By JONAS TERRADO
The absence of June Mar Fajardo has opened the door for fellow big men to prosper even more as the PBA kicked off its 45th season yesterday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Barangay Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar and NorthPort’s Christian Standhardinger are being groomed to possibly take the torch from the San Miguel Beer giant after being labeled as preseason picks to win the coveted Most Valuable Player award.
Fajardo is expected to take an unprecedented sixth MVP plum in the Leo Awards but a fractured right shin sustained last month will cut short the streak after being diagnosed to miss the whole duration of the Philippine Cup.
With that, Aguilar and Standhardinger could see themselves put up an MVP season, especially after coming off a strong showing in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Aguilar was Finals MVP when Ginebra beat Meralco for the title while Standhardinger became Best Player of the Conference after steering NorthPort to the semifinals following his arrival from San Miguel.
And then there’s Poy Erram, who could be the missing piece in TNT KaTropa’s bid to finally end SMB’s reign in the season’s most important tournament.
A lot was done in order for TNT to finally secure the services of Erram, whose presence in the middle should give the KaTropa enough reason to feel confident of their chances.
Erram joins a talented side led by Jayson Castro, Roger Pogoy, Troy Rosario, and Ray Parks Jr. and will have more things to learn from active consultant Mark Dickel, who coached the former NLEX big man during the recent FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers match against Indonesia.
Raymond Almazan’s absence and the departure of Erram leave Meralco and NLEX in a quandary on how it would compete minus a quality frontline asset.
There’s also Phoenix Super LPG (formerly-Phoenix Pulse) without Dave Marcelo and Jake Pascual and Blackwater looking for way for 35-year-old rookie Maurice Shaw to be that needed inside presence.