Why Jay Washington and Arwind Santos can’t win championship together?

This fearless tandem of Jay Washington and Arwind Santos, both from San Miguel Beermen/Petron Blaze Boosters, is a very tough to beat, in terms of offense and defense.

Jay Washington was acquired by SMB in 2008 in exchange of its third pick in the PBA 2008 Draft, which is Jason Castro. Most of the fans said that the acquisition of Washington is the second coming of Danny Seigle, in which the latter is on his “twilight” of his career because of his injuries. With an impressive resume of being the Top pick in the PBA 2005 Draft, SMB fans expected a lot from him to bring back the “glory days” of SMB.

On the other hand, Arwind Santos, was acquired by SMB through a trade involving Air21 and Purefoods (now BMeg). They (SMB) shipped back Marc Pingris, the other 2008 Fiesta Conference Finals MVP (some analysts said), to Purefoods and gave Air21 Ken Bono and its 2010 first round pick. Some PBA insiders that Santos, before signing a deal with Air21 in 2006, is “already traded” to SMB after his contract expires.

With the tandem of the two best players in the league, and surrounded by the other stars like Hontiveros, Cabagnot, Ildefonso and Seigle, most of the sports-analysts and PBA fans (and even PBA coaches) pick SMB as the top team to beat in 2009 – 2010 season. When the 35^th season of the PBA kicked off, SMB got the semi-finals slot in both Philippine and Fiesta Conference. Both Washington and Santos averaged double figures in points and close to double digits in rebounding. And in the Fiesta Conference 2010, they met Alaska Aces for their finals showdown and the team lost. Jay Washington is the best player of the conference.

Promised to come back in the 36^th season, Washington and Santos brought back SMB to the Philippine Cup Finals versus Talk N Text, where Washington, publicly stated that he has still the animosity of being traded by Chot Reyes, the opponent’s head coach. But still, they lost to TNT in 6 games, for consolation prize, Washington was named as the Best Player of the Conference for the second time.

In the two finals stint by SMB in the finals (with Alaska and Talk N Text), where is Arwind Santos? Well, during that time, he is very busy throwing those three point shots every game and he feels like Allan Caidic or Reggie Miller in SMB jersey. Although both players averaging double figures, they can’t still find the right formula of getting the championships they wanted. And in the Commissioner’s Cup, SMB tasted their first elimination. After trading Seigle, Hontiveros, Pena and Artadi to Air21 to yet unknown rookies then, SMB failed and got eliminated.

With one conference left in the season, Petron Blaze Boosters, armed with youth and athlecism, Washington and Santos again promised to give Ato Agustin another championship run. When Washington got injured against Air21, and declared to be out of the rest of the conference, Santos solely shouldered the responsibilities of bringing back Petron to the finals. And the rest is history…

Arwind Santos is the Best Player of the Conference and the 2011 Governor’s Cup Finals MVP. Played like an import, averaging double-double in both points and rebounds, he deserved to be the MVP of the Finals.

To sum it up, Washington and SMB won Fiesta Cup 2009 without Arwind Santos, and Arwind Santos and Petron won the Governor’s Cup 2011 without Jay Washington. But when the two players played together and faced Alaska and Talk N Text in the finals, yet they are beaten out cold.

Maybe because one factor is they can both play similar positions and they don’t know that each other exists in every game. Washington wanted the ball to be effective and be the focal point of offense, while Santos wanted to be the Triggerman every game. They really don’t know how to deal with their plays when they are both in the court. Washington, sometimes, tend to “go solo” especially when his temper goes wild. Santos, to be fair, is a very good defender. Just ask Willie Miller on how Santos handled him during their face-off.

In order for them to win championship together, one must step forward and the other to step backward. Washington must play aggressive in every game and must learn how to pass the ball, just like Danny Ildefonso. And Santos, already knew what type of play he is more suitable like manning the boards and put backs. Arwind is more comfortable in PF while Jay is more of a SF player. And one thing more, they must minimize their outside shooting, especially in the three point area. They must accept that they are not the Reggie Miller type of a player. If they will accept the role and doesn’t mind who will be the main man of the team, I think that they can “co-exist” with each other.