2013-14 Standings: SMB
| WIN | LOSS | RANK | PLAYOFFS | |
| Philippine Cup | 10 | 4 | 3rd | Defeated Energy Cola 2-0 in a best-of-3 quarterfinalsLost to Painters 4-1 in semifinals |
| Commissioner’s Cup | 7 | 2 | 2nd | Lost to Express in the quarterfinals (had twice-to-beat advantage) |
| Governor’s Cup | 5 | 4 | 5th | Lost to Mixers in the quarterfinals (had twice-to-beat disadvantage) |
| Total | 25 | 17 |
| 2013-14 Team Leaders | ||
| PPG | June Mar Fajardo | 16.76 |
| APG | Chris Ross | 5.09 |
| RPG | June Mar Fajardo | 14.16 |
| BPG | June Mar Fajardo | 2.08 |
| SPG | Chris Ross | 1.89 |
Players Lost: Chico Lanete (dispersal draft), Sam Marata (Free Agent)
2014 Draft Pick: #3 pick: Ronald Pascual
Players Added: Ronald Pascual (Rookie Draft)
2014 Projected Depth Chart:
| C | June Mar Fajardo | Doug Kramer | Justin Chua |
| F | Arwind Santos | Rico Maierhofer | |
| F | Chris Lutz | Nelbert Omolon | |
| G | Marcio Lassiter | Ronald Pascual | Ronald Tubid |
| G | Chris Ross | Solomon Mercado | Paolo Hubalde |
The Bandwagon Wire Says
San Miguel coaching carousel alert! If you thought the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel team had the worst coaching carousel over the last 5 years, the Beermen arguably has a much worse coaching turnover compared to their sister team. Here’s the list of the team’s coaches over the last 2 years (NOTE: Ginebra had 4 coaches in 5 years)
| TIME FRAME | COACH |
| 2012 | Ato Agustin |
| 2012-13 | Olsen Racela |
| 2013-14 (Comm Cup) | Gee Abanilla |
| 2014 (Gov Cup) | Biboy Ravanes |
| Present | Leo Austria |
Let’s do some math! The PBA has 3 conferences per season. During the 38th and 39th season of the PBA, the Beermen had 4 coaches. Technically, the franchise changed coaches once every conference and a half! And we haven’t even included TODD PURVES into the mix! Oh wait, he’s here lurking in the shadows.
Now with Coach Leo Austria at the helm, who we at the Bandwagon Wire worship, finally the team has a no non-sense coach who won’t give a damn about player egos.
Storylines
Whatever happened to Chris Lutz?
Chris Lutz. The #3 pick in the 2011 PBA Draft. Former Men’s Basketball National Team member.
Last season was not a good year for Chris Lutz. Oh wait, it was a terrible year for Lutz! It’s as if the guy aged 5 years after having an efficient 2011-12 campaign. He even got his wish to be paired with his closest friend from the National Team program Marcio Lassiter. Here are Lutz’s averages from last season compared to 2 years ago:
| Chris Lutz | MPG | PPG | RPG | SPG | TOPG | FG% | FT% |
| PBA 38 | 26.05 | 8.40 | 3.14 | .58 | 1.60 | 39.5% | 78.3% |
| PBA 39 | 26.83 | 8.56 | 2.98 | 0.49 | 2.27 | 35.9% | 73.8% |
Even though Lutz played a tad more minutes last season, his overall efficiency went down. Even his deadly midrange shooting was nowhere to be seen. To properly stretch the floor, the Beermen badly need Lutz to knock-down jumpers and slash to the rim.
The Kraken vs. Spiderman
Being just 24 years young, June Mar Fajardo is without a doubt the best player in Philippine basketball today. He is the gem of, not only the San Miguel Beermen, but of the men’s basketball national team program. Last season was just the 1st of many most valuable player trophies the gentle giant will receive in his lifetime.
However, there’s another alpha dog in the SMB franchise. The PBA Most Valuable Player from 2 seasons ago, Arwind Santos. Let’s compare the season’s of Fajardo and Santos last year in this edition of HEAD-TO-HEAD:
| Arwind Santos | June Mar Fajardo | |
| 42 | GP | 37 |
| 36.00 (2nd) | MPG | 35.49 (4th) |
| 15.14 (6th) | PPG | 16.76 (2nd) |
| 8.64 (4th) | RPG | 14.16 (1st) |
| 1.05 (4th) | BPG | 2.08 (1st) |
| 261 | Total FGM | 207 |
| 599 | Total FGA | 377 |
| 43.6% (25th) | FG% | 54.9% (2nd) |
| 68.3% (33rd) | FT% | 62.8% (47th) |
| 15 (5th) | # of double-doubles | 29 (1st) |
| 1.62 (26th) | TOPG | 3.05 (1st) |
Going into year 3 of the Fajardo-Santos combination, the combination has only given the franchise 2 semifinals appearances. The entire franchise had to trade stretch forward Jay Washington and SMB-mainstay Dorian Pena just to accommodate the combination. We’ll take a look at how this combination just does not mesh well in a future edition of Stats Don’t Lie.
2014 Philippine Cup Prediction
So will the SMB soap opera end this conference? With the hiring of Coach Austria, the opera will surely end this season… but not this conference. Our prediction?
Our prediction: 6th place after the elimination round, eliminated in the quarterfinals
2014-15 PBA Philippine Cup Primers
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