I present two schools of thought.
Do you win a title as a benchwarmer, or do you want to become a superstar for a bottom-dwelling squad?
Say what you will about June Mar Fajardo, but he is livin’ it up with his seven MVPs, nine BPCs, four Finals MVPs, ten championships, and that elusive Asian Games gold medal. Even if you say he’s mostly a second-stringer during international tournaments, you can’t discount that he’s a grand slam away from becoming the PBA’s undisputed G.O.A.T.
And it’s crazy to think he’s the top dog in a team overflowing with top dogs. Or, at least, before they came to the San Miguel Beermen.
In a time when the PBA’s existence is rocked by overpowered SMC teams, struggling small-market squads, and unofficial farm teams, one answer to the league’s attendance woes is nerfing the top teams. Maybe it’s time for the teams to protect eight of their players and pool their unprotected guys. Frankly, there are a lot of players riding the SMC benches that are dimmed-worthy enough to start for other squads. Maybe the change of scenery could help these players, as well as the league itself.
Here are the 10 players in need of a team change next season.
GABE NORWOOD | RAIN OR SHINE ELASTO PAINTERS
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS (STILL ONGOING AS OF PRESS TIME) | 3.3PPG – 2.9RPG – 1.4APG – 24 GAMES*
I get that Gabe Norwood wants to retire as a ROS lifer, but one could hope he can pad his achievements. As it stands, Norwood is a one-time Mythical Second Teamer with two championships to show. At 39, he’s probably about to call it quits. With that said, Norwood could be a serviceable performer in San Miguel or Ginebra. Yeng Guiao tends to rest his vets for future franchise players. He did this in Red Bull during the time of Nelson Asaytono and Vince Hizon, and Asi Taulava’s numbers drastically dropped when YG moved to NLEX. Norwood is still averaging 20mpg, but it’s hard to pad a legacy if you’re playing for a small-market squad with a lot of 20-somethings.
SEAN ANTHONY | NLEX ROAD WARRIORS
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS | 7.1PPG – 4.1RPG – 2.0APG – 0.9SPG – 21 GAMES
Anthony has the same case as Norwood, in the sense that he can be a serviceable second-stringer for a title contender. With that said, he has yet to win a championship, and unlike Norwood, he has bounced from team to team. Turning 38 this year, he needs to play for a team with championship aspirations. Let’s leave Gary David and Wynne Arboleda’s legacies to them and help the other stars gain title glory.
JEO AMBOHOT | CONVERGE FIBERXERS
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS | 2.7PPG – 2.1RPG – 0.3BPG – 15 GAMES
The former NCAA Finals MVP is just an incoming third-year player. With that said, he’s also turning 28 this year, and in terms of development, batchmate, and fourth pick overall Justin Arana currently has a better PBA career. This season’s second-round pick, Bryan Santos, has also obtained his minutes. And while it’s a given that Converge will select Justine Baltazar, it’s likewise a given that Ambohot might see fewer minutes as well. Ambohot is never an offensive powerhouse but how can he show his defense if he can’t get out of the bench? Maybe he can transfer to Northport or Terrafirma, two other teams with a rich Letran population.
ALVIN PASAOL | MERALCO BOLTS
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS (STILL ONGOING AS OF PRESS TIME) | 1.1PPG – 1.3RPG – 24% FG – 16 GAMES*
Now I don’t know how big is his PBA stock at the moment, but it feels like he has been with the Bolts for a long time now and has yet to accomplish anything. Yes, there is a chance that an unsuccessful trade could lead to MPBL territory, but he’s probably joining to end up there anyway if he can’t raise his numbers. As a 6’3 combo forward, he found it difficult to transition his game in the PBA. It’s also hard for a scorer who once averaged 24.4 points for the UE Red Warriors to net just 1.1ppg in the current conference.
LARRY MUYANG | PHOENIX FUEL MASTERS
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS | 3.5PPG – 2.4RPG – 0.3APG – 21 GAMES
In NCAA S95, Muyang helped the Letran Knights to secure a championship. Posting 12.7ppg and 7.0rpg, this prompted Phoenix to make him the seventh pick of the S46 PBA Draft. The Fuel Masters need a tough-as-nails center, but he has since struggled to make a statement. This season, Muyang averaged 3.5ppg but with less than ten minutes of action. There’s a chance he’ll get better if he plays for a team that would give him more minutes.
VON PESSUMAL | BARANGAY GINEBRA KINGS
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS (STILL ONGOING AS OF PRESSTIME) | 2.3PPG – 0.7RPG – 26% 3PT FG – 17 GAMES*
One of the players selected to bolster the Gilas Pilipinas cadet pool in 2016, the former Ateneo shooter needs an opportunity to unleash hell on his opponents. After riding the San Miguel bench, people expected that he would benefit from a change of scenery. At first, Pessumal impressed the fans in the PBA On-Tour tourney. However, he rarely saw significant minutes this season. Ralph Cu has overtaken him in the rotation and most of his averages are career lows. Pessumal also turned 31 this year. In some ways, this is a blessing in disguise because while the fans hate when the SMC teams do this, the bench players with potential are the first players to go when the SMC teams finally decide on which player they would “harvest.”
BEN ADAMOS | NORTHPORT BATANG PIER
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS | 1.5PPG – 0.7RPG – 0.3APG – 12 GAMES
Ben Adamos has the same deal as Muyang and Pasaol. His situation is scarier though. Picked sixth overall, and ahead of both Pasaol and Muyang, the former Perpetual Alta is now playing for technically, his fifth team in four years. Granted that Alaska and Converge are practically the same team when he was part of it, Adamos has the tools, but just can’t find the team that would perfectly utilize his talents. Now Northport may be a young core, but if he’s going to play for a small amount of playing time, Adamos is better off playing for an SMC team that would give him a spot a la Prince Caperal back during his Ginebra days.
ABU TRATTER | MAGNOLIA HOTSHOTS
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS | 2.8PPG – 2.5RPG – 51% FG – 32 GAMES
Abu Tratter needs to get out of Magnolia because at 31 years old, he can still display his talents. I know his numbers are low, but the former DLSU player also averages less than 12 minutes in 32 games. He’s a 7-point scorer and almost 7-point rebounder if he’s given the minutes. And the insane part of his game is that he is a 51 percent field goal performer. Tratter is obviously in SMC prison at the moment, and the quicker he gets out, the more he can salvage his career.
JERON TENG | SAN MIGUEL BEERMEN
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS (STILL ONGOING AS OF PRESS TIME) | 3.5PPG – 1.2RPG – 0.7APG – 33% FG – 22 GAMES
2022-23 PBA SEASON STATS (TO KEEP THINGS IN CONTEXT) | 12.9PPG – 5.6RPG – 2.1APG – 44% FG – 30 GAMES
Jeron Teng is the reason why I made this list. Remember how people say UAAP players are popular in college, but it’s the NCAA players who find success in the PBA? This is a debatable statement, but you can’t discount the fact that in the last two Mythical Teams, the NC guys edge the U-AP boys, 5 to 2. I know Teng recorded a distinction of winning a championship in the same team his father once played for, but it must be a head-scratcher for him to play second or third fiddle to Terrence Romeo, a guy he once had iconic battles with during his time with the DLSU Green Archers. And it’s not like that he can’t go. Teng once averaged not lower than seven points in all of his six seasons with Alaska and Converge before transferring to San Miguel. It’s like he is the reverse UNO version of Jhonard Clarito. He is only 30 years old, which is fairly young in the PBA considering most draftees are around the 24 to 26 age range. And if Teng wants to help a championship cause, he needs to find a way to land in TNT or Phoenix.
TERRENCE ROMEO | SAN MIGUEL BEERMEN
2023-24 PBA SEASON STATS (STILL ONGOING AS OF PRESS TIME) | 12.6PPG – 1.8RPG – 3.5APG – 25 GAMES
PBA CAREER STATS (TO KEEP THINGS IN CONTEXT – NO 2023-24 STATS) | 17.3PPG – 3.1RPG – 3.6APG
And speaking of which, this final take might be antagonistic to some. Why in the blue hell would Terrence Romeo leave a team that had given him the titles that eluded him? Let me just say that there is a lot to unpack here. For starters, Romeo will probably play a little under 60 games in his five seasons. And the thing about Romeo is that this season is the most he has played in since playing in 48 games in the 2018-19 PBA season. During that season, Romeo played 22 games in the Philippine Cup. And then, Romeo played in just 37 games for the next four seasons. Furthermore, Romeo was once seen as the face of the PBA because of his takeover mantra in and out of the league. Before joining the Beermen, Romeo had Robert Bolick scoring numbers. However, that all changed when he moved to SMB. At the moment, Don Trollano has a better Philippine Cup scoring average. At 32, I don’t know if people will see him as a top-tier offensive threat, especially with the games he missed. With that said, most fans would want to see Romeo leading a team again with his killer crossovers, pull–up threes, and insane scoring action.
So did I leave any player out?
I intentionally forgot about Terrafirma because of all the teams, they have the most opportunities at the moment. Blackwater is another team without participation because everything in the squad in some ways screams opportunity. TNT needs another top free agent as well. I am going to write about their woes in a day or so, but it’s insane that MVP’s flagship franchise turned into this. I am not hating on their players, but the last time Kelly Williams averaged 9.5ppg and 7.0rpg was during the 2010-11 PBA season, which was the first full season of Williams and Ryan Reyes for TNT. Aside from Machine Gun Kelly, they got significant support from otherwise second-stringer Glenn Khobuntin and third-round rookie free agent Kim Aurin.
And the worst thing about this is that they are probably going to miss out on the top rookies until the 2027 PBA Draft because of the deals that were used for Rey Nambatac, Henry Galinato, and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser.
Sound off the names below!