PBA at 40: All eyes on SMC

The 40th Season of the Philippine Basketball Association opens with the Philippine Cup on Oct. 19, and all eyes will be trying to see how San Mig Coffee follows up on its Grand Slam.

With its core intact and in its prime, San Mig looms as one of the fancied sides in the most prestigious event staked for the year, and coach Tim Cone also has a personal motivation going of protecting an achievement only he has done.

Cone is the only two-time Grand Slam-winning coach, and the material that he has at his disposal guarantees that he will be in the mix in every tournament for the next three years at least.

James Yap, a former two-time MVP, Peter June Simon, arguably the finest sixth man of his generation, defensive whiz Marc Pingris and heady playmaker Mark Barroca will be back to lead the Mixers once again.

Pingris, though, has been granted a three-week leave by Cone to recuperate from the rigors of playing in the World Cup and the Asian Games for Gilas Pilipinas, but Cone has several others who can step up, counting Joe Devance, Alex Mallari and sophomore Ian Sangalang.

Rain or Shine, which finished second to the Mixers twice last season, San Miguel Beer, Barangay Ginebra, Alaska and Talk ‘N Text are the other formidable sides all shooting to chop down the Mixers in all three conferences for the year.

The Elasto Painters are also intact and will be starting their new era with Paul Lee, while the Beermen hope to ride cornerstone June Mar Fajardo towards another MVP year hopefully riddled with titles along the way.

Alaska has performed well in the preseason and will be led once again by third-year power forward Calvin Abueva.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Alapag will also be out in the first few games of the Tropang Texters as the 5-foot-8 former MVP also played two hard tournaments for Gilas and was given a pass by new coach Jong Uichico.

Blackwater Elite and KIA Motors take the lid off of the season when they clash at 3 p.m. at Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan. Manny Pacquiao, the eight-division world boxing champion, will make his official PBA coaching and playing debut on that day.

The Texters battle Barangay Ginebra in the second game at 5 p.m. as the season was formally launched yesterday at posh Edsa Shangri-La.