PBA 2012-13 Commissioner's Cup Opens February 8

image: PBA Facebook official

The stage is set for a new round of battle as the PBA 2012-13 Commissioner's Cup will kick off on Friday, February 8, 2013. It should be an explosive one as we get to witness a slew of new imports helping out their respective teams in their bid to win the Commissioner's Cup trophy. There were also a number of multi-team and multi-player trades involved during the off-season, which should give a lot of fans something to look forward to as a lot of teams nearly had complete revamping to prepare for the new conference.

With several propositions made, the most talked about trade took place last week after Comm. Chito Salud has approved it. This particular deal involves a straight-up deal between Talk 'N Text wherein they released Japeth Aguilar (who has expressed his desire to be traded via his agent) in exchange for Rabeh Al-Hussaini, formerly of GlobalPort Batang Pier. Hussaini, therefore, reunites with his former coach during his stint with the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP as he becomes the newest member of the Talk N Text team.

According to reports from the TNT management, Japeth Aguilar requested for a trade since he felt he wasn't getting enough playing time with the team. In fact, this fueled Aguilar's decision to try out for the NBA D-League wherein he has spent most of his time in over the past few months. But since Talk N Text holds his rights in the PBA, negotiation deals came at TNT's desk in an offer to have Aguilar on their team. Air 21 previously made a deal but the former did not find the offer appealing enough. 

Aside from Talk N' Text, GlobalPort also finalized a deal with the Meralco Bolts that allowed them to bring in the services of point guard Sol Mercado. In doing so, Globalport released a few players in the name of Vic Manuel, Josh Vanlandingham, and Rey Guevarra. In addition to acquiring Mercado in their lineup, GlobalPort also added Kelly Nabong and Jaypee Belencion into the roster as part of this deal.

This trade deal created a lot of buzz within the PBA fanatics community because this is the first time that a player who leads the league in terms of scoring and assists is traded to another team. During the 2012-13 Philippine Cup stint for Meralco Bolts, Mercado averaged 19.1 points and 6.7 assists per game.

However, Comm. Salud approved of this deal citing that they "are healthy for the players and teams involved, not to mention the league, as competitive balance among the member teams is decidedly enhanced."

Meanwhile, you can check out below for a preliminary schedule of games in February for the upcoming 2012-13 PBA Commissioner's Cup:

February 8, Friday, Smart Araneta Coliseum

Global Port vs Petron Blaze Boosters - 5:15 PM 
San Mig Coffee Mixers vs Barako Bull Energy - 7:30 PM
 
February 9, Saturday, Smart Araneta Coliseum

Alaska Aces vs Rain or Shine - 5:45 PM
Talk N Text vs Meralco Bolts - 8:00 PM

February 10, Sunday, Smart Araneta Coliseum

Barako Bull vs GlobalPort - 4:15 PM
Brgy. Ginebra vs Air21 Express - 6:30PM

February 13, Wednesday, Smart Araneta Coliseum

Meralco Bolts vs Alaska Aces - 5:15PM
Petron Blaze Boosters vs San Mig Coffee Mixers - 7:30PM

February 15, Friday, Smart Araneta Coliseum

Air21 Express vs Talk N Text - 5:15PM
Global Port vs Brgy. Ginebra - 7:30PM

February 16, Saturday, Puerto Princesa Palawan

Rain or Shine vs Meralco Bolts - 6:30PM

February 17, Sunday, Smart Araneta Coliseum

Alaska Aces vs Barako Bull - 4:15 PM
Brgy Ginebra vs Petron Blaze Boosters - 6:30PM

February 20, Wednesday, Smart Araneta Coliseum

Talk N Text vs Global Port - 5:15PM
Petron Blaze vs Meralco Bolts - 7:30PM

February 22, Friday, Mall of Asia Arena

Barako Bull vs Air21 Express - 5:15PM
San Mig Coffee Mixers vs Rain or Shine - 7:30PM

February 23, Saturday, Tubod Lanao del Norte

Brgy. Ginebra vs Alaska Aces - 6:30PM

February 24, Sunday, Smart Araneta Coliseum

Meralco Bolts vs GlobalPort - 4:15PM
Talk N Text vs San Mig Coffee Mixers - 6:30PM

February 27, Wednesday, Smart Araneta Coliseum

Air21 Express vs Rain or Shine - 5:15PM
Barako Bull vs Brgy. Ginebra - 7:30PM

Be sure to check back in for more updates on schedules and news on the ongoing PBA 2012-13 Commissioner's Cup.

PBA Philippine Cup 2013: Meralco Bolts Predictions

Last Philippine Cup was a roller coaster ride for Sol Mercado and the Meralco Bolts, as they finished with an 8-6 record, which only got them to the quarterfinals, then got sweep by the Petron Blaze Boosters in two games.

For the offseason, the Meralco Bolts made quite good improvements on their backcourt by drafting an exciting player, defender, and good rebounder Cliff Hodge, and a strong big man Kelly Nabong. The inclusion of Ronjay Buenafe to the lineup is also a good improvement for the Sol Mercado and Mark Cardona.

Everything seems to be in the right place for Meralco, until their trusted big man, Asi Taulava,opted to leave the team and play in the ABL. Suddenly, the Bolts frontcourt became a doughnut – a hole in the middle. Taulava is one of the league’s premiere big men, and his toughness in the pain and veteran leadership has been the anchor of the team for years. The team then scrambled to fill the hole with Carlo Sharma by trading their prospect Jason Ballesteros.

3rd Overall draft-pick Cliff Hodge Image: Interaksyon

Now the keys for the Meralco Bolts are:

How will the dribble-drive offense work without Asi?

Mercado is a tested and proven PG, we’ve seen it in his years in ROS and how he contributed in Smart Gilas 2.0’s successful run in the Jones Cup this year. He’s a power guard, he can drive past any defender, and break the defense and look for different scoring opportunities from there. But Asi was a vital part of that system, as he set good picks and rolls to the basket real nice. The backcourt (Cardona and Buenafe) though can do whatever they want in the wings, as Sol can easily find them.

Production in the pain

The dribble drive offense made tons of scoring opportunities for the Bolts, especially for Asi, as Sol can easily use his pick to break the defense and drop the ball to him, or Asi scores through putbacks from missed lay-ups. Now I don’t think they can do this with Jay-R Reyes or Sharma. These guys aren’t natural back-to-basket centers, and obviously not as tough as Asi in fighting for position in the paint. Good thing they have Cliff Hodge, this guy always finishes strong.

Two-man team no more

Mercado and Cardona are the two main guns of the team, but they should now steer away from relying too much on their duo and make good use of their resources. Buenafe can hit the three and drive to the basket. Hodge is a great all-around player; he can score, defend, and even pass the ball to the right person for higher scoring percentage. Marc Borboran is a long and athletic defender who can also finish strong, and Reynel Hugnatan is a tested player in the paint. But these guys need to step up their games to help Mercado and Cardona from the scoring load.

Clearly, Meralco got some firepower in the backcourt this season. But their revamped frontcourt is yet to be tested. Cardona needs to quit playing one-on-one isolations and use series of picks more before asking the ball from Mercado. If the dribble-drive offense works, then this team has a good chance for another quarterfinals spot, but I don’t think they can go 2 rounds past that. There’s just not enough firepower and dominance in the paint for this team this season. But I could be wrong, especially with Cliff Hodge in their line-up.

Read more Cup Predictions

Alaska Aces

Air21 Express

Rain or Shine Elasto Painters

Petron Blaze Boosters

Barako Bull Energy

San Mig coffee Mixers

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel

Talk 'N Text Tropan Texters

GlobalPort Batang Pier