PARTING is such sweet sorrow.
And it can’t be any more accurate than in the case of coach Leo Austria, who had to deal with the hard decision of letting go veteran forward Arwind Santos in what signaled as the end of the ‘Death 5’ era at San Miguel.
In a trade no one saw it coming, the Beermen dealt the 40-year-old former MVP to NorthPort for Vic Manuel in a one-on-one exchange involving two of today’s important big men in the PBA.
Austria admitted he owes a lot of the success he enjoyed as coach of the Beermen to the lanky forward from Angeles City, Pampanga.
“Nag-prosper yung career ko (dahil sa kanya), dahil instrumental siya sa walong championship namin,” said Austria, looking back to his time together with Santos, who formed part of the team’s dreaded starting five together with six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot, and Chris Ross.
[See San Miguel looking to trade Alex Cabagnot to Terrafirma]
In seven seasons together, the San Miguel coach noted the team won eight championships in the nine times the Beermen were in the finals.
It was Santos who’s actually the one responsible for giving Austria the first of those string of titles, burying the clutch, game-winning trey in the waning seconds of Game 7 of the 2015 Philippine Cup finals against Alaska.
Santos referred to that memorable shot as ‘Kamay ng Diyos,’ and made him a lock for the PBA Press Corps Finals MVP award.
“(Kaya) napaka-bigat para sa akin na i-let go ang katulad ni Arwind. Mabigat talaga para sa akin,” Austria repeatedly said.
But as they say, the only constant in this world is change.
San Miguel found an opportunity to bolster the foundation of its ageing lineup unit when NorthPort landed Manuel in a separate trade with Phoenix for do-it-all forward Sean Anthony.
Austria said it was a hard decision which nonetheless, got the collective nod of the entire coaching staff and management led by team manager Gee Abanilla and governor Robert Non.
“We need to have some changes, and an opportunity arises,” he pointed out. “We talked to NorthPort and OK naman sila as long as beneficial to both teams.”
The 63-year-old coach related he talked to Santos before the trade was officially announced.
“Nagkausap kami, kasi ayaw naman namin na magkaroon ng trade na hindi niya alam. Ayaw namin na manggagaling pa sa iba,” said Austria. “Mahirap tanggapin kahit kanino, sa part niya at sa part ko rin.”
San Miguel’s past two campaigns in the Philippine Cup, a tournament the team dominated in a five-year course that saw it win the title five times, obviously had a lot to do with the decision to dismantle the core of one of the best ever starting rosters seen in the 46-year history of the league.
The proud franchise last won a championship in the 2019 Commissioner's Cup with Chris McCullough as import, adding to the fifth straight Philippine Cup crown it won the same season.
Unfortunately, it failed to complete a season sweep when the Beermen were booted out in the quarterfinals of the season-ending Governors Cup.
It was downhill for San Miguel from there.
In last season’s Clark bubble, a Fajardo-less Beermen failed to retain their title following a quarterfinals exit at the hands of Meralco.
Then in the Bacolor bubble only recently, the franchise again came short of reaching the finals despite the return of the 6-foot-10 Cebuano in the active roster, losing in seven games in the semifinals to eventual champion TnT Tropang Giga.
“The past two conferences, very stagnant kami. Parang hanggang doon na lang kami. Laging short kami,” said Austria. “So we need to have some changes.”
And it so happened Santos became the collateral damage for San Miguel.
"Ang masaklap nga lang nun, ang na-involved si Arwind," Austria acknowledged.
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