Meralco Bolts

This article is about the PBA team. For the original Meralco basketball team, see Meralco Reddy Kilowatts.
Meralco Bolts
History
Meralco Bolts (2010–present)
Joined PBA 2010
Team colors Orange, White, Blue
              
Company Manila Electric Company
Owner(s) Manuel V. Pangilinan
Board governor Al Panillio
Betty Siy-Yap (alternate)
Ryan Gregorio (alternate)
Team manager Paolo Trillo
Head coach Norman Black
Championships
None
Uniforms
Light
Dark
Alternate

Active affiliates of Meralco Bolts

UFL PBA PSL

The Meralco Bolts[1][2] is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The team began in 2010 after the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) acquired the PBA franchise of the Sta. Lucia Realtors.[3] The team is one of three PBA teams under the control of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan - the other teams being the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters and the NLEX Road Warriors.

History

On June 2010, there were reports that Meralco expressed interest in joining the PBA and intended to buy either Sta. Lucia's or Barako Bull's franchise after both teams unloaded most of their major players.[4] After Barako Bull informed the board that they intended to stay with the league for the 2010-11 season, Sta. Lucia then filed a "leave of absence."[5] On August 10, the PBA board finally approved the sale of the Sta. Lucia franchise to Meralco. The team would be named the Meralco Bolts.

2010–2011 PBA season

The Bolts debuted during the 2010-11 season with a lineup that included Mark Cardona, Asi Taulava, Nelbert Omolon, Marlou Aquino, Beau Belga, Dennis Daa, Chris Ross, Ogie Menor, Pong Escobal and Chris Pacana. Shawn Weinstein, Ford Arao, Khasim Mirza and Bam-bam Gamalinda were the first players to be drafted by the franchise. They started the Philippine Cup with a win against the crowd favorites Barangay Ginebra Kings. In the middle of the conference, they traded some of their players in exchange for Hans Thiele, Mark Isip and Reed Juntilla respectively. They compiled a 7-7 record which was enough to take them to the quarterfinals. However, they lost to the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados 2-0. Before the Commissioner's Cup, they made a huge trade by acquiring Solomon Mercado along with Paolo Bugia and Erick Rodriguez. They also signed 3-point shooter Renren Ritualo. Despite a revamped roster and imports Anthony Dandridge and Chamberlain Oguchi, they did not past the eliminations after having a 3-6 record. The same happened during the Governors Cup when they had a 3-5 record.

2011–2012 PBA season

The Bolts rebuilt its line-up during the offseason, releasing Renren Ritualo, Hans Thiele, Reed Juntilla and Paolo Bugia, as well as acquiring through trades Mark Yee, Mark Macapagal, Chico Lanete, Chris Timberlake and signing free agents Mark Borboran and Bryan Faundo. During the 2011 PBA Draft, Meralco selected Gilas reserve Jason Ballesteros, as well as Gilbert Bulawan to augment their frontline. In the 2011-12 PBA Philippine Cup, they finished at 6th place at 8-6 win-loss record but swept by the Petron Blaze Boosters. In the 2012 PBA Commissioner's Cup, they finished at another sixth place at 4-5 on that 102-98 upset win over Powerade Tigers but in another miss to the semifinals for the Bolts. In the 2012 PBA Governors Cup, they finished three straight sixth places in their franchise. In the knockout game for the last semis berth, they defeated the Powerade Tigers, 94-86 to advance to their first semifinals appearance in their franchise history.

2012–2013 PBA season

Ramon Segismundo announced the team's uniform for the 2012-13 season will have similar design features with the 1971 uniforms worn by the Meralco Reddy Kilowatts.[6]

2013–14 season

The Bolts made some offseason moves prior to the start of the season. They acquired "El Granada" Gary David from GlobalPort in exchange for Chris Ross, Chris Timberlake and Meralco's 2016 and 2017 second round picks.[7] They have also traded the rights of Asi Taulava to Air21 in exchange for Mike Cortez,[8] shipped Mark Cardona to Air21 via a three-team trade which in the process, acquired Rabeh Al-Hussaini.[9] They also acquired Kerby Raymundo from Ginebra for Jay-R Reyes. Raymundo has yet to play for the Bolts since he was traded because of a nagging knee injury, and is contemplating retirement.

Midway thru the eliminations, they signed up Danny Ildefonso for the rest of the conference, who was unceremoniously let go by Petron. After realizing that Danny I still has what it takes to play, and can still help the team in terms of his leadership and positive influence, the Bolts signed him for the rest of the season.[10]

During the PBA Philippine Cup conference, they were off to a good start, and were able to beat top-seed teams like Ginebra. However, they suffered losing streak and ended up in a four way tie with Alaska, GlobalPort and Barako Bull. Since Barako Bull and GlobalPort have higher quotients, Meralco was forced to play a sudden death game with Alaska Aces to determine the eighth and final playoff spot. The Aces defeated them and thus they were eliminated from playoff contention.

2014-15 season

In 2014-15 PBA Philippine Cup conference, they performed well, even eliminating the defending champion Purefoods Star Hotshots, but were later eliminated by Alaska Aces

In 2015 Commissioner's Cup, they are in an undefeated streak due to their good performance. The team also had its import Josh Davis who helped to maintain their great streak.

In the Governor's Cup, the team tapped Seiya Ando as their import, alongside Andre Emmett. Due to this, Ando became the first Japanese import in the league.

2015-16 season

The 2015-16 PBA Philippine Cup was not as good as they had before. The suffered the worst with a 1-10 record. However, the team drafted Chris Newsome and Anjo Caram.

The team improved very well in the Commissioner's Cup, where they had a beautiful streak led by ex-Maccabi Tel Aviv BC player Arinze Onuaku. Another flaw to the team's campaign in the Commissioner's Cup is the suspension of Gary David in a game during an elimination round, due to insubordination. David later removed in the line-up and moved to the unrestricted agent list.[11]

Mascot

Biboy Liwanag during Meralco's semifinal game versus Alaska on April 25, 2016

"Biboy Liwanag" is the main mascot of the Bolts. He was first introduced as the team's mascot during their maiden season in 2010.

Current roster

Meralco Bolts roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # POB Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From
F/C 0 Philippines Faundo, Bryan 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1984–02–18 Letran
G 1 Philippines Atkins, Simon (IN) 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1988–07–19 La Salle
G 3 United States Alapag, Jimmy (C) 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1977–12–30 Cal State San Bernardino
F 7 United States Hodge, Clifford 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1988–02–03 Reedley
G 8 Philippines Buenafe, Ronjay 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1983–05–27 Emilio Aguinaldo
G 9 Philippines Amer, Baser (R) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1992–09–22 San Beda
G 11 United States Newsome, Chris (R) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1990–06–25 Ateneo
G 13 Philippines Buenafe, Ryan 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1990–02–01 Ateneo
G/F 15 Philippines Sedurifa, Joseph (R / IN) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1990–09–04 CEU
G 17 Philippines Caram, Anjo 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 159 lb (72 kg) 1991–01–14 San Beda
C 19 Philippines Al-Hussaini, Rabeh 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1988–08–11 Ateneo
G/F 20 United States Dillinger, Jared 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1984–01–06 Hawaii-Manoa
F/C 21 Philippines Hugnatan, Reynel 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1978–11–03 Manila
F 22 Philippines Ferriols, John 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1974–09–09 USJ-R
F 23 United States Nabong, Kelly (IN) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 227 lb (103 kg) 1988–11–17 SRJC
G/F 24 Philippines Guevarra, Rey 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1986–11–24 Letran
F/C 25 Philippines Bono, Ken 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 280 lb (127 kg) 1984–07–19 Adamson
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Team manager
  • Philippines Paolo Trillo


Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (I) Import
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • (R) Rookie
  • Injured

Roster

Head coaches

Meralco Bolts head coaches

Season-by-season records

Records from the 2014–15 PBA season:
Conf. Team name Elimination round Playoffs
Finish W L PCT Stage Results
PHI Meralco Bolts 6th/12 6 5 .545 Quarterfinals 1st phase: Meralco 77*, Purefoods Star 65
Alaska* 87, Meralco 69
COM 5th/12 6 5 .545 Quarterfinals
Semifinals 		Meralco 2, NLEX 0
Rain or Shine 3, Meralco 0
GOV 7th/12 5 6 .333 Quarterfinals San Miguel** def. Meralco in 2 games
Total elimination round 17 16 .5153 playoffs appearances
Total playoffs 4 5 .444 0 Finals appearances
Total 2014–15 21 21 1.000 0 championships
Total franchise 91 110 .452 0 championships

*one-game playoffs
**team had the twice-to-beat advantage

Players of note

Other notable players

(A-F)

(G-L)

(M-R)

(S-Z)

Imports

See also

References

  1. ↑ Meralco-Ginebra game to open PBA’s 36th season, GMANews.TV, August 24, 2010.
  2. ↑ Consumers won't pay for Bolts, Sporting Chance by Joaquin Henson, Philippine Star, August 26, 2010.
  3. ↑ http://www.pba-online.net/post/meralco-makes-power-move--joins-pro-league.html
  4. ↑ Meralco eyes cage return via PBA next season, Rey Joble, GMANews.TV, June 24, 2010
  5. ↑ Barako to compete anew; SLR bids goodbye Rey Joble, GMANews.TV, July 13, 2010
  6. ↑ Rey Joble, InterAKTV, September 22, 2012
  7. ↑ http://pba.inquirer.net/32415/el-granada-finally-finds-a-new-home
  8. ↑ http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/air21-express-acquire-taulava-from-meralco-in-exchange-for-cortez
  9. ↑ http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/al-hussaini-moves-from-tnt-to-meralco-as-air21-lands-cardona-in-complex-three-team-trade-v02
  10. ↑ http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/positive-influence-danny-ildefonso-signed-by-meralco-for-the-rest-of-season
  11. ↑ Leongson, Randolph B. (March 17, 2016). "After suspension, Meralco drops Gary David". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved March 17, 2016.

External links

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