Was Magnolia's decision of replacing James Farr with Rakeem Christmas a mistake?

(c) PBA Media Bureau

Rakeem Christmas is 0-2 in the PBA. That is the reason why a lot of Magnolia fans are questioning the decision of bringing him in by the management and coaching staff of their favorite team.

So, was the decision of replacing Farr with Christmas a mistake?

First, let us be clear that I am not trying to decide who is the better player. It is pretty clear that James Farr is more talented and more skilled as shown by his statline of 21.9 points, 18.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.6 blocks per game.

In team sports, you will not win by being the more talented team alone. The team that you have formed should be able to maximize the skills that they have.

And for Magnolia, a versatile defensive import is a better fit than a magnificent offensive reinforcement.

Why? The primary reason is the fact that Ginebra and San Miguel and even TNT will still have better firepower on the offensive end than Magnolia. They can mitigate that by putting emphasis on their defense.

Just look at what happened in game 1 of their quarterfinal series and compare it to their elimination game against Ginebra.

The most crucial thing there is that Justin Brownlee was limited to 20 points! That is 29 points lower than his production in their elimination game! Actually, they did not only limit his point production but even his touches. He only attempted 16 shots in comparison to 24.

So, for me, their decision was not a mistake.

There is a good chance that they will not make it to the semifinals but that doesn't mean that they could have made it if Farr was there. Most likely, they will still fail.