Basketball
2011-12 PBA preview: Can the Shopinas.com Clickers at least entertain us?
Air 21 Global President and CEO Sheila Lina
Coach: Franz Pumaren
Assistants: Tonichi Yturri, Jack Santiago, Cholo Villanueva, Dan Rose, Jojo Villapando
Lineup: Brian Ilad, Jojo Duncil, Mark Canlas, Elmer Espiritu, Magi Sison, Paolo Hubalde, RJ Jazul, Ren-Ren Ritualo, Ogie Menor, Vaughn Canta, Khasim Mirza, Dennis Daa
Offseason Review: The Shopinas.com Clickers, the PBA’s newest franchise, made a splash before the season by announcing the hiring of Franz Pumaren, a move that created a lot of buzz, especially among La Salle fans hoping that Bigote would come back to Taft.
But with a virtually empty cupboard, Pumaren will have to make do with castoffs from other teams. Leading the way is his old star from La Salle, Ren-Ren Ritualo.
“Nagawa ko na yan before eh, so hindi na rin bago sa akin,” said Ritualo, the oldest player in the Clickers’ lineup.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the team’s buildup is the team’s acquisition of several cult heroes from recent college basketball seasons, such as Elmer Espiritu, Ogie Menor, and RJ Jazul.
“We want to cater to our young audience so we got young players,” said Sheila Lina, the bubbly Air 21 Global CEO who represents Shopinas.com in the PBA board.
Outlook: If the most talked about members of your basketball team are the coach and your pretty team executive, then you’re in for a tough season. Shopinas.com will be terrible, and we’re predicting that pretty soon, Franz Pumaren will be dreaming about being back in Taft.
Still, with Pumaren’s style of play, and the eager young guys on the team, there’s potential for Shopinas.com games to at least be entertaining, if not entirely competitive. It’d be fun to see Ritualo playing the role of gunslinger once more. And we’d love to see guys like Espiritu, Menor, and Jazul relive some of their college glory in the bright lights of the PBA.
If they’re going to lose anyway, then they might as well embrace the loveable loser tag, play with their hearts out, and leave everything on the court. Even if they don’t win, they’d at least win the respect of PBA fans.
