Will this be another SMC season?

The new Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) season has started with the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings defeating T’NT Ka Tropa, 90-79, last Sunday at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.

That was not a surprise, given how deep and big Ginebra is.

The Kings’ frontline towered over T’NT, which was already missing two key frontliners — Troy Rosario and Yousef Taha, who are still injured.

High-leaping Japeth Aguilar was huge in that game, scoring 21 points, grabbing four rebounds, block-ing three shots, and hitting two triples.

His partner in crime, Greg Slaughter, was also solid with 15 points and seven boards, while Sol Mercado came off the bench to register 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Ginebra never trailed, leading by as many as 18 points. They were ahead by double-digits after the first quarter and were never really threatened.

Last season, all three — dubbed the SMC or San Miguel Corporation teams — were the most successful.

I expect that will be the tenor for the Gin Kings for most of the new PBA season. They’re so big and so deep that hardly any team outside of their two sister teams — San Miguel Beer and Magnolia — can really consistently matchup with them mano-a-mano.

Then again, we’re talking about the PBA here. Of course, Ginebra will be strong. Given how Ginebra is the league’s most popular team, it would be terribly unfortunate for them to languish in the cellar.

The same goes for the other top tier teams in terms of popularity — again, Ginebra’s sister teams San Miguel and Magnolia.

These are undoubtedly the three PBA teams with the most fans and the ones which have a shot at routinely ensuring there is a roughly five-figured number of fans watching in the arena at any given time.

Last season, all three — dubbed the SMC or San Miguel Corporation teams — were the most successful. SMB won the Philippine Cup and placed second in the Commissioner’s Cup, which Ginebra won. Magnolia, meanwhile, was second place in the Philippine Cup and just recently won the Governor’s Cup.

To underscore the SMC teams’ dominance, seven of the 10 spots in last season’s Mythical First and Second Teams came from their stable: 5-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter and Arwind Santos from SMB; Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson from Ginebra and Paul Lee and Mark Barroca from Magnolia.

Ginebra will be strong. Given how Ginebra is the league’s most popular team, it would be terribly unfortunate for them to languish in the cellar.

Only Stanley Pringle (NothPort), JP Erram (Blackwater) and Matthew Wright (Phoenix) were from outside the SMC cadre of talents.

Curiously, nobody from the MVP stable or from traditional contender Alaska made the cut.

For this new season, will we see more of the same? Will we have another season dominated by the three SMC teams?

I believe so. I project that all three conference championships will fall in the SMC group’s collective lap anew.

And we cannot fault them for it. I mean, they’re in this league to win and they are playing by the rules as stipulated by the league.

We can say all we want about how the talent is blatantly skewed in favor of the three SMC squads, but can we fault them for going after the very best players in the interest of winning? Of course not.

At the same time, the PBA has to ask itself — is this good for the league in the long-run? Is this sustainable?

Whatever the layman’s opinion may be on the matter, one cannot argue with the PBA in its 44th season. If that doesn’t demonstrate longevity and sustainability, then I don’t know what does.