Once the hottest team in the MPBL Datu Cup, the Makati Super Crunch posted a 15-game winning streak. The law of averages, however, caught up with the team in the quarterfinal round where they lost twice in a row and got eliminated by the seventh-seeded Quezon City Capitals in the northern division playoffs last month.
The Super Crunch wanted to address that by filling in the missing pieces of the squad.
After signing up ex-pro Juneric Baloria to give the team additional firepower, the Super Crunch picked up former La Salle stalwarts Simon Atkins and Kib Montalbo along with big man Rino Berame, who previously played for the Zamboanga Valientes last season.
Team owner Paolo Orbeta confirmed the news to FOX Sports Philippines.
“We already addressed our need for additional firepower when we signed up Juneric Baloria, one of the top scorers in the MPBL,” Orbeta said in a telephone interview. “But we felt we needed leadership as well so we brought in Simon Atkins from the Meralco Bolts.”
“Kib gives us the youth and energy to give balance to our guard rotation while Berame will provide us the size which we lacked last season.”
Atkins has been a reserve player of Meralco for the past few seasons and head coach Norman Black agreed to release the lefty guard to the Super Crunch.
Montalbo previously played in the PBA D-League with Marinerong Pilipino while Berame had a falling out with Zamboanga management as he chose to join the renegade group which decided to boycott the assumption of the new management headed by new team owner Anita Kaw.
