CHICAGO - Except Converge, which made a dizzying series of trades and roster changes the past two days, no other PBA team has had a more frantic, frenetic offseason than Magnolia.
Under the throes of an arid seven-year drought, the Hotshots dismissed coach Chito Victolero after a bittersweet nine-year run and replaced him with former Ginebra point guard LA Tenorio.
READ Magnolia to pick 6th, Ginebra 11th. See unofficial PBA draft order
Following Tenorio's July 28 takeover, the team then went on a signing spree in mid-August where Russell Escoto, Joseph Enobu and Peter Alfaro got extensions, Javi Gomez de Liano inked a new deal after arriving a trade while 34-year old Paolo Taha was snared via free agency.
Meanwhile, the current contract of Zavier Lucero expires at the end of September, and oddly, no deal is in sight.
Given that Lucero is the team's best player by leaps and bounds, you'd think he would have already been taken care of and not running around practice risking injury without a freshly minted contract.
LAMEDUCK STAR.
Apparently, Magnolia has a misplaced sense of priorities where the ancillary pieces were signed ahead of their resident star instead of the other way around.
Just as a quick reminder, here's how great the former UP Fighting Maroon was in the Philippine Cup.
Zav finished No. 7 overall in the league in scoring at 18.2 points per. He ranked fourth in 2-point field goal accuracy at 56.1 percent and 10th in 3-point shooting with a deadly 41.3 percent clip from above the arc.
A lethal two-way player, Lucero also finished No.3 overall on blocks with 1.4 an outing. And he accomplished all of the above feats despite having only one start in 13 games where his playing minutes (32.3 per) was only No.15 in the league.
If you don't understand what doing more for less means, all you need is to take a look at Zavier Lucero.
So, why is the versatile forward still unsigned?
WHO'S CALLING THE SHOTS?
It's unclear who's negotiating Magnolia's side but if SMC sports director Alfrancis Chua is leading the charge, a deal would have likely been struck already.
Sworn to secrecy, Zav's agent, the wonderful Marvin Espiritu, politely declined an interview. Zav's camp, silent as hepatitis, won't talk, either.
But multiple sources told me the choke point in the Zav-Magnolia negotiations is the length of the deal. The Hotshots want him for three years and Zav is comfortable only with two.
The money offered isn't the best either, less than market value I was told, but Zav has shown only gratitude, not resentment. He just doesn't want to be married contractually beyond two years.
I can't speak to what Zavier will and should do. All I know is that a team in the KBL is still text messaging him through third parties every day.
Contracts, like life and marriage, aren't about the length of the union, it's all about the quality of those relationships.
Why invite discord in a forced three-year deal when a lot of happiness, and winning, can be made in two?
Should Lucero leave for overseas opportunities, his void will inflict an irreparable tear on the fabric of an aging Magnolia team.
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