and Bogart Raymundo. The others are PBA veterans, namely, Vergara, Marcy Arellano, Reed Juntilla, Jonathan Fernandez, Eddie Laure, Erick Rodriguez, Ardy Larong, Ybanez and Wainwright.

“We’ve got a good relationship with San Miguel Beer, the other Filipino team in the ABL,” said Arejola. “We share the same homecourt, the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig, like the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers share the Staples Center. I expect both teams to be title contenders.”

In what could be a preview of this year’s finals, San Miguel beat the Patriots, 84-76, in a pre-season tournament in Bangkok recently. The Beermen’s early preparation paid off. Capacio conceded that “they deserved to win, they prepared long while we’re still jelling as a team … but our advantage is we already have an idea of what kind of opposition we’ll be facing.”

Arejola said the Patriots will go all out to regain the ABL throne. “It’s redemption time,” he said. “We were blanked in the finals last season and it was a painful loss. Our imports are solid. A. J. played three conferences in the PBA and he’s a known scorer. Nakiea is a veteran who has played in the ABL since its start. Our PBA veterans and collegiate players want to prove themselves. Coach Glenn is highly motivated. If we get it together, I think we’ll be a serious title contender.”