Rebuild mulled for Beermen after PBA Philippine Cup exit
MANILA, Philippines — The dynasty of the San Miguel Beermen in the PBA Philippine Cup has ended.
With the Beermen already have packed their bags and left the bubble in Clark City, it begs the question: Is a rebuild the answer for the dethroned champions?
This was an idea already proposed by head coach Leo Austria following their quarterfinals exit against the Meralco Bolts last week.
"Probably, we will talk to the management regarding the composition of our lineup next year," Austria said.
"There's a lot of clamor from fans and basketball experts that we're no longer getting any younger," he added.
Austria had to make due with a depleted and aging group of players in the PBA bubble, which didn't include six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo due to injury.
Then, they had to miss another key cog in Terrence Romeo after he suffered a shoulder injury early in eliminations.
With most of his players like Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross and Alex Cabagnot already in their 30s, Austia rued that father time might be fast gaining an advantage on them.
"Our starters are averaging 34 years old while our opponents are 27 or 28 years old and still in their primes," he said.
His veteran lineup failed to recover in the more fast paced and compressed style of play inside the season bubble.
"Maybe if it was a regular season, then we could have adjusted better. But here, the games were scheduled every day, and sometimes, we had to play back to back games," he said.
The decorated tactician can only look forward to quick action on the part of their front office, as he sees this as the way to get back to their winning tradition.
"I hope that it will happen soon because we cannot survive knowing that other teams are getting better and better," he said.
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