So this is why Northport traded for Arwind Santos.
...
In some ways, this is an extremely bad deal for Northport... until they prove us wrong.
Sidney Onwubere has improved – leaps and bounds – from his initial showing in the PBA. In some ways, the MPBL was on the verge of calling him because he was averaging less than 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 10 minutes in his first two years. Year 3 was an improvement for the former EAC General but it was in Northport in which he developed into a noteworthy threat.
In this conference, Onwubere averaged 9.6ppg, 5.9rpg, 1.2apg, 0.6spg, 0.7bpg, and 27.7mpg – all career-highs.
Ready to be harvested?
Hell yeah.
Ginebra looked like a shell of their former selves as they failed to defend the Philippine Cup. Injuries to Scottie Thompson and Japeth Aguilar sped up their decline and Arthur Dela Cruz has been on the shelf since… 2017?
Dela Cruz only had 51 games in three years – including the 2020 season in which he played five games and during the 2017-18 season in which he had just two games. While Dela Cruz had 32 games in the 2018-19 season, he was far from the guy the Gins wanted.
With that said, I guess Blackwater still had the bad end with Chris Ellis abandoning the league to head to other places than playing for the Cologne Masters.
Maybe if Blackwater had a crappy moniker, they would be able to win games?
Blackwater Cologne Makers?
Blackwater Cologne Kings?
Blackwater Cologne Experts?!?
It's hard to say Bossings with their win-loss record.
Writing "Elite" is even harder.
Anyway, of course, Ginebra wins the draft. Onwubere could be a good piece in the middle especially if Japeth needs to rest his nagging injuries. This also opens a scary thought in which maybe there’s something shady about the Arwind Santos deal. Why would the Beermen part with The Spiderman? People forget that Globalport/Northport helped San Miguel in acquiring Alex Cabagnot, Chris Ross, Mo Tautuaa, Von Pessumal, and now Vic Manuel. Powerade, the franchise Globalport bought, once traded Marcio Lassiter to the Beermen.
And as for the team’s links with the Gins, Northport and Ginebra have exchanged the likes of Greg Slaughter, Christian Standhardinger, Japeth Aguilar, Sol Mercado, Kevin Ferrer, Jervy Cruz, Prince Caperal, and Paolo Taha.
If Dela Cruz is ready to go and performs well in the process, then Northport wins the trade.
However, if this is the case, then why would Ginebra trade away a future prospect?
Dela Cruz is only 29 and Onwubere is 28.
They are basically babies in the PBA scheme of things.
Hopefully, he understands Tim Cone’s style as soon as possible.