Barangay Phi Slama Jama

After weeks of speculation, 6"9 wunderkind Japeth Aguilar finds himself with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel-- his 4th team in a very young, up-and-down PBA career. Will he finally find a niche in Philippine hoops and breakthrough as every one hopes him to, or will he plateau as a slam dunking, sweet shooting athlete who bites at every pump fake thrown his way by guys shorter than him?

If you thought that Aguilar had everyone watching him succeed/ fail his first few years, then things are about to get even crazier from here on out.  


With Ginebra, the logic behind the Aguilar acquisition was the team's supposed lack of legit big man badly exposed in the recently concluded PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals by Sonny Thoss and the rest of the Alaska Aces. Granted, we didn't really feel much frontline presence coming by way of Ginebra, but are they really lacking as far as bigs are concerned?

Billy Mamaril. Kerby Raymundo. Yousef Taha. Rico Maierhofer. Elmer Espiritu. Rudy Hatfield. Willy Wilson.

One of those guys is a legit banger/ bruiser, the other is a former national team campaigner, then you have under sized yet all heart hustlers and then a promising rookie whose only drawback is his lack of experience.

With the Aguilar trade, Ginebra sent off a service mobile big in Espiritu and 6"6 rookie Taha (which could very well bite them in the ass sooner rather than later when this kid proves to be the missing big for new team GlobalPort).

That's two players for one. Either Ginebra head coach Alfrancis Chua is banking on working his old magic with Aguilar the same way he did in the 90s in the PBL with Marlou Aquino for Stag Pale Pilsen/ Tanduay or the PBA's Vince McMahon went crazy again and got the biggest name available on the market regardless of skillset.

Aguilar will get his rebounds, but it should be noted that he has averaged no more than 6 a game his entire professional career. He will, however, get the points. From crazy lobs from Josh Urbiztondo to nice set-ups by way of L.A. Tenorio, Aguilar will look and feel dominant-- until some rough and tough big man decides to bang him up some and force Aguilar to take jumpers all day (which he has no quarrels with, hit or miss).

On offense, Ginebra will look crazy good. Like a local version of this NBA season's L.A. Clippers with Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Defensively, don't expect Aguilar to transform himself into a Thoss-stopper overnight (we don't see it happening anymore folks, sorry).

The fans will rally behind the athletic beanpole no doubt, they did so for one-way player Nino Canaleta didn't they? Aguilar, with his flashy dunks and consistent mid range jumpers, will be even more of a joy to watch. Specially when he flies in for highlight worthy volleyball spike-like shotblocks.

On the bright side, Aguilar's confidence will build up, and who knows, maybe he'll pick up some nifty tricks from veteran Raymundo.