Beermen back in training; June Mar rests

MANILA, Philippines – Four days after winning the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup crown, the San Miguel Beer starts preparation for the Commissioner’s Cup on Monday, bringing everybody back to training camp except June Mar Fajardo who’s given an extra weeklong rest for his speedy full recovery from his left knee injury.

Meanwhile, Meralco is bringing in NBA veteran Arinze Onuaku to take over from Malcolm Thomas who suffered an injury in a tune-up match with NLEX.

Onuaku, with stints with New Orleans, Cleveland and Minnesota in the NBA, will arrive in the country in time for the Meralco-Star match in the opening day of the mid-season tourney on Wednesday at the Big Dome.

“We start training gradually. Pakonti-konti lang. June Mar will do the same as he joins us a week later,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

Fajardo just begged that he be allowed to play in the last three games of the SMB-Alaska Milk showdown as he’s yet to fully recover from the injury suffered in Game Six of their semifinal faceoff with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.

Given a longer rest than his teammates, the 6-foot-10 behemoth is expected to be back in top shape by their first game in the Commissioner’s Cup versus the Mahindra Enforcers on Feb. 20 at the Big Dome.

The Beermen will have Tyler Wilkerson in tow versus the Enforcers who will be reinforced by Augustus Gilchrist.

In topping the league’s last two conferences, the Beermen put themselves in a position to deliver a third three-peat feat in franchise history.

The SMB bunch led by Ramon Fernandez, Samboy Lim and Hector Calma accomplished a grand slam season in 1989 while the group of Danny Ildefonso, Danny Seigle and Olsen Racela strung up three straight championships from the 2001 Commissioner’s Cup.

The three-peat aspiration and redemption from a poor ninth-place finish in the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup is the Beermen’s big motivation in the mid-season tourney that fires off Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“A concern is that the other teams are now in the thick of their buildup. Kami pababa ang adrenalin and we have to regroup and build momentum again. We have some catching up to do,” said Austria.

The euphoria of their championship is still in the air. They will celebrate with their fans in a championship party inside the SMC Complex in Mandaluyong on Thursday.

Keenly awaited is the championship bonus to be announced by SMC president and chief executive officer Ramon Ang.

The Beermen have gone 3-of-3 in finals in the last four PBA tourneys under coach Austria.

The only conference that slipped their hands was the last Commissioner’s Cup won by the TNT Tropang Texters over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.

“We’re embarrassed then,” said Austria of their ninth-place finish the last time marked by only four wins against seven losses.