Air21 Express

The Air21 Express were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) that debuted in the 2011–12 season. The team debuted as the Shopinas.com Clickers during the 2011–12 PBA Philippine Cup. In 2014, the franchise was sold to Manila North Tollways Corporation (a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation) and was renamed as the NLEX Road Warriors.

This article is about the second Air21 Express team (first known as Shopinas.com Clickers). For the original Air21 Express (and second Barako Bull) team, see Barako Bull Energy. For PSL women's volleyball team, see Shopinas.com Lady Clickers.

Air21 Express
Air21 Express logo
Founded2011
Dissolved2014
HistoryShopinas.com Clickers (2011–2012)
Air21 Express (2012–2014)
Team colorsPurple, Orange, White
     
CompanyAirfrieght 2100, Inc.
Head coachFranz Pumaren
OwnershipAlberto Lina
Retired numbers1 (18)
Light uniform jersey
Team colours
Light uniform
Dark uniform jersey
Team colours
Dark uniform

History
Main article: Barako Bull Energy Boosters

Energy Food and Drink Inc., owner of the original Barako Bull Energy Boosters franchise, had informed the PBA board in March 2011 that they intend to fold, citing the plan to shift their business strategy due to its ongoing lawsuit against TC Pharmaceuticals Industries Co. (manufacturer of Red Bull in Thailand) and the death of board governor Tony Chua at the height of Tropical Storm Ondoy (Ketsana).

Barako Bull had been on leave since the 2011 PBA Commissioner's Cup and was planning to sell the franchise to Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc., the sponsor of the league's games outside Metro Manila.[1] On the PBA board meeting, the board disallowed the sale of the franchise to Phoenix, failing to get at least two-thirds of the ten board members, although they allowed Barako Bull to stay on leave until the 2011 PBA Governors Cup.[2]

In June 2011, Barako Bull informed the PBA it intended to sell its franchise to the Lina Group of Companies (LGC), owner of the Air21 Express franchise, reportedly for 50 million pesos. In July 2011, the board approved Barako Bull's sale to Airfreight 2100, while deferring the new franchise's concession that might be given to the team to improve its roster.[3] Air21's Manny Alvarez mentioned that the second Lina Group franchise will be named "Shopinas.com", named after its new company that focuses into e-commerce, and that the new team's representative would be Shiela Lina, who is then forming the team's coaching staff.[4]

Shopinas.com Clickers
Shopinas.com Clickers
Colors      
Uniforms
Light uniform jersey
Team colours
Light uniform
Dark uniform jersey
Team colours
Dark uniform

Former De La Salle Green Archers coach Franz Pumaren was named as head coach. Pumaren, who has coached the La Salle men's varsity basketball team to five University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) basketball titles, resigned as La Salle coach in 2009 to concentrate on his political career.[5] As a result of the old Barako Bull franchise trading away their best players, the franchise asked PBA commissioner Chito Salud for concessions in the 2011 PBA Draft, pending approval from the PBA board.[6] The board eventually approved to give the team the first pick for the second round (11th overall).

The Clickers selected Mark Barroca, Magi Sison and Mark Cagoco in the 2011 PBA Draft. Barroca was eventually sent to the B-Meg Llamados for Brian Ilad and Elmer Espiritu in a three-way trade with Barako Bull Energy.

The team finished the Philippine Cup eliminations with a 0–14 record, setting a new all-time record for consecutive losses in a single conference, which was previously held by the 1982 Great Taste Discoverers (Reinforced Filipino Conference) and the 1984 Country Fair Hotdogs (2nd All-Filipino Conference).[7][8]

Air21 Express

After a disappointing finish in the Philippine Cup, the Lina Group decided to rename the franchise as the Air21 Express, the name that was previously carried by their sister team, Barako Bull Energy.[9]

Before the Commissioner's Cup started, the team traded Mark Canlas, Dennis Daa, and a 2012 first round pick to the Meralco Bolts in exchange for bigmen Nelbert Omolon and Mark Isip.[10]

The team had signed SMART-Gilas player Marcus Douthit as their import for the Commissioner's Cup.[11] Despite having Douthit as import, the team failed to pass through the elimination round, only finishing with a 3–6 record.

After years of failed campaigns, Air 21 led by 42-year-old Asi Taulava qualified for the 2014 PBA Commissioner's Cup quarterfinals and defeated the second-seeded San Miguel Beermen twice in a row to enter the PBA semifinals for the first time in franchise history. However, they were beaten by the eventual champions San Mig Super Coffee Mixers in their semifinals series that extended to a Game 5.

Sale of the franchise to NLEX
Main article: NLEX Road Warriors

In March 2014, the Manila North Tollways Corporation (NLEX Road Warriors), together with Ever Bilena Cosmetics, Inc. (Blackwater Sports) and Columbian Autocar Corporation (Kia Sorento), applied for an expansion franchise in the PBA. Their respective applications were approved by the PBA board of governors on March 7, 2014. While Kia and Blackwater have paid the franchise fee set by the league, MNTC requested for an extension, as they were studying whether to enter the PBA as an expansion team or acquire an existing PBA franchise. This is due to the limited concessions given by the league to the expansion teams, namely the "protect 12" policy for the expansion draft, no direct hires or carry-over players from their PBA D-League teams, and the 11th to 16th pick in the upcoming rookie draft.

On June 17, 2014, MNTC announced that it was having negotiations with a PBA team to acquire their franchise. Due to the ongoing Governors' Cup playoffs, MNTC did not identify the team they were negotiating with, but stated it will reveal the team's identity once the team was eliminated.[12] Days later, the team was revealed to be Air21 Express.

On June 23, 2014, an agreement was reached between MNTC and the Lina Group of Companies regarding the sale of the Air21 Express PBA franchise to MNTC.[13] The sale was approved during the regular monthly meeting of the board of governors, paving the way for the sale of the franchise to MNTC.[14]

Final roster
Air21 Express (2011-2014) roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#POBNameHeightWeightDOB (YYYY–MM–DD)From
SG 3 Philippines Cardona, Mark 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1981-11-03 De La Salle
PG 6 Philippines Poligrates, Eloy (R) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1986-29-04 Southwestern-U
G 7 Philippines Atkins, Simon 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1988-07-19 De La Salle
SG 8 Philippines Yeo, Joseph 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1983-09-07 De La Salle
SF 10 Canada Anthony, Sean Injured 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1986-01-26 McGill
PG 11 Philippines Villanueva, Jonas 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1983-03-31 Far Eastern
F 13 Philippines Camson, Eric (R) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 228 lb (103 kg) 1990-06-12 Adamson
F/C 14 Philippines Villanueva, Enrico 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Ateneo
G/F 15 Philippines Menor, Ogie 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1986-12-04 San Beda
F 16 Philippines Borboran, Mark 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1981-11-01 UE
F/C 17 Philippines Ramos, Aldrech 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1988-04-03 Far Eastern
G/F 21 Philippines Jaime, Chito 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1983-10-21 AMA
PF 63 Switzerland Burtscher, Michael 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1985-03-08 Clearwater Christian
C 88 Tonga Taulava, Asi 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1973-03-02 BYU–Hawaii
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)


Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (I) Import
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • (R) Rookie
  • (3x3) Assigned to 3x3 team
  • Injured Injured

Roster

Season-by-season records
Further information: List of Air21 Express seasons
Records from the 2013–14 PBA season:
Conf.Team nameElimination roundPlayoffs
FinishWLPCTStageResults
PHIAir21 Express10th/10311.214Did not qualify
COM7th/1036.333Quarterfinals
Semifinals		Air21 def. San Miguel** in two games
San Mig Coffee 3, Air21 2
GOV7th/1054.556QuarterfinalsRain or Shine** 111, Air21 90
Total elimination round1121.3441 semifinal appearance
Total playoffs44.5000 Finals appearances
Total 2013–141525.3750 championships
Total franchise3477.3060 championships

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

Retired numbers
Air21 Express retired numbers
N° Player Position Tenure
18Vergel MenesesG2002-2004[a]
  • a  – retired on December 18, 2013. Meneses wore #18 during his stint for the Swift/Sunkist/Pop Cola franchise from 1993 to 1999. He played for the old FedEx/Air21 franchise (known as the Barako Bull Energy until 2016) from 2002 to 2004, wearing jersey #8.[15]

See also

References
  1. Beltran, Nelson (March 22, 2011). "Barako Bull opts to leave PBA". Philippine Star. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  2. Beltran, Nelson (March 30, 2011). "Barako sale to Phoenix nixed". Philippine Star. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  3. Beltran, Nelson (July 9, 2011). "Board okays Lina takeover of Barako, TV5 pact". Philippine Star. Archived from the original on September 7, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  4. Beltran, Nelson (July 16, 2011). "Kings to ship Miller to Express for Canaleta". Philippine Star. Archived from the original on September 11, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  5. Belen, Reynaldo (July 22, 2011). "Franz Pumaren to sign 3-year deal with Shopinas in PBA". Interaksyon.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2011. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  6. Belen, Reynaldo (July 22, 2011). "Shopinas asks PBA for more draft picks". Interaksyon.com. Archived from the original on August 28, 2011. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  7. 0–14 Archived June 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Josiah Israel Albelda
  8. B-MEG shuts out Shopinas campaign, clinches twice-to-beat Archived January 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, interaksyon.com, December 8, 2011
  9. Management wants Air21 brand back in PBA, GMA News Online, January 11, 2012
  10. Archived February 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Reynaldo Belen, InterAKTV · Friday, January 27, 2012
  11. Archived February 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Reynaldo Belen, InterAKTV · Thursday, February 2, 2012
  12. No more expansion: NLEX buying existing team to join PBA Archived June 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Rey Joble, InterAksyon.com, June 17, 2014
  13. NLEX reaches deal to acquire Air 21 franchise, awaits league approval Archived June 26, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Rey Joble, InterAksyon.com, June 23, 2014
  14. PBA approval of Air21's sale to NLEX clears way for Joseph Yeo trade to Ginebra for draft pick, Snow Badua, spin.ph, June 26, 2014
  15. Caguioa all praises for old Ginebra mentor Meneses: ‘Parang Jordan of the Philippines’ Archived December 19, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Rey Joble, InterAKSYON, December 18, 2013
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