1993 Sta. Lucia Realtors season

The 1993 Sta. Lucia Realtors season was the first season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

New team

The Sta. Lucia Realtors, a Realty firm who had a basketball team that won two titles in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL), formalized its entry to the pro league, taking over the defunct Presto franchise. The new ballclub absorbed five players from Presto namely; Gerry Esplana, Bong Hawkins, Peter Jao, Vergel Meneses and Zaldy Realubit. The Realtors got the biggest catch in the amateur draft, choosing multi-titled national team player Zandro "Jun" Limpot from De La Salle and Magnolia in the PBL, as the number one overall pick. They also acquired another national team member Boyet Fernandez, who played for the ballclub in the amateurs but was originally picked by Swift in the annual draft.

Occurrences

After the All-Filipino Cup, the Sta. Lucia Realtors surprised lots of league followers by trading its top players Vergel Meneses and Zaldy Realubit to Swift Mighty Meaties in exchange for Ricric Marata and Jack Tanuan, the Realtors acquired two more Swift players; Alejandro De Guzman and Vilmer Bañares, and also traded Rene Hawkins to Alaska for Paul Alvarez.

Summary

The Sta. Lucia Realtors won their first four games in the All-Filipino Cup, defeated the Benjie Paras-less Shell Turbo Chargers in a rousing debut, 112-91, in the opening game of the season on February 28 at the newly built Cuneta Astrodome. One week later on March 7, the Realtors scored its third victory without a loss as they upset the highly favored San Miguel Beermen, 88-80. Their fourth win came against 7-Up on March 12, winning by one point, 95-94, ^[1] before Coney Island halted their streak two days after with a 103-95 victory. ^[2] Sta. Lucia finish the eliminations with a 6-4 won-loss card. Seeded number four in the semifinals, the Realtors lost to the San Miguel Beermen in four games in the best-of-five semifinal series. The team placed fourth in their very first conference.

NBA veteran Mike McGee, a former LA Lakers star, was Sta.Lucia's import for the Commissioner's Cup. After four games with Sta. Lucia remaining winless, McGee was replaced by Nikita Wilson, a second round draft pick by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1987. Wilson's entry did not help the Realtors, who are still adjusting to their new players after the blockbuster trade as they won only once in the eliminations and placed last.

Clifford Lett, who was among the early bird imports to blew into town, abandoned the Realtors a week before the start of the third conference. Former Presto import Terrance Bailey was signed up as a replacement for Lett and played only one game for Sta. Lucia and scored only 12 points as he was no match against Beermen import Kenny Travis in their opening day blowout loss to San Miguel on September 26. The off-form Bailey begged to stay but Sta.Lucia had different plans and recruited Lambert Shell, a standout from University of Bridgeport, in their next game. Shell led the Realtors to the semifinal round and the team was at the bottom of the standings, lagging behind by two games against three other semifinalist. They scored two straight victories at the start of the semifinals against Swift, 115-111 on November 7, and outlasted San Miguel Beermen, 135-129, in a triple-overtime on November 9 where rookie Jun Limpot played a total of 60 minutes. Sta. Lucia completed their first round assignment by winning over Purefoods for the first time in the season, 123-116 on November 14. ^[3] The following week on November 21, the Realtors clinch the win-five incentive and a playoff for the second finals berth by repeating over Purefoods, 120-117. Missing the services of Paul Alvarez during the crucial stages, Sta. Lucia bowed to Tony Harris-led Swift in their playoff game on December 3 for the right to face San Miguel Beermen in the finals. The Realtors had a strong third-place finish in the season-ending conference.

Award

Top draft pick Zandro Limpot was honored as the season's Rookie of the year.

All-Filipino Cup roster

Commissioners Cup/Governors Cup roster

_{Assistant coaches: Adonis Tierra / Joshua Villapando Team Manager: Buddy Encarnado}

References