2019 Post Phil. Cup: Rain or Shine, Phoenix, Northport should trade...

(c) PBA Media Bureau

The 2019 Philippine Cup is down to two teams, San Miguel Beermen and Magnolia Hotshots. Rain or Shine and Phoenix did their best in the semifinals. What trade can they do to improve their chances at the upcoming conference?

Let us see.

Phoenix - Alex Mallari
What Phoenix need is pretty obvious, they badly need size. Alex Mallari was fantastic in his first conference with the Fuel Masters, manufacturing 9.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game. With those numbers and with his pedigree, Alex may bring back a legit bigman. They may want to call TNT and asked for Yousef Taha.


Rain or Shine - James Yap
James just showed this conference that the Man with the Million Moves is still in him. He averaged 14.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 40% 3FG per game. Unfortunately, I do not think the Big Game James is still there as shown by his 12.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 33.7% FG per game in the semifinals. His efficiency is so terrible that he was negative for his team in the semis.

This is the best time to trade James. His trade value should be at the highest for the last three years after what he did in the Philippine Cup. The Elasto Painters can go for a much younger scorer or for another elite bigman because, in the PBA, the giants are ruling!

North Port - Sean Anthony
Sean Anthony could be the most underrated PBA player in the last 3 years. Just this conference, he averaged 20.7 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.7 steals per game. His aggressiveness and decisiveness on both ends of the court have made him a havoc master.

Nonetheless, the guy is already 33 years old and he is at the peak of his trade value. There is a reason why North Port, even with two 20+ points scorer, was not capable of reaching the semifinals. They may need to add one more giant and I think Sean Anthony has the value to give them that.

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