MANILA, 30 July 2006 — A major trade among three teams benefited Barangay Ginebra, which could be playing under a new coach when the next PBA season opens in two months.
The Gin Kings acquired two reliable big men in Fil-Americans Rafi Reavis and Billy Mamaril from sister team Coca-Cola and assumed the rights to the deported Rudy Hatfield after one of the most lopsided trades in recent league memory.
Ginebra only gave up seldom-used Ervin Sotto, Kalani Ferreria and Manny Ramos and relief point guard Aris Dimaunahan, while Air21, which acted as the conduit with league rules prohibiting teams from the San Miguel umbrella from directly trading players, lost Ryan Bernardo.
The trade took place yesterday, just a few hours after a major activity in the San Miguel backyard started brewing.
Sources close to those calling the shots for all four teams confirmed that a coaching change is in the offing, with mercurial Chot Reyes set to leave the National team to assume the reins in one of the teams.
The same source also said that it is not certain at this point which team Reyes will handle, but whatever happens, the coach who will be displaced in that team will move to another.
As things stand, only Ryan Gregorio seems to be a cinch to hold on to his job.
The 34-year-old Gregorio won his second championship by guiding the Purefoods Chunkee Giants to the Philippine Cup over Red Bull last week. His victory in six games of the best-of-seven series made him just the fourth coach in Purefoods history to win an all-Pinoy crown.
Ginebra made the playoffs in the last two conferences but was booted out unceremoniously. During the Philippine Cup, the Gin Kings, under the equally youthful Siot Tanquingcen, failed to close out the Barako despite holding a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five quarterfinal series.
San Miguel, meanwhile, also did not have much success in the last Conference.
After winding up with second seeding going into the playoffs, the Beermen got the door also courtesy of the Barako.
Jong Uichico has been at the helm of the San Miguel basketball program since for the past six years now.
If at all, Binky Favis of Coca-Cola had the worst showing among the four coaches.
Favis, who served as assistant at Ginebra before being called for the head coaching job at Coke when Reyes was tasked to handle the RP Team, had little success in the last tournament after the Tigers got ousted in the quarterfinals by Alaska.
The source said that if Reyes takes over one team, the coach of that team will move to another to assume the head coaching job there. The coach who will be displaced by the second coach will then become his assistant, leaving no one without a job when the season opens.
The trade that was just completed, meanwhile, boosted the stock of the Gin Kings no end and it is likely that the team will unload some of its talents to other teams — possibly to its sisters — before the end of next week.
Reavis and Mamaril could easily be starters with other teams and their arrival at Ginebra will undoubtedly force the hand of Tanquingcen, or whoever the coach might be, to cut their playing times as well as the other regulars.
Rommel Adducul, the former San Sebastian ace who feels that he can be a franchise player elsewhere, had openly lobbied to be traded since early in the last season.
And Reavis and Mamaril coming over will only diminish his time on the floor more, with Eric Menk still there and Andy Seigle expected to strike a renewal despite spending the most of last season on the injured list.
Over at Coca-Cola, Ferreria could come off the bench and become the chief relief of Johnny Abarrientos, the former MVP while with Alaska who is near the end of a storied career.
Ramos and Sotto were able to see action for the Kings in the Philippine Cup because Ginebra was walking wounded all tournament long because of injuries to key personnel.
They could continue to play until the Tigers get replacements for Reavis and Mamaril, either from the free agent market or the Annual Rookie Draft on Aug. 19.
