At the moment, Northport is assured of the next round.
What’s more impressive is that they did this without Zavier Lucero trade partner Jio Jalalon, JM Calma, banned enforcer John Amores, and their first-round pick, Dave Ildefonso.
The team has a superstar in Arvin Tolentino, and an army worth noting led by Kadeem “The Redeemer” Jack, two-way trouble Joshua Munzon, twin pocket rockets in quarterbacks Evan Nelle and Fran Yu, and human Swiss army knife Will Navarro.
And yet, we still are not impressed.
I for one believe in Northport. This is because Northport, or Mikee Romero and Erick Arejola in particular, have always been winners. Harbour Centre won seven championships in the PBL from 2006 to 2009. Air Asia-Philippine Patriots also won a title in the ASEAN Basketball League.
However, when they got to the PBA, after acquiring the franchise rights of Powerade in 2012, they became conduits.
Worse, they have turned into an SMC farm team.
Talk about wasting away their sacred tradition.
While they could recruit their old PBL players like Joseph Yeo, Chico Lanete, Macmac Cardona, Solomon Mercado, Gabby Espinas, and Rico Maierhofer, they only served as stopovers for their move to other SMC teams.
They were instrumental in moving LA Tenorio to Ginebra by giving JV Casio to Alaska. During their time in the ABL, B-Meg (Purefoods/Magnolia) brokered an inter-league trade to send Pari Llagas to the Philippine Patriots for long-time Harbour Centre slot man Jerwin Gaco.
Ever since they have been a waypoint for incoming and outgoing SMC players.
And now, they have the chance to make the semifinals for the third time in 12 seasons.
So yeah, fans have every bit of reason to second-guess Northport.
Since the 2012-13 PBA season, Northport has only had one above .500 season. This happened in 2019 when the team finished with a 22-20 record. Northport made the quarterfinals in both the Philippine and Commissioner's Cup, and scored a semifinal berth in the Governors' Cup, with Michael Qualls leading the way. We also need to note that during that season's Commissioner's Cup, Northport finished the elimination round with a 9-2 record, partly thanks to their import Prince Ibeh. Unfortunately for the Batang Pier, they were upstaged by the eventual champions San Miguel Beermen, who had Chris McCullough as their hired gun.
Paolo Taha is the last person left from that season's squad.
Back then, current team manager Pido Jarencio and current head coach Bonnie Tan had the other person's designation, with Waiyip Chong still the team's assistant manager and former San Beda ace Rensy Bajar and former NU gunner Jeff Napa as assistant coaches.
If there's one thing to note about the current PBA conference, it's the fact that the SMC teams are struggling. San Miguel and Magnolia are battling for the eighth spot along with NLEX while Ginebra will probably need Northport, Converge, and Eastern to disrupt TNT's plan for a possible grand slam. However, it's easier said than done, because as mentioned, Northport's current situation is a rarity. Even when they were the second seed, they lost to the seventh seed because the elimination round is different from the playoffs.
Yes, Bonnie Tan led the Letran Knights to three straight Finals appearances with Fran Yu as the constant, and while Nelle, Abu Tratter, Damie Cuntapay, and Will Navarro have won collegiate titles, the PBA is a whole different ballgame. Looking at their lineup, Paul Zamar has won three titles with San Miguel, Sidney Onwubere has won two titles with Ginebra, Taha has won a title with Ginebra, Jio Jalalon has won a title with Magnolia, and Arvin Tolentino, their superstar, won two championships with Ginebra back when he was just averaging less than 16 minutes per game.
Also, if you look at the five players who have championship rings, they are all SMC discards.
PLAYER | HOW THEY WERE ACQUIRED |
ARVIN TOLENTINO | NORTHPORT GOT TOLENTINO, PRINCE CAPERAL, AND A 2023 (S48) FIRST-ROUND PICK (CADE FLORES) FOR JAMIE MALONZO |
JIO JALALON | NORTHPORT GOT JALALON AND ABU TRATTER FOR ZAVIER LUCERO |
SIDNEY ONWUBERE | NORTHPORT GOT ONWUBERE FOR BEN ADAMOS |
PAOLO TAHA | NORTHPORT GOT TAHA FOR JULIAN SARGENT |
PAUL ZAMAR | NORTHPORT GOT ZAMAR AND A 2025 (S50) SECOND-ROUND PICK FOR ALLYN BULANADI |
This is Onwubere's second stint with Northport and Bulanadi has since returned to the team as part of the package that sent Robert Bolick to NLEX and Don Trollano to San Miguel.
It's hard to take Northport as contenders because of their farm team status. I know they are trying to change this, but without the winning edge, it's not going to be an easy task.
Purefoods were instant contenders when they reached the finals of the 1988 Open Conference, which was their first conference in the league. Meanwhile, Ginebra got their first title in 1986, seven years after their debut, thanks to the entry of Robert Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz.
Other teams took longer. Great Taste, who also had to sit idly while Crispa and Toyota dominated the league in the 70s, won its first title in 1984, thanks to Baby Dalupan, Ricardo Brown, Manny Victorino, and Bogs Adornado. Meanwhile, their future links, Sta. Lucia who bought the franchise in 1993 and Meralco who bought the same lineage in 2010, had a combined 20 championship-less seasons before they got a title.
Meralco had the slump longer, but at least they have a championship. FedEx/Air21/Barako Bull had nearly a decade of tenure without a championship. Currently, Northport has the longest drought, followed by the triumvirate of NLEX, Terrafirma, and Blackwater. You can even say Phoenix is the longest because they got their franchise from two title-less groups - the 1999 version of Tanduay and the aforementioned Lina franchise.
Arvin Tolentino has said in interviews that he wants to remove the farm team tag from Northport, and the only they can do it is with a championship.
Get Sydrified.