Full-bodied Beermen eye ABL rebound

MANILA, Philippines - For the souped-up San Miguel Beermen squad, there’s only one mission in the 2013 Asean Basketball League – win the championship.

“We’re focused on one goal, that is, to bring home the championship,” SMB’s new acquisition and captain Asi Taulava said yesterday during the PSA Forum at Shakey’s Manila.

The Beermen are determined to bounce back strong this year after failing to go all the way to the title after dominating the league majority of the 2012 regular season. 

“We won’t settle for second place or third. When we go out there and play, we’ll go out hard to try to win the championship for the Philippines,” said the veteran Fil-Tongan.

The 6-foot-9 Taulava teams up with long-time PBA and PBL rival Erik Menk (6’7”) for this campaign as they look to inject experience and beef inside to complement imports Gabe Freeman (6’6”) and Brian Williams (6’10”) and explosive guards Chris Banchero (6’1”) and 2012 MVP Leo Avenido (6’2”).

Val Acuna (6’4”), Mike Burtscher (6’6”), JR Cawaling (6’4”), Axel John Doruelo (6’0”), Paulo Hubalde (5’11”), Christian Luanzon (6’4”), RJ Rizada (6’2”), and Hans Thiele (6’4”) round up the retooled cast assembled by new coach Leo Austria for the spirited bid of the 2012 runner-up.

“This is a different team from last year. We have a legitimate player in every position, unlike last year when we had problems with the big men and had no threat in the post and we didn’t have a slasher,” said Austria.

“This time, we also have a combination of big and small imports and this can post match-up problems against the opponents. We can go big or small, this is a very versatile team,” he added.

In 2012, the Beermen were the heavy favorites to win the title after topping the regular season. However, they lost to the Indonesia Warriors in three games to settle for runner-up honors.

Austria, who was an assistant to head coach Bobby Parks last season, said they have learned from their bitter experience.

“We lost last year because we relied solely on talent. Talent alone is not enough. This time we should be more disciplined and not fall into complacency as before,” said Austria.

The Beermen consider the defending champion Warriors and the Westport Malaysia Dragons as their toughest rivals.

Indonesia, according to Austria, has acquired a lot of good players, including returning import Steven Thomas and Chris Daniels, Fil-Am Rich Smith, and Dutchman Swen de Ruijter, although Fil-Am ace Stanley Pringle will be out for 12 weeks due to meniscus injury.

Malaysia, he said, has tabbed Fil-Tongan Moala Tautuaa  and Fil-Am Mark Jeffries, in addition to imports Cedric Bozeman and Gavin Edwards and holdover Patrick Cabahug.

San Miguel is set to leave for Jakarta today for their opening game on Friday against the Warriors at BritAma Arena.