PBA: Enraged Bull - the comeback of Enrico Villanueva, cut short

The epitaph of Enrico Villanueva’s PBA career was ready to be written. Here lies the Raging Bull’s professional basketball career. One-time champion. Seven-time All-Star. 2004-05 Most Improved Player. 2005-06 Fiesta Conference Best Player. Villanueva’s days as a legitimate go-to guy have been long gone. Gone were the days of him beasting in the post and bumping opposing centers into submission. Slam dunks and jersey pops? Gone. Dragging an import by his foot from the shaded area and past the three point line? Gone too. The former swashbuckling, take-no-prisoners, kill-or-be-killed Villanueva had turned into a journeyman center. From striking fear into the hearts of opposing guards who dared to drive to the lane, Villanueva was reduced to someone who sets picks and boxes out. The rated-PG YouTube videos of his fights against a handful of players died out and made way for more general patronage stuff like his Call Me Maybe parody.

And you know what? The PBA fans were fine with it. Because we felt he already peaked as a player, because we thought that the Raging Bull should give way to a younger batch of PBA centers, we felt it was the right thing. While he was toiling as a center for San Miguel, Purefoods, and Ginebra, no one complained about his lack of playing time on his behalf. Not a single soul opined that Villanueva could still be a dominant force in the PBA. Nobody campaigned to #FreeEnrico. “With Ginebra, I felt that I could still contribute to the team,” said Villanueva. “But I told Coach Siot [Tanquincen] that if he wants to get another player, I’ll understand if he trades me away.” And that’s exactly what happened. Ginebra had a shot at landing a great player in LA Tenorio and a part of that trade was sending Villanueva to Barako Bull. He was Ginebra’s only legitimate center but they gave him away without a moment’s hesitation. Many felt that it was just another stop in Villanueva’s inevitable path to obscurity. But when Villanueva wore that familiar black, white, and red Barako Bull jersey, something snapped. The old Enrico Villanueva came back. The explosive temper was there. Even the jersey pop after a thunderous dunk returned. He was back to the old angry self that Barako fans loved. I saw him shove Mark Yee twice for undercutting him. I saw him passionately argue with PBA commissioner Chito Salud and all I could say was “Welcome back.” The result of this resurgence was some success for a struggling Barako Bull team. “Kulang pa talaga yung effort namin,” he shared after winning against GlobalPort Batang Pier. “There were games when we didn’t respect our opponents and we paid for it. Basta ang goal namin to is make it out of the bottom of the standings.” Villanueva’s second-chance story was not unique. An array of players have done the same in the past few months. Yancy de Ocampo revived his career with the B-MEG Llamados (now the San Mig Coffee Mixers), now guys like Dondon Hontiveros and Wesley Gonzales are playing their best basketball in years with new teams. But Villanueva was on an entirely different level. From being a token center, he now played major minutes for a team that needed his help. His turnaround was so epic that he could have won another Most Improved Player award if he kept at it. Another Best Player of the Conference award was not that far-fetched either. However, these  awards are not his target. “I don’t think of winning individual awards,” Villanueva said. “All I want to do is help my team win.” Against GlobalPort, he would have issued the game’s winning assist if Ronald Tubid had not muffed a point-blank shot. Against San Mig Coffee, his game-winning shot that was on its way in was unceremoniously swatted by Rafi Reavis. The former ended up in a win, the latter in a painful loss but the seeds of success in the future were already being planted for a downtrodden Braka Bull franchise.

Enrico Villanueva	GP	MIN	PTS	FG%	O.REB	REB	BLK
2011-12 Season	38	20.0	6.7	45.1%	1.9	5.0	0.4
2012-13 Philippine Cup	9	32.8	14.11	40.0%	3.4	9.0	0.5

That was until Villanueva tore his ACL. Sometimes stuff like this happens. Sometimes your body betrays you when you need it most. That’s the sad reality PBA players have to face. Second chances can be taken away as quickly as they are given. You are not immune to getting hurt just because you are playing better. You are not exempted from having a season-ending injury just because you are one of this year’s feel good stories. But even this tragic end to a promising season has it’s silver lining. PBA fans now know that Enrico Villanueva is not done. He will never be underestimated again. Even with this ACL tear, no one will write off the Raging Bull just yet. Once his leg is ready to go and he sees that red cape waving in front of him, you can be sure that this Raging Bull will go full speed once again to gore any poor soul who’s stupid enough to stand in his way. - AMD, GMA News