Despite its failure to advance to the championship in the previous conference, San Miguel Beer remains as one of the teams to beat in the PBA Fiesta Cup, which starts Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.
That’s because the Beermen are the defending champions and they will be reunited with last year’s Best Import Gabe Freeman. They also boosted their roster by acquiring two rising stars in Joseph Yeo and Alex Cabagnot.
Freeman, however, said that retaining their title won’t be an easy mission.
“I think this year, everybody knows our tendencies and what we do well, the 6-foot-6 Freeman said in Friday’s SCOOP Session at the Kamayan Restaurant in Padre Faura, Manila. “We just have to perfect it. We just have to believe in ourselves as a team.”
In this same conference last season, San Miguel defeated Barangay Ginebra, led by import David Noel, in a thrilling seven-game showdown.
Hopes were high during the all-Filipino Philippine Cup when the Beermen added to their roster all-around forward Arwind Santos and guard Dennis Miranda. The team made it to the Final Four outright but was dealt a 2-4 beating by eventual champion Purefoods.
Though they shipped guards Bonbon Custodio and Mike Cortez to Sta. Lucia and Air21, respectively, the Beermen welcome the arrival of Yeo and Cabagnot who are expected to provide additional offensive spark for the team.
“We basically have the same line up, with only Joseph and Alex as our new additions,” said SMB assistant coach Gee Abanilla, who accompanied Freeman. “It was really heartbreaking for us because a lot was expected from us in the last conference.”
“But life has to go on. This conference is totally different because it’s an import-laden conference. We have Gabe back, and he injects a lot of intangibles and energy to our team,” he said.
Freeman, who recently powered the Philippine Patriots to the championship in the inaugural of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), averaged 23 points and 15.5 points in the last Fiesta Cup.
“It’s all up to us on what we can do and how far we can go,” Freeman said. “I hate being called the import, because we’re a team. It’s not just about one person as everybody thinks it is. I step out there every night just like they (other imports) do.”
Also present in the weekly session were newly-appointed Barako Bull Coffee head coach Junel Baculi, Ginebra team manager Samboy Lim, assistant coaches Nash Racela of Talk ’N Text, Cholo Martin of Sta. Lucia, and Dickie Bachmann of Alaska.
Posts
0 comments: