Alaska is falling because they do not want to make a trade

(c) PBA Media Bureau

After a conference of almost winning the championship, Alaska Aces is now back in the bottom half,  fighting for their lives.

The question now is, what happened?

Same with Magnolia Hotshots, they became overconfident and made mistakes along the way. The biggest though is their unwillingness to make a trade.

So, let us list down their biggest mistakes in the offseason up to this point.


CUTTING MARION MAGAT
In terms of the development of Magat, do not put all the credit to coach Yeng Guiao. Alaska helped Marion for several years and now he is averaging 6.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 44% FG per game. Without Manuel, he could have been a better replacement than upping the minutes of their average bigs like Noy Baclao and Sonny Thoss because Magat can do something that those two can't. He can shoot threes.

DRAFTING AYAAY
Ayaay is looking like a credible player, averaging 7.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 0.9 assist per game. But if you look at his efficiency of 37% FG and 27% 3FG, you will see that he is nothing special. Although it is not who Ayaay is that made the pick wrong. It was his position. Alaska does not need a pure shooting guard.

They may have drafted any other position other than a pure shooting guard because that is already their deepest position with Simon Enciso, Kevin Racal, Chris Exciminiano, Jeron Teng and even Davon Potts. Michael Calisaan or Jorey Napoles is more useful for them.

NOT MAKING A TRADE
I do not understand why Alaska believe that their current roster without Vic Manuel is capable of being on the top 6. The current offense of Alaska is so bad that none of their players is shooting above 43%.

They are currently at the bottom of points per game, FG% per game and 5th worst in terms of rebounds. What they need to trade for is pretty obvious. They are lacking in quality bigs. Specifically, they do not have a bigman who can go toe-to-toe with the giants of the league.

WHO IS TO BLAME?
If you are looking for someone to blame, just ask yourself, who is the person who was one of the decision-makers that decided to cut Magat, draft Ayaay and not make a trade?