For the first time in the 42-year history of the PBA, sister teams Barangay Ginebra, San Miguel and Star ended up in a three-way tie for the No.1 spot at the end of eliminations.
It’s not surprising given the fact that teams under the SMC umbrella have dominated the league recently. These squads have won nine of the past 11 PBA titles: the Beermen and the Hotshots have four championships apiece, while the Gin Kings have one.
When asked by InterAksyon the reason behind their success, the clubs’ executives all deflected credit to one man: Alfrancis Chua, a former PBA player and coach who currently serves as SMC’s sports director.
“Credit should be given to my BFF, Alfrancis Chua,” San Miguel team governor Robert Non said. “Since he came over to SMC ang daming nangyaring maganda sa team namin.
“He was consultant before then became head coach of Ginebra, leading the team to the finals after a 0-4 start. Then, San Miguel won three Philippine Cups and Ginebra won a championship last year for the first time in eight years. Talagang maganda yung naging contribution niya sa mga teams.”
Star team governor Rene Pardo echoed the same sentiments.
“He’s been working closely with us and I assume he’s been doing the same with the two other teams. Bilib nga ako dyan sa time management niya eh, nag-oopisina pa yan,” Pardo said.
According to Pardo, it was Chua who orchestrated the shocking trade that sent James Yap to Rain or Shine in exchange for Paul Lee.
“It’s not easy to deal with it. James is like the face of the franchise similar to Alvin Patrimonio. We still have common fans that each time we meet, they would still cheer on for James even though he is already playing for another team,” Pardo said.
The move raised some eyebrows, but Pardo believes that Star won that trade. In the Philippine Cup, their first conference since making the deal, the Hotshots reached the semifinals.
Star slid to the third spot in the Commissioner’s Cup playoffs due to inferior quotient. They will be facing Yap and the No.6 seed Elasto Painters in an interesting quarterfinal matchup.
“But James is a professional. I’m sure he wants to prove something against us. Ganun rin naman yung mga kaibigan niya dito sa team. Si PJ Simon, siya mismo nagpiprisinta, boss ako ang bahala kay James. Ako kukuha sa kanya.”
Pardo added that Chua was the one who brought in coach Chito Victolero who helped the Hotshots recover from a disappointing campaign last season.
San Miguel team manager Gee Abanilla, for his part, said Chua’s attitude has been instrumental in building a winning culture for the SMC teams.
“Maganda yung naging rapport niya sa mga players and coaches,” Abanilla said. “Dati rin kasi siyang naging player and dati ring coach, so he knows what he’s doing. He knows the ins and outs of basketball and alam niya kung ano kailangan ng team from the players and the coaches’ standpoint.
