Petron Signs Governor's Cup 2013 Import: D-League Standout Elijah Millsap

After months of waiting and intense scouting, the Petron Blaze Boosters finally have an import for the upcoming 2013 Governor's Cup competition in the PBA. The said import played for LA D-Fenders at the D-League as a guard and stands 6'6" tall. It was San Miguel Executive Noli Eala who confirmed the news over the weekend.

According to Eala, Millsap will be joining the team once the Summer League is over at the NBA. His expected date of arrival will be on July 25.

During his stint with LA D-Fenders, Millsap produced an average of 17.2 points in addition to his near 6 rebounds per game. He has played a total of 44 games for the LA D-Fenders thus far, in which he posted the aforementioned numbers. If his family name rings a bell, he is the younger brother of Jazz forward Paul Millsap.

Head coach Olsen Racela has not leaked any information about Millsap while negotiation is still ongoing. Thus, the media thought all along that they were negotiating with Othyus Jeffers because the team wanted to keep their negotiations top secret until such time that the contract has been finalized. Jeffers, on the other hand, is also a veteran in the NBA wherein he formerly played for the Spurs, Wizards, and the Jazz.

When asked about the reason behind their decision to pick Millsap as Petron import for the 2013 PBA Governor's Cup, he cited versatility. They wanted an import that can play "at both ends of the court". After all, they just recently traded Jay Washington to GlobalPort so they wanted to fill in that gap. They are also looking to play Arwind Santos and Elijah Millsap in the same power forward positions.

Stay tuned for more updates on import signings at the upcoming PBA 2013 Governor's Cup.

PBA 2013 Trade Updates

Image: iamjammed.com

A new trade has been approved by the PBA Board Directors early this week, which is a three-team trade deal involving Barako Bull Energy Cola, Talk N Text Tropang Texters, and Meralco Bolts. There are also five players involved in the said trade deal involving the aforemention teams namely Don Allado, Sean Anthony, Jared Dillinger, Ronjay Buenafe, and Gilbert Bulawan.

The final result of this three-way trade is as follows:

Barako Bull acquires Ronjay Buenafe and Gilbert Bulawan;
Meralco Bolts acquire Don Allado and Jared Dillinger;
Talk N Text acquires Sean Anthony

In another news, Jay Washington has gotten his wish to be traded from the Petron Blaze Boosters lineup. In the trade deal that has been approved by the PBA, the two-time Best Player of the Conference awardee will soon be suiting up for the GlobalPort Batang Pier. His request for a trade has been on hold for a long while now and was sparked by the lack of playing time, along with the dismal performance by his team during the past few conferences in the PBA (despite having a talent-laden lineup).

The team's dismal performance and his limited minutes has contributed to Jay Washington posting his lowest season average (8.2 points) since entering the league. Washington isn't one to be shy about venting his frustration about his position in the team and has since requested for a trade. In exchange for releasing Jay Washington to GlobalPort, Petron acquires the rights to their second round draft picks for 2016 and 2017, as well as rookie Jason Deutchman.

GlobalPort head coach Junel Baculi is positive about the acquisition of Jay Washington because they needed the boost inside the paint, something of which Jay Wash has been unable to do since the Petron lineup is filled with other big men in the likes of Arwind Santos and Jun Mar Fajardo.

PBA 2013 Commissioner's Cup Game Schedule: April 8-17, 2013

During Sunday night's games at the ongoing PBA 2013 Commissioner's Cup, both the Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel and Petron Blaze Boosters had sealed their fate for the next round of competition after beating Meralco Bolts and Barako Bull Energy Cola, respectively. At the first match of Sunday Superball at the PBA, the Blaze Boosters spoiled former NBA player DJ Mbenga's debut as they beat the Barako Bull via an 88-77 match. The game was close for the first three quarters until Petron pulled away during the early goings of the fourth quarter until Barako Bull could not recover any longer. Mbenga's lack of conditioning also played a key factor as he was looking rusty and slow at times, leaving the more agile Henry Sims opportunity to exploit the paint.

Meanwhile, the Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel team barely clinched the win with a shot by their import Vernon Macklin with 12.9 seconds left in the game. Previous to Macklin's heroic shot that ended up sealing the win for Brgy. Ginebra, Sunday Salvacion sunk a three-point shot from the corner despite Mac Baracael's contention, which pushed Meralco Bolts to the lead at 89-88. But with 1.2 seconds remaining in the game, Eric Dawson could not sink his high-looping shot against Vernon Macklin, thus giving Brgy. Ginebra their 7th win and guaranteeing that they move to the next round. Meanwhile, Meralco Bolts drop to 6-6 and is on a three-way tie with Talk N Text and San Mig Coffee Mixers.

To continue watching the action at the PBA 2013 Commissioner's Cup, make sure to take note of the schedule for the succeeding games. Here is the list of games for the coming week:

Disclaimer: Image courtesy of pba.inquirer.net

Petron Blazers Welcome New Import Henry Sims

Image: Petron Blaze Boosters official Facebook fan page

Petron Blaze Boosters has a new import! It's been a few days that the Twitter world went abuzz as Petron is still hard in its search for a new import to replace Rodney White, the former PBA import whom they recruited after the PBA imposed a lifetime ban on their then-import Renaldo Balkman following a choking incident that involved his own teammate. However, White had been less than impressive in his two games with Petron, prompting the SMC management to look for another import that could help out the team's cause in their ongoing campaign to make the playoffs round of the 2013 PBA Commissioner's Cup.


And it seems like their search is finally over as SMC Executive Noli Eala has confirmed the news. Henry Sims is the new Petron import and is expected to suit up in Petron's game this Friday against Meralco Bolts. Eala took to his Twitter account to confirm the news saying, "Its official. Its Henry Sims!"

The news came out last Monday when head coach Olsen Racela confirmed that they had offered Sims a contract to play as Petron's import in the PBA. According to Racela, "We want to have a permanent import."

When asked about their motivation for choosing Sims, despite the fact that they had trouble with sealing the contract and having Gabe Freeman on standby, Racela said, "He's bigger than our two previous imports as he plays No. 4 and 5 positions."

The impressive portfolio of Henry Sims had made him their top choice for import as of the moment. Even Brgy. Ginebra import, Vernon Macklin, is impressed with Sims. After all, Sims is a fellow alumnus from Georgetown, which is why he knows how Sims operate on and off the court.

According to the Ginebra import, "He's got a great attitude, he is a young guy. He just wants to work hard to make it to the next level." Macklin can guarantee that Sims won't be making a repeat of the horror that Balkman brought to the team.

If Sims can prove to be the missing piece in this team's puzzle, he might help improve their standing after losing two games in a row since winning the first one following Balkman's ban.

Renaldo Balkman and the Choking Incident

Image credit: Spin.ph

The Petron Blaze Boosters entered into their game yesterday, March 8, versus the Alaska Aces with a 5-1 standing. Both teams are tied for first place and the winner of this match would gain solo lead in the ongoing 2013 PBA Commissioner's Cup. Hence, fans came in droves at the Smart Araneta Coliseum expecting a tough match between the top two teams of the conference. And that is certainly what the fans got... and then some.

Prior to this game, Renaldo Balkman has shown great performance while suiting up for the Petron Blaze Boosters managing to get five straight wins and shooting to the top of the team standings. But when a series of calls did not turn his way and with his team on the verge of losing the competition for solo leadership, Balkman went from solid baller to a complete madman. To give you an idea as to how quickly the situation went from bad to worse, he ended up shoving and choking his own teammate. Yes, his own teammate. And the teammate in question is no less than team captain Arwind Santos, who is also one of Petron's franchise players.

Watch this clip from InterAKTV to watch the series of actions leading up to the choking incident involving his teammate Arwind Santos:

Right now, fans are enraged at social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Many have even campaigned for getting rid of Balkman, citing the player's unacceptable attitude during yesterday's game as tipping point. As a former NBA player, fans expected more out of Balkman given that he has had his stint at the world's most prestigious basketball league. But I guess you can't teach class.

Since that incident, however, Balkman took to his Twitter account to express his apologies to his teammates, the fans, and most especially to Arwind Santos. Balkman was also summoned to the Commissioner's Office on Monday wherein the penalties to his actions were to be determined.

PBA News: Trade Updates for 2012-13 Commissioner's Cup

The opening of the PBA Commissioner's Cup conference is right around the corner. Hence, players must be excited to see how well the preparations are going for their favorite teams. There were quite a lot of trades that happened off-season, involving several players and teams (in fact, some teams got involved in a multi-player trade) so that will hopefully shake up the action this upcoming conference.

Image: pinoyexchange.com

Barako Bull - Younger, Better Lineup?

During last year's PBA Commissioner's Cup, and in an intensely competitive import-laden conference, Barako Bull made it to as far as the semi-finals series after they trounced the Alaska Aces in the quarterfinals series only to be defeated by the Talk N Text Tropang Texters. This year, they are hoping to replicate their success and improve it, if possible. To make that happen, the team got involved in a big trade involving a few other teams to acquire younger players into their lineup.

Hence, the team moniker "Manong Brigade" might no longer suit the team as they have unloaded veterans to acquire younger guys. The addition of head coach Rajko Toroman will also complete the revamping of this team. New players include JC Intal, Jonas Villanueva, Allein Maliksi, Emman Monfort, and Jojo Duncil. In addition, formerly suspended player Don Allado has re-signed with the team. In exchange, they released Leo Najorda and Lester Alvarez, along with Alex Mallari who they acquired from Petron for Ronald Tubid.

Alaska Aces Releases Baracael

Mac Baracael is one of those players that were involved in the multi-player trade in the PBA during the off-season. According to coach Luigi Trillo, it was a difficult decision to let go of the forward off of his lineup, but he had to do so for the betterment of the team as Baracael is no longer happy with his playing time with the Alaska Aces.

By giving up Baracael to the Kings, the Aces acquired Aldrech Ramos that also got little playing minutes with the San Mig Coffee Mixers. The Aces coaching staff believes that acquiring Ramos would benefit their inside play now that Sonny Thoss will have another big man to help him out.

Image: pinoyexchange.com

Air 21 Trade Proposal Turned Down by TNT

With Japeth Aguilar exploring more options for his basketball career abroad, Air21 is expressing their interest to obtain a trade deal with Talk N Text in order to get the rights for Japeth Aguilar should he decide to return in the PBA. However, the trade proposal is not working out well as the Texters feel that the proposal is not appealing enough for them.

The 3-time consecutive All Filipino Cup champion Talk N Text Tropang Texters received an offer from Air 21 for Ogie Menor and Noy Baclao for Japeth Aguilar. The proposal came after this local agent has expressed Aguilar's desire to be traded from the Talk N Text team. One factor that might be causing Talk N Text to hold off on the deal is the ongoing negotations with GlobalPort involving Rabeh Al-Hussaini.

Injury Update on Petron Blaze Boosters’ Marcio Lassiter: X-ray Shows No Fracture

On Thursday night, Petron Blaze Boosters was put in a must-win situation against San Mig Coffee Mixers who had a twice to beat advantage. But aside from Petron losing the game, which means they are eliminated from the playoffs round of the PBA Philippine Cup, one of their guys, Marcio Lassiter also suffered a bad fall that forced him out of the court in a stretcher. The Fil-Am guard was rushed to the hospital wherein he will be taken a look at by medical professionals with the team’s medical team fearing that he might have suffered more than a bruised lower back due to the impact of the fall.

The incident happened in the final quarter wherein the limping Lassiter rushed to his man, James Yap, who is already attempting to rush to the basket from the inbounds. As he jumped to fend off his opponent’s shot, Lassiter was launched into the air and landed hard on his back onto the floor. He got carried off by his teammates back to the bench but it wasn’t until a stretcher was pulled out when fans realized that it could have been serious.

Earlier today, Marcio Lassiter undergone X-rays to determine the extent of his injury. Thankfully, the X-ray result proved to be positive with no fracture detected following the examination. Noli Eala, SMC executive, made the announcement via his Twitter account wherein he revealed the latest update about Lassiter’s condition.

His Twitter status reads,

“Initial X-ray findings: no fracture, just muscle spasm and bone bruise. Marcio still in the hospital though for more observation due to continued pain.”

Not long after that, Eala updated his Twitter account with another positive news for fans of Lassiter:

“Great news! Marcio will be discharged tonight. He is a lot better and walking already. Thanks to all who prayed for him.”

Lassiter was said to complain of intense pain on his lower back wherein the team’s medical personnel feared he might have suffered a fracture on his lower spine. More updates on the development of his injury and recovery soon as we have them.