Express’ Tubid goes to Kings; Duremdes picked week’s best

The massive revamp at Barangay Ginebra continued five weeks into the 2006-07 PBA season yesterday with the Kings acquiring Ronald Tubid from the Air21 Express in exchange for future draft picks.

Already armed with formidable frontline players, the Ginebra management beefed up their backcourt with their acquisition of Tubid giving coach Jong Uichico deeper and more balance lineup at his disposal.

The Kings gave up their 2007-08 and 2008-09 second round picks and 2009-2010 first round pick to get Tubid from the Express.

With the entry of the former UE Warrior in their lineup, the Ginebra management relegated Paolo Hubalde to the reserve list and Egay Echavez to the unrestricted free agent pool.

"I guess we’ve a more balanced lineup now. Ronald is also an energetic player. He’s a good backup to Mark Caguioa. Pagpalit ni Ronald, mataas pa rin ang intensity," said team manager Allan Caidic.

Though losing a key player who could give him solid 20-30 minutes, Air21 coach Bo Perasol welcomed the development, saying he can work better with an 11-man lineup.

"Under our system where all players must play, it’s better to have an 11-man lineup. We will now have a normal rotation. Kasi dati minsan nasisira ang rhythm ng players with all of them in rotation," said Perasol.

Perasol, however, feel they may slow down a bit with the departure of Tubid.

"KG (Canaleta) and Arwind (Santos) can play at two-spot (off-guard), but the team will slow down without Tubid," said Perasol.

With Tubid’s exit, the only off-guards left at Air21 are Gary David and Leo Avenido.

At Ginebra, Tubid will firm up the Kings’ backcourt that also features Caguioa, Mark Macapagal, Jayjay Helterbrand, Johnny Abarrientos and Sunday Salvacion. On the injured list is Rodney Santos.

Meanwhile, Sta. Lucia veteran Kenneth Duremdes was named the PBA Press Corps’ Accel Player of the Week for the period Oct. 23-29.

In a 102-90 win over Talk N Text last Saturday at the University of the Assumption in San Fernando, Pampanga, Duremdes had 17 points on 6-of-12 field shooting and also had three rebounds in 29 minutes.

It was Duremdes who presided over a vicious Sta. Lucia attack in the third quarter that opened up a 79-65 spread for the team before his teammates took care of the mop-up job.

He was more explosive in the Realtors’ 105-83 victory over Red Bull last Wednesday. He had 20 points on 7-of-12 field shooting, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, and also had five rebounds, three assists and a block in just 23 minutes.