I personally think coach Chito is still a good development coach due to his stint with Kia. If im not mistaken. Digregorio was his player there and LA revilla who turned out to be decent role players.
The Junmar Fajardo Thread
- Thread starter rhk111
- Start date
I personally think coach Chito is still a good development coach due to his stint with Kia. If im not mistaken. Digregorio was his player there and LA revilla who turned out to be decent role players.
mathematicianrcg
Active member
Hope JMF recovers in time before 2023. We still need him to complement Kai and Aj
JMF could have been a much better international player. We always harped that a Delvin Go or any big with some mobility could expose him but the younger lighter him was much more mobile. There was this game against Singapore that Delvin couldnt do anything against his defense. And yet Chot opted to play him strictly bench minutes. In the WC, except for probably 2 games, he was 2nd to Blatche in efficiency and had a high plus minus in the team. For a time he was even only second to Gasol I think for efficiency in the whole WC. There were several games that the team would do well with him on the floor but Chot would stick with a 3 guard lineup in the 4th and lose.
He was so good he was projected to do well in years to come. His younger lighter version was pretty good in the the PBA too. In the Governors cup of his rookie year he played a faster game that could have been effective internationally. He had more lift. He had a wonderful fastbtreak dunk over San Migs import taking off from a distance. He was a BPC candidate despite playing lower minutes. His team reached the finals and regularly dominated teams by over 20 pts while playing at a faster pace and despite playing with a disgruntled Arwind Santos who did not hide it from the media.
Sadly, the guy is loyal to a fault. One of his earliest benefactors was an SMB employee. He couldve declared earlier but opt to skip the PBA for a year in order to be drafted by SMB.
He knew he had to improve his skills. He always practiced his dribbling even if Austria required him to stay in the paint for 40 minutes. He was fond of the Euro step until he developed a hairline fracture probably from doing it with his weight. He liked going on fastbreak layups until he broke his leg from doing it in practice, probably because of his weight again.
Even now, probably knowing he needs to lose weight because of his injury, but knowing that Austria needs him inside the paint he hasnt seemed to have lost any weight. But has improved his 3 pt shooting by a mile.
He knew that he had to be lighter internationally and he lost a lot of weight for the qualifiers to do it. He did decently. But sadly having not played at that weight for a long time he was not used to it. And when he came back to the PBA like a good soldier he said it is his choice to gain back that weight.
But whose choice and whose system was it to use him as an immovable object in the paint for close to 40 minutes? It was not the only style he knew but it was for his coach. He won a lot of championships and MVPs because of it. But he never fulfilled his potential internationally because of it. And now has a broken leg.
JMFs main weakness is what we Pinoys call a virtue, he is loyal to a fault.
But with a broken leg that crumbled from his own weight he needs to change his game. F*K Austria, Chua and SMB. They got 5 straight 5 AFCs that made MVPs perpetual cup into nothing. His got all the money he will ever need. He has to think of his career. He has to lose weight and play a more perimeter oriented game.
Look at Japeth. The guy probably heard he was soft and had to bulk up like June Mar. But he never did and eventually got a coach who was good enough to use him well without gaining weight. June Mar deserves a better coach who knows how to use him even without the bulk.
He was so good he was projected to do well in years to come. His younger lighter version was pretty good in the the PBA too. In the Governors cup of his rookie year he played a faster game that could have been effective internationally. He had more lift. He had a wonderful fastbtreak dunk over San Migs import taking off from a distance. He was a BPC candidate despite playing lower minutes. His team reached the finals and regularly dominated teams by over 20 pts while playing at a faster pace and despite playing with a disgruntled Arwind Santos who did not hide it from the media.
Sadly, the guy is loyal to a fault. One of his earliest benefactors was an SMB employee. He couldve declared earlier but opt to skip the PBA for a year in order to be drafted by SMB.
He knew he had to improve his skills. He always practiced his dribbling even if Austria required him to stay in the paint for 40 minutes. He was fond of the Euro step until he developed a hairline fracture probably from doing it with his weight. He liked going on fastbreak layups until he broke his leg from doing it in practice, probably because of his weight again.
Even now, probably knowing he needs to lose weight because of his injury, but knowing that Austria needs him inside the paint he hasnt seemed to have lost any weight. But has improved his 3 pt shooting by a mile.
He knew that he had to be lighter internationally and he lost a lot of weight for the qualifiers to do it. He did decently. But sadly having not played at that weight for a long time he was not used to it. And when he came back to the PBA like a good soldier he said it is his choice to gain back that weight.
But whose choice and whose system was it to use him as an immovable object in the paint for close to 40 minutes? It was not the only style he knew but it was for his coach. He won a lot of championships and MVPs because of it. But he never fulfilled his potential internationally because of it. And now has a broken leg.
JMFs main weakness is what we Pinoys call a virtue, he is loyal to a fault.
But with a broken leg that crumbled from his own weight he needs to change his game. F*K Austria, Chua and SMB. They got 5 straight 5 AFCs that made MVPs perpetual cup into nothing. His got all the money he will ever need. He has to think of his career. He has to lose weight and play a more perimeter oriented game.
Look at Japeth. The guy probably heard he was soft and had to bulk up like June Mar. But he never did and eventually got a coach who was good enough to use him well without gaining weight. June Mar deserves a better coach who knows how to use him even without the bulk.
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IPC
Well-known member
Maybe San Miguel's run-and-gun could have been more potent. They were once one of the fastest-paced teams in the PBA, and their shooters were a threat.
Imagine June Mar being able to keep up on the break. He also could have learned more finesse moves (and he's more of finesse than power).
Well, when the PBA is full of old-school coaches, this crap happens.
As for Japeth, he actually got stronger without sacrificing his mobility. Tougher as well. If only this version were the one playing with Gilas in 2013-14 and 2017.
I can't blame Junmar for being too loyal & masyadong nagtanaw ng utang na loob to his benefactors. The guy is too nice a person eh, a very humble guy. And knowing Junmar coming from a humble beginning, ganun talaga tendency ng tao - being too loyal & submissive to his employers. Let's face it, Junmar is no Sonny Jaworski or Mon Fernandez or Alvin Patrimonio or Jojo Lastimosa. Malalakas ang personities ng mga yun eh. Their employers had to deal with them with certain measure of respect & caution knowing that they just can't simply compel these personalities to do or agree to what these employers want just as easy as that. Junmar isn't like that & SMC people knows this very much.
thatweirdguy
Well-known member
Agree. Junemar is wired differently than the other all time greats. He seems to be a great guy. If there's anyone who deserves to be blamed it's whoever's been giving gim the wrong advice to bulk up when he should be losing weight to prolong his career. He's already taking a good amount of beating in the post every night and their solution is to put on more weight? That would just put more stress in his body..
PaulLee3
Active member
And 15 years later he is now a soon to be 7x PBA MVP. And just scored 19 points against Vucevic
He'd probably retire from national duties after Asian Games. For all the BIG prospects that we've discussed beg 2007 (i think), from Slaughter,Jap, Rabeh Al Husseini, Gian Chiu up until AVO, we could definitely say Junmar surpassed expectations no matter how low the floor was internationally Lol
Personally i wanted him to be serviceable for the NT because we never had someone w/ that size that is very strong at 6'10 (since Asi is more like 6'7 really) and 10 years in he's still here. Appreciate the sacrifices JF!
Personally i wanted him to be serviceable for the NT because we never had someone w/ that size that is very strong at 6'10 (since Asi is more like 6'7 really) and 10 years in he's still here. Appreciate the sacrifices JF!
geohunk
Active member
How do you know that? Did you watch the tuneup game live? Was Vooch the primary defender of JMF throughout the game? Please post the leaked video if you have it, to say that he scored all 19 points over Vooch. I was under the impression that most of his points came at garbage time.
B L A C K S U N
Active member
It was. He scored 12 points in garbage time.
paolylo
Well-known member
In hindsight...
Slaughter's claim to fame was being recruited to Ateneo just because the entire CESAFI league didn't have anyone taller than 6'4 aside from Junmar. Got a FIBA exception but didn't even play that much in FIBA-sanctioned events. Had an average pro career.
It's our fault that we may have overrated Japeth because he was a unicorn in the UAAP level as a red-shirted freshman and can suddenly shoot when he came back from the US. Stellar pro career, was part of every national team since 2009.
Rabeh, for all intents and purposes, was a bust. Even Carlo Sharma had a better pro career.
Gian Chiu, not a basketball player.
AVO, not a basketball player.
Special mention:
Asi: Honestly thought he was done after 2007.
Jason Ballesteros: 6'6 in 2010's PBA meant he played center... there were just a lot of Fil-Ams in his era who were either coming up or aging that were still preferred in PBA locker rooms.
Thoss: Should have been there in 2005 when Chot was starting out until the FIBA suspension, played in 2009, wasn't even considered for a lot of teams because of the whole one-player per team thing the SBP did. Eventually played again in 2015 under Tab when he was much older.
Almazan: He could have probably done the Pingris role, but was only part of Gilas a handful of times.
C-Stan: Not a "local", but plays like one.
Poy Erram: let's be honest, he's there just because he's with TNT but he has a role as long as Chot is there.
No need to mention Geo Chiu and Isaac Go because they might have another shot at Gilas as long as they keep playing in the PBA.
Since you remember these things well we're probably on the same age bracket hahahaha
Let's go way back say Centennial Team 1999-2005
Centennial Team: I always knew that we're not as strong as to what the PBA claimed us to be. But nothing could prepare me for the drubbing we got from SK esp Seo Jang-Hoon.
What if: Asi and Menk were already in the PBL at that time, I wish we had the vision to consider these guys
2002 RP Team: Obviously the biggest what if was the injury of Danny Seigle. That aside, that Team could've had Chris Clay & Jeff Flowers (Immigration issues), Davonn Harp (Rape case) on the Team. Plus the Happee and Selecta Team had tons of options. So a final lineup of say Aquino,Pennissi,Asi,Flowers,Menk, D.Seigle,Clay, Duremedes, Cariaso,Castillo would've been nice. Plus W.Miller (MBA), Caguioa & John Arigo of Alaska could've joined as well.
2003-2005 - FIBA Suspension
2007-2009 - Pre-Gilas
You're right, Asi looked old during this time he was around 36 i think. Japeth was just raw at 22. Maybe we could've just let him play the SF for us and paired with Asi & Slaughter who just started w/ UV. JF was only 6'7-6'8 then IIRC.
Those middle east/west asia teams were big (&slow). Would've been the perfect time to start fieldng a Naturalized Center and not wait for the Gilas 1.
My pick for a naturalized would've been Jamal
Sampson. I know he did not take us seriously but
humor me, a lineup of Sampson,Slaughter, Asi,Walkvist (another 6'10 stretch big ahead of his time),Penissi & Japeth would've been nice to
throw at Lebanon,Iran,Jordan,Korea,China even Syria who all had really big teams.
Then we have established guards in Miller,Caguioa, Hontiveros and should've forced Dillinger and Norwood to handle the PG duties since Caguioa and Co. were really undersized SGs.
paolylo
Well-known member
Fuck No, I don't wanna debate this shit again. Haha. 2023 na, I've had this problem in 2001 at PEx when people thought Marlou Aquino will be useful for 2002 when the Fil-Sham/Fil-Am guys were just as tall and can play all front court positions at the PBA level. Also, why the heck would anyone 6'9 do a low-post underhand scoop against someone like Yao Ming?
I have no issue with the 1998 team. Kang Dong Hee was as if Mike Cortez and Beau Belga had a child, Johnny and Olsen didn't stand a chance. Seo wasn't that tall, but damn he could outrun every big that '98 team had. If they play Korea and China 10 times each, they probably wouldn't win a single game.
Well... what if Ron Jacobs lived another 5 years? Cortez (who had a contract with ICTSI in the PBL) and Alapag (who got injured the first play lol) would have made the pool... no disrespect to Boyet Fernandez and Olsen. Seigle was unfortunate, but that was still a solid team and still came up short.
As for 2007-2009 Pre-Gilas, the problem was the PBA was still living in 1998 (like they are now) and didn't think much about Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, and Qatar in the early 2000's when they were producing beasts like El Khatib, Abbas, and Mahmood.
Jamal Sampson was a beast, but I don't know how that would have lasted given how Toroman ran his teams. My biggest what if that era was the drama behind all those losses against bigger Arabs and a Qatar team that still had twelve Africans. Would there be a need for a Gilas 1? We have issues when we see Pogoy play wing at the FIBA level, but no one said a thing when Baracael was getting buckets from the wing the same way at the FIBA Asia level. Also consider the ages of the players. Only RDO and Kelly Williams were in their prime. The Gilas boys gave up what would have been their PBL year plus their PBA rookie season to be the "core" for that team. Just having Norwood and maybe another shooter like Yap or Ritualo would have made that team much better.