October 14, 2016 was the day that changed the entire historical perspective of the Philippine Basketball Association. The Purefoods franchise traded away the face of their team and the face of the PBA for Paul Lee.
It was a marketing sacrifice that the Star franchise made, to make sure that their future will be much steadier by anchoring it to the prime, magnetic and clutch, Angas ng Tondo.
The PBA fans and analysts were unanimous in declaring the 2nd most popular ball club of the country as the winner of the trade.
And up to this point, that remains to be true. But, one thing is becoming obvious now, Paul may not have the body to remain as the face of the franchise.
Why?
He is injury-prone.
Last season, he missed 19 games in the season. That was 37% of all their games. If you are going to be the leader of a team, you cannot miss that large portion of games.
And this season? He was out in their last two games due to left ankle sprain. There is a big chance that he could return in their next game and continue his superb start. He is currently manufacturing 17.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 47% 3FG, per game.
No matter how good his per game averages are, if he is not in the court when it matters most, he fails to accomplish his job as the main man.
Regarding his injuries, his knees have been his biggest letdown in his career. To be more specific, it is his left knee that really screwed him in 2016.
He went under the knife last offseason, but as we just read, he already missed two games and it was related to his ankles.
Injury concerns is not a hole in a player's game that they can try to fix. It is a scientific thing that a player cannot overcome through sheer hardwork.
If he remains to be a regular injured-guy, Magnolia should not entrust to him the future of their franchise.
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