MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Beer coach Bobby Parks is not ready to accept the role of favorites for his team when the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League Season 3 opens on Jan. 14.
Observers are inclined to annoint the San Miguel Beer squad as top seed after the Manila
team, one of two Philippine teams entered in the ABL tilt, handily won the tournament’s pre-season, sweeping its rivals, including the touted Philippine Patriots in Bangkok recently.
The SMB team was configured just weeks before the pre-season event known as To Be Number One Challenge, but showed veteran poise in topping the four-day event.
Parks, however, was unconvinced that his team is the favorite in the coming ABL.
“No," said Parks when asked if his prospects were excellent. "I think everybody here was learning. For us, we will take everything we've learned here and learn to what we need to work on to become a better team."
In their final assignment, the Beermen, one of the two ABL expansion teams, shut down the stubborn AirAsia Philippine Patriots, 84-76, for the clincher.
Import Dalron Johnson and Junjun Cabatu paced San Miguel, scoring 17 points apiece while Fil-Am Chris Banchero and Richard Jeter added 16 and 13 markers, respectively, to fend off a third quarter comeback by the Patriots.
The 6-foot-1 Banchero was the lightning rod for the Beermen during the tournament, averaging close to 20 points per game highlighted by a pair of 21-point outputs against the Indonesia Warriors and the Singapore Slingers.
Despite his ability to score, penetrate and dish out passes, Parks is still trying to fit the Seattle, Washington-native into his system.
"The thing with Chris is he's a great player," Parks said. "He can score, plays hard and I like his attitude but he's still new with us. In some games I tried to put him on the shooting guard and let Froilan (Baguion) play the point."
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