THE bigger they are, the harder they fall seems to be the message TNT coach Nash Racela is sending about the recently consummated controversial trade that saw San Miguel Beer gain the No. 1 overall pick in the draft from Kia for a bunch of benchwarmers.
The Beermen used the pick on Sunday to get Christian Standhardinger, who now forms a fearsome frontline tandem with four-time reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo.
Racela knows the trade will make the powerhouse Beermen even more formidable, but also believes that it will also make their victories against the Beermen doubly satisfying.
“Life is unfair. That’s a given, so we just have to live with it, find ways again to counter that,” Racela said after the draft proceedings. “It’s hard, because the last two years, it’s all San Miguel teams winning championships, so we will try our very best to try to break that – talking about the other ten teams.”
“(But) when things become more difficult, it’s more satisfying,” he added with a smile.
Racela, whose team lost to in Ginebra in the last Governors’ Cup semifinals, noted the duo of Standhardinger and Fajardo will give the Gin Kings an equivalent matchup for Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar.
“Nice to see June Mar and Christian playing together,” Racela said. “That’s a good competition, I think, against Ginebra, having another twin towers in Greg and Japeth, so magandang competition sa kanila. And it just makes life very difficult for all the other ten teams.”
And instead of finding their own twin towers, the Texters improved their team by taking mostly guards in the draft in first-round pick Macmac Tallo, Monbert Arong, and Dave Moralde, with the exception of unherhalded big man Jon Gabriel.
“We’re satisfied with what we have,” Racela said. “We just want to take a look at all those players. The idea really is for, ever since naman when we draft, we always look into consideration 'yung backup guard for Jayson Castro.
“So the process has been continuous for us, that’s why mga guwardiya rin 'yung mga kinuha namin,” he added.