Well, it's the offseason (or off-conference, however you call it) again, something which comes prematurely (yet again!) for our Tigers. Naturally, we will be looking forward to the 3rd conference, which gets underway in less than a month from now, but judging from the team's poor showing in the first 2 conferences of the season and the team's lack of movement in the "off-conference", the fans seem to be more excited in the 2011 PBA Rookie Draft this August, where we have a really good chance of grabbing a potential savior for this struggling franchise and its long-suffering followers.
I'm talking about Junmar Fajardo, the 6'9" behemoth from Cebu. He spent his college years playing for the University of Cebu Webmasters and practically dominated every opposing big man he encountered, and I really mean EVERY big man, including UV's 7-footer Greg Slaughter. Although Slaughter's University of Visayas always ends up as the champions, Fajardo always manage to stand toe-to-toe against his fil-am counterpart. Perhaps Fajardo's most memorable performance was when he scored 50 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in a game against USPF in the 2008 Reinforced Partner's Cup. Fajardo also proved he can play with the big boys when he scored over 30 points in an exhibition game against the PBA's San Miguel Beermen, playing against the likes of Danny Ildefonso and Dorian Peña.
Eventually, during his final year with UC, Junmar finally led his team to its first CESAFI title, and remarkably became the first non-UV team to do so. Not suprisingly, Fajardo grabbed the well-deserved league MVP and is now set for a bigger picture, the PBA.
The Powerade Tigers, on the other hand, finished the last 2 conferences at the bottom two, which makes them a huge player in the upcoming lottery for the rights of the 1st overall pick. The other team in the bottom is Barako Bull, whose return to the league is looking bleak, which makes our chances for the 1st pick just a bit better. Powerade already expressed its interest in grabbing Fajardo with the first pick.
For now, we will be keeping our fingers crossed.
Roar out.
