THE MACAU BLACK KNIGHTS: WHY THEY FAILED THE PBA TEST

The Macau Black Knights just made me realize how much I hate unprepared teams.

I call this as I see it.

The team will go down in infamy as the first PBA Commissioner’s Cup guest team to get the elimination round boot, and as the reason the league would think twice about bringing an unproven squad into the mix. I bet the PBA league officials knew about what Macau would bring, but I also believe they gave the team the benefit of the doubt. After all, who’s to say that the Bay Area Dragons or Hong Kong Eastern would end up the way they did? Macau had the same path as the two teams in the sense that they were participating in tourneys across Asia. So surely, the last thing they would do is come here and embarrass themselves.

And yet, they did.

So, with the Black Knights out of contention, let me say three reasons why the PBA needs to blacklist this team from joining the PBA ever again.

ROSTER

Now, I am not going to say that Damian Chongqui, Phoenix Shackelford, and Jenning Leung are subpar players. I mean, have you seen their numbers? These three combine for almost 60 points, 17 rebounds, and 17 assists per game, which means they are that good. Ramon Cao and Chon Pong Lao are great complements as well.

The problem is their bench, or lack thereof.

When we see how poor their bench mob is, you can see why these three, alongside import Tony Mitchell, would huff and puff in the fourth quarter. If you look at their bench, they are either point guards or shooting guards. Moreover, when their bench is given the chance to play, they do not know how to shoot the ball.

Yes, I said SHOOT and not CREATE or COMMAND.

I... said... SHOOT.

It felt like Macau only had enough money to assemble a starting five and an import, and to hell with the rest. This lack of support was also evident when Chon Pong Lao went down with an injury. Maybe they are overwhelmed by the PBA players, but for a team whose claim to fame is that they go to all parts of Asia to square off against the best players, it feels like they are not living up to expectations.

IN ELEVEN GAMES

MACAU BLACK KNIGHTS	GP	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG
DAMIAN CHONGQUI	11	20.91	3.27	7.73	0.91	0.09
TONY MITCHELL - IMP	11	19.36	12.82	1.09	0.45	1.55
LEUNG, JENNING	11	18.18	5.00	5.45	2.36	0.00
PHOENIX SHACKELFORD	11	18.18	6.27	4.09	2.09	0.18
CAO, RAMON	11	14.18	7.73	2.09	0.55	0.09
LAO, CHON PONG	8	10.13	1.13	0.25	0.00	0.00
LI, JIASHUO	6	3.17	1.50	0.50	0.17	0.00
CHEN, LI-SHENG	6	2.00	1.17	0.50	0.67	0.00
LU, ZIJIE	7	2.00	3.86	0.29	0.43	0.43
CHAO, XINGZHAO	6	1.33	1.83	0.67	0.17	0.00
LI, XIAOXU	3	1.33	1.67	0.33	0.00	0.00
SUN, MENG	4	1.25	2.25	1.00	0.00	0.00
ZHU, ZHAOJING	4	0.50	0.25	0.25	0.00	0.00

POINTS OF COMPARISON:

BAY AREA DRAGONS | https://www.project-sydrified.com/2022-23-pba-commissioner-s-cup-season-stats-bay-area-dragons

HONG KONG EASTERN | https://www.project-sydrified.com/2024-25-pba-commissioner-s-cup-season-stats-hong-kong-eastern

IMPORT

Like past guest team incarnations, Macau was given a chance to play two imports. These imports cannot play in the same game, but the coaches can choose between the two, which is an advantage when countering the opposing PBA teams. Initially, the team had Tony Mitchell and Sam Deguara. However, Deguara left, which puts Mitchell in a bind.

Yes, the former NBA player and former NLEX and Magnolia import can score and rebound, but obviously, the gameplay they set up was meant for Deguara. The team has three excellent scoring combo guards, so the best way for the team to get more opportunities to score is to have a 7-foot titan manning the frontcourt. If you think about it, Mitchell’s spot could have easily been Cao’s, so Deguara could concentrate on defending the inside. Mitchell is more of a slasher than a frontcourt player, and it did not help that he is one of the smallest imports in the tournament.

And even if you say that Mitchell is already 34 years old, the reason he looked lost in the fourth quarter is that he had to look for ways to score while defending rebounds and going toe-to-toe with the other import as well as the locals.

COACHING

I like Marcus Elliott’s style of coaching because it is not as messed up as what Garrett Kelly did.

That said, both coaches were schooled by their PBA counterparts.

One of the reasons why Macau started with a 0–3 record is that Kelly thought it was a good idea to pepper their offense with four-pointers. If you are a diehard PBA fan, you know this idea is insane. And for Mitchell and Cao, who virtually have no help manning the offensive boards, a shooter jacking up a four-pointer would send the ball wandering aimlessly, as compared to a post-up play or a simple penetration move.

When Elliott replaced Kelly, it felt like Macau had a better plan. However, without the right personnel, the team struggled in the fourth quarter. In Macau’s two wins, everyone was on point. It also helped that the Black Knights lucked out against Blackwater, who played without Robert Upshaw.

That said, Elliott’s buddy-buddy coaching style also has its drawbacks, like what happened in the Terrafirma game, in which he was virtually clueless as to why Damian Chongqui suddenly stormed out of the arena.

In one timeout against Terrafirma, Elliott sat his players down to say they were doing great. After, I think, 15 to 20 seconds, the huddle was done. Even in their cheer for victory, I heard Elliott and, I guess, three or four other players. Yes, they were playing well at that time, but a couple of minutes later, we saw Elliott bench the starters, with the bench mob “trying” to go head-to-head with Terrafirma, with Mitchell outside the three-point area. It was like Terrafirma had a six-point lead in the early stages of the fourth quarter, and they were already raising the white flag. It felt like the coach was gearing for a charge while the players were looking for a mutiny.

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Macau had two wins against Titan Ultra and Blackwater. But at the start of the tournament, we thought they would win more.

However, if you look at their recent history, the Macau Black Bears/Knights have a combined 3 wins and 9 losses in their two years in the EASL, including a winless 2025–26 campaign. Maybe they thought they would fare as well as the Meralco Bolts, but then they realized the only reason Meralco got the nod was that the two teams that won PBA championships in the previous season saw the EASL as an extra way to stress out their players.

Look, maybe the Black Knights can improve their lineup if they want to return and have a better showing. But apart from better imports, they need to retool their roster. They also need to give Marcus Elliott a chance to get better. I do not know what drove Chongqui to leave his team high and dry, but I do know for a fact that it is hard to just take loss after loss.

If I were the PBA, I would look for a guest team that just gets it. Maybe they can extend this to a Southeast team, albeit a national team at that. What I am trying to say is that maybe they can have guys like Chanatip Jakrawan, Freddie Lish, Emmanuel Ejesu, Tyler Lamb, and the rest of Team Thailand as a guest team? Yes, I know this means sharing our trade secrets with them as the 2027 SEA Games get underway, and

I guess they may be less of a threat if they do not have a solid bench, but as far as excitement goes, what is better than our Southeast Asian archrival?

The Black Knights organization came to the PBA unprepared, thinking that the playoffs would be easy for them. Instead, they became virtual freebies, in the same breath as the farm teams. The only great thing they gave PBA fans is the excitement of them beating the top squads, which they failed to accomplish. In their nine losses, they had an average deficit of 12.38. In their two victories, they had a winning margin of eight.

I think the best way for them to end the conference is with a win against the Phoenix Fuel Masters, to perhaps ruin their attempt to obtain a twice-to-beat advantage. But that remains to be seen, as it is obvious that there could be repercussions from Chongqui’s departure in the middle of the game.

And if they get trampled by the Fuel Masters, then I guess that is the obvious end to their disastrous Commissioner’s Cup campaign.