Three's a charm for B-MEG?

Courtney Beasley

With their struggling performance in the on-going Commissioner's Cup, B-MEG Derby Ace Llamados decided to change their inconsistent import Shamari Spears with Courtney Beasley. This will be B-MEG's 3rd import this conference, after they started with Robert Brown.

Apparently, Spears asked to be released because he misses his family so much. His stint in the PBA with B-MEG is his first overseas work as a pro baller.

The need for a change  was long due for the Llamados, who found Spears to be consistently inconsistent with his performance. He is only averaging 17 points and a dismal 7 rebounds per game. Spears, though, managed to put up a stellar performance against Smart-Gilas, corralling 26 points and 8 rebounds; although he got majority of those against the 6"11 Slaughter who is still raw and needs further development on his game.

B_MEG's new import will bring in a different brand of game compared to Spears. With injuries to Jonas Vllanueva and James Yap, the Llamados gone for an off-guard who can play the perimeter. Beasley wil definitely boost the perimeter offense of the team, inasmuch as his decent low-post game will be a big plus for the team.

Part of the reason for letting go of Spears are the impressive showing of Kerby Raymundo and Marc Pingris as of late. In their last game against Smart-Gilas, both players recorded double-doubles. Raymundo scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while Pingris recorded an 18-19 point-rebound output.


We'll see whether he'll give the team the much-needed lift they've been searching for tomorrow in his debut game against San Miguel..

Exeriencing Deron Williams in New Jersey

The Nets made a trade deal that shocked the whole NBA world last February 23, when theyacquired NBA All-Star point guard Deron Williams from the Jazz for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, and two first round draft picks. With this move, the NEts now has a bona fide star that can help them build a team that will contend by 2013, when they move to Brooklyn's Barclay's Center.

However, several NBA insiders and analysts have projected Williams to leave the Nets even before they move to Brooklyn. Deron Williams has the option to opt out on the final year of his contract at the end of the 2011-2012 season. And most likely, if the Nets can't give Williams the pieces he need to contend in the playoffs, he may go away and leave the Nets with nothing.

Thus, the Nets' front office, led by general manager Billy King and the Nets' charismatic Russian  owner Mikhail Prokhorov, must build a playoff team in time for the next season to entice Williams in signing an extension. They will have Williams playing 102 games as a Net. And before the next season ends, they must have made Deron feel comfortable of the team.

But so far, everything is fine for the Nets. And with Williams' desire to help his new team improve, the morale of the newly-refurbished Nets team has been at its all-time high this season. After losing three games against Spurs, Rockets, and a close one versus the Suns, the Nets have played with so much intensity and heart in their next two games. The Nets swept the Raptors in the two-game bonanza of NBA to European fans in London. They won the first game, 116-103, and the second game via a heart-pumping triple overtime win, 137-136.

Together with Williams' arrival is the development of Lopez' game. In their last two wins, Lopez averaged more than 25 points per game. He also grabbed 14 rebounds in their last game, a rarity for a weak rebounding season for Lopez. The highlight, though, is his career-high eight blocks. Morrow and Vujacic, the Nets' two shooters, has also showed improvement in their production with Williams around.

In fact, the Nets, after the All-Star break, has led the league in assists with more than 26 assists per game. Obviously, this stat is led by Williams' great passing game that he brought to the Nets. Deron hasn't had an assists lower than 11 in his first five games as a Nets. His biggest assist output was an 18-assist performance in a losing effort against the Rockets.

All of this can be attributed to DWill's presence to this young team. His energy on the floor, highlighted by his pin-point passing ,leadership, and the will to win has inspired the whole team to play better.

And this is how the Nets experience Deron Williams.

J. Yap-Simon tandem - too much for their own good?

B-MEG's deadly duo - Peter June Simon and james Yap

Last conference, we saw the emergence of one of PBA's deadliest 1-2 punch in James Yap and Peter June Simon. Rookie coach Jorge Gallent was thinking of a strategy that would get them out of an early 0-2 record last conference. Then, he thought of putting the struggling Simon, by then, together on the floor with James Yap. And like a bread and butter, the two scoring machines blended perfectly,

The tandem led a severely-depleted B-MEG to a respectable 4th place finish last Philippine Cup.

This conference, once again, B-MEG started the Commissioner's Cup with a 0-2 record. This time, having the J. Yap-Simon tandem as their main offensive ploy.

Has the combo cooled off already? Or its just that other teams figured out how to disrupt these two?

B-MEG's offense, with this duo carrying a lot of the team's scoring load, has taken a toll on the ball rotation of the team. Low assist outputs of the team is hurting the team's offensive capabilities. Too much isolation plays for these two has led to too much turnovers due to predictability of the team's offense.

And more importantly, James' production and effectiveness on the court has been reduced due to Simon's talent. He's almost, if not the same, as skilled as James Yap that these two players have to give the ball up to the one who is hot. And right now, Simon is scoring slightly better than James.

That's why, coach JG thought of reversing his game plan back to normal. Putting the "Super Sub" back to his throne, and starting James Yap in their game earlier against Air21. And it seemed like the ploy went perfectly, as they drubbed the Express to the tune of 119-90. James Yap scored 22 points while PJ Simon contributed 19 in a well-balanced game that the Llamados showed.

Even with this scintillating performance, don't expect that we saw the last from this deadly duo already.