LIST | THE SMC VORTEX

So, SMC.

Once upon a time, they had four PBA teams.

They started with Royal Tru-Orange, which eventually became the San Miguel Beermen, the winningest team in league history.

Then they had Ginebra San Miguel, the crowd favorite ever since the team dropped the Gilbey’s Gin brand and made Robert Jaworski its poster boy.

Then they bought Purefoods from the Ayalas, and after a Grand Slam run as the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers, the team is now known as the Magnolia Hotshots.

And then, when they bought RFM, SMC renamed the team the Coca-Cola Tigers.

During their brief PBA run, the Tigers, mentored by Chot Reyes, won a couple of titles. However, when SMC and Coca-Cola parted ways, SMC took most of their stars and gave them to Ginebra.

During that four-team run, SMC had players bouncing from team to team, which eventually contributed to the imbalance we see today. Even now, with the Coca-Cola franchise having been sold to GlobalPort, which was eventually sold to the owners of what is now the Titan Ultra Giant Risers, we have seen a couple of SMC names make their way to this former fourth team, either to escape the vicious SMC vortex or slowly lose their awesomeness.

So, let’s track down the players who found themselves caught inside this franchise whirlpool.

Game starts now!

THE ALL-SMC FOUR-TEAM CLUB

CRIS BOLADO

	PUREFOODS	GORDON'S	POP* / COKE	SAN MIGUEL
C. BOLADO	1997	1997 - 98	'99 / 2002-03	1999

To say Cris Bolado is lucky is an understatement. Air Bolado played in the PBA for ten seasons and won eleven championships. His first four titles came with the Alaska Milkmen, and he was part of their 1996 Grand Slam run.

That said, he was part of the trade that sent Rodney Santos to the Milkmen, and in his first conference with Purefoods, he won a title. He was then traded to Ginebra for EJ Feihl later that season and won a title for them as well. Bolado would go on to win two more titles with the San Miguel Beermen. Then, after a brief stint with the Red Bull Thunder, he reunited with his former teammates in Alaska and won two more titles with the Coca-Cola Tigers.

Jumbo Bolado is the only player to win a championship with all four SMC teams.

BILLY MAMARIL

	PUREFOODS	COCA-COLA	GINEBRA	SAN MIGUEL
B. MAMARIL	2003 - 04	2005 - 06	2006 - 10 / 2010 - 15	2017 - 20

He is the other player who played for all four SMC teams. In the 2009-10 season, Ginebra traded Billy Mamaril to Air21 for Mike Cortez. Four games later, he was traded back to Ginebra for a future pick. That pick turned out to be Paul Sorongon, the 20th pick of the 2011 PBA Draft.

Was the trade fair?

Because, basically, it was Cortez and Mamaril for Paul Sorongon.

No.

Hell no.

But if you discount that brief stint with Air21, Mamaril would play for the Gins for almost nine seasons. Mamaril made his league debut with Purefoods but was then traded to Shell along with the rights to Kai's dad, Ervin Sotto, in exchange for former MBA MVP Eddie Laure. When Shell disbanded, he was sent to Coca-Cola. As mentioned, Mamaril was part of the talent raid that gutted the Tigers. His second Ginebra stint ended when he was traded to GlobalPort, and he finished his SMC merry-go-round with San Miguel, where he eventually ended his career. Mamaril was a serviceable big man who could have been a franchise player if he had been given the chance. I know SMC gave him job security, but his best PBA season actually came in Shell's final year, when he posted career highs in points, rebounds, and minutes played.

THE PARTIAL ALL-SMC FOUR-TEAM CLUB

CHICO LANETE

	PUREFOODS	GINEBRA	POWERADE*	SAN MIGUEL
C. LANETE	2007 - 09	2009	2010 - 11	2012 - 14 / 2017 - 19

Of the players who almost played for all four SMC teams, Chico Lanete came the closest, because Powerade was essentially the rebrand of Coca-Cola. That said, by the time he arrived with the Tigers, they had already severed their ties with SMC.

One of the greatest players to wear the Harbour Centre colors in the PBL, Balboa started his PBA career with Purefoods after going undrafted in 2007. Lanete then journeyed through various PBA teams. He saw action for Ginebra before getting caught in what would become a never-ending loop as he tried to escape the franchise genealogy that originally belonged to Tanduay. Lanete went from Burger King to Powerade to Meralco to Barako Bull to San Miguel, then back to Barako Bull, which changed owners and became Phoenix, before eventually returning to San Miguel.

At least during his second stint with San Miguel, he reaped the rewards of the merry-go-round, winning three championships.

YANCY DE OCAMPO

	GINEBRA	B-MEG / SAN MIG	GPORT*	SAN MIGUEL
DE OCAMPO	2010 - 11	2011 - 14	2014 - 15	2015 - 19

As far as the vortex goes, Yancy de Ocampo escaped one, only to get sucked into another. But unlike his first loop, in which he moved from Air21 to TNT twice in five seasons, his move to SMC earned him rings.

He first played for Ginebra before moving to the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers, where he was kind of part of their Grand Slam squad. I say “kind of” because he was traded to GlobalPort in the middle of the Governors' Cup, and the Batang Pier were the team that had acquired the old Coca-Cola franchise.

GlobalPort would then establish itself as one of SMC's top conduits, because less than a year later, YDO was shipped to San Miguel alongside Gabby Espinas in a three-way trade that also involved Billy Mamaril and another player who is on this list.

Now playing as June Mar Fajardo's chief sub, the former St. Francis Dove would finish his career with seven more championships, including two more Grand Slam attempts with the Beermen.

ROMMEL ADDUCUL

	GINEBRA	SAN MIGUEL	PUREFOODS	POW* / GLO*
R. ADDUCUL	2003 - 06	2006 - 07	2007 - 11	2011 - 13

Rommel Adducul is widely regarded as one of the biggest disappointments in PBA history. If you're a wrestling fan, it's like Sting joining WWE. If you're an NBA fan, it's like wishing Arvydas Sabonis had gotten to have the career he was capable of having. The thing about Adducul is that we should have gotten the version of him that won MVPs, but instead, we got the version that only managed one Mythical Second Team selection.

Well, getting ping-ponged from one SMC team to another is one factor.

The General was taken second overall by Ginebra in the 2003 PBA Draft. At the time, the team already had Mark Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand, as well as veterans Eric Menk and Jun Limpot. He was then traded to San Miguel, where he played behind Danny Ildefonso, Danny Seigle, and Dorian Peña. He had a chance for redemption when he was traded to Red Bull for Enrico Villanueva, but he was then shipped to Purefoods as quickly as possible in exchange for Don Camaso.

And then, Adducul was diagnosed with something I don't want to name, which required chemotherapy. Yes, he successfully made his way back to the court, but the Adducul of old wasn't there anymore. His rebounding was still there, but his scoring had left him. Adducul finally completed the four-team swing when he was picked up by Powerade. There were a lot of factors behind why Adducul didn't become a true-blue superstar in the PBA, but it certainly didn't help that he never got to play outside SMC's sphere of influence.

ENRICO VILLANUEVA

	SAN MIGUEL	PUREFOODS	GINEBRA	GLOBALPORT
E. VILLANUEVA	2007 - 08	2008 - 09	2009 - 12	2014

The unfortunate thing about Ateneo's 2002 UAAP championship squad is that many of them got traded multiple times. There are even some who got to play for multiple SMC squads. Yes, LA Tenorio got to play for three SMC squads, but his stint with Magnolia was his own decision, as he chose to take on the role of playing coach. The others weren't as lucky. Rich Alvarez, Wesley Gonzales, Gec Chia, JC Intal, and Doug Kramer played for two SMC teams and one of their conduits.

Meanwhile, Enrico Villanueva managed to play for three SMC teams and the franchise that once housed the Coca-Cola Tigers.

You'd think Villanueva would be a Red Bull lifer, since his moniker is “The Raging Bull.” Anyway, he was traded to San Miguel for Adducul but was then moved to Purefoods when The General had to undergo chemotherapy. Villanueva would then headline a four-team trade that sent him to Ginebra. This was the point when his numbers started to go down. By the time he moved to GlobalPort after a brief stint with Barako Bull, he was already saddled with injuries.

By the time he escaped the SMC loop, he was already on the verge of retirement. While he became the poster boy for Red Bull at the height of his career, one “what if” would be what might have happened if he had been drafted by TNT instead of Harvey Carey. Imagine him forming a beefy frontline with Asi Taulava.

RICO MAIERHOFER

	PUREFOODS	GINEBRA	SAN MIGUEL	GLOBALPORT
MAIERHOFER	2009 - 11	2011 - 13	2014 - 15	2015 - 17

And I end this list with Rico Maierhofer. We all know him now as one of the leaders of PBA Moto Club, but I always thought of him as the DLSU version of Rich Alvarez. Yes, he wasn't going to give you a daily dose of double-digit scoring and rebounding, but if you gave him the playing time, he would. The dude had a good rookie year with Purefoods, but he got injured. He then moved to Ginebra, and I thought that's when his numbers started to go down. In his last six seasons, he never averaged more than 16 minutes per game.

From Ginebra, he went to Barako Bull, then San Miguel, then back to Barako Bull, and finally to GlobalPort. Barako Bull and GlobalPort were known SMC conduits, and I wonder what his career would have looked like if he had been given the chance to play for one team for more than five seasons.

And if you're looking for a real SMC fourth-team moment, Maierhofer even played for San Miguel in the ABL.

Again, whether you love him or hate him as a DLSU Green Archer, I always thought he deserved a season in the PBA averaging 12 points and seven rebounds.