(c) PBA Media Bureau
The moment Calvin Abueva was traded to Phoenix, some diehards of the three SMC teams started to salivate by assuming that Calvin could be on his way to one of the SMC squads.
Coach Louie Alas answered those assumptions right away with this statement, "Bakit naman ‘di nila sinasabing sa MVP? Bakit doon lang nila sinasabi? Baka ang nasa isip nila ano kami… San Miguel team. Yun yung unang-unang tinanong ko dito nung before I signed that – San Miguel ba tayo? Hindi talaga... Me, myself, napatunayan ko ‘yan. Talagang independent team ‘to. Now, if Calvin is doing well, ba’t mo ite-trade yan? ‘Di ba? So kinuha namin si Calvin para sa Phoenix, period."
For those fans who are still hoping that they land Calvin in the future, I don't think Phoenix will trade him anytime soon.
Coach Louie Alas is one of the most respected mentors in Philippine basketball and he was one of the coach-in-line for a lot of franchises before he was scooped by the Fuel Masters.
He doesn't have a history of being part of that kind of corruption in professional sports. And I think, that was also the reason why he stayed with Alaska for a long period of time.
The fact also that they gave up a first round pick for The Beast will force them to be careful. It doesn't matter if they are a farm team or not. The franchise wants to remove that "farm team" tag because it is a big negative to the marketing of their franchise.
So, trading Calvin for less than the worth of a first round pick will strengthen the assumption that they are connected to one of the conglomerates.
And PBA fans are intelligent enough to know that the 2019 PHX 1st is worth more than the 1st of Ginebra, San Miguel or Magnolia.
Lastly, Phoenix is owned by a rising mogul in Dennis Uy. I assume he knows that he needs to succeed in the PBA, independently, to maximize the benefit of playing there.
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