Bloody Sunday
San Nicolas Sharks HQ
3:03
Coming off the heels of another disappointing Finals appearance, where they were unable to notch a single win in the series, the San Nicolas Sharks are once again faced with the grim reality that their efforts to improve the ability of the franchise to compete for a title and promotion to Division II is still insufficient to overcome their last hurdle. This was evident in the post-Finals presser immediately after the final buzzer had sounded for the season, with the look of disbelief and frustration in the faces of most of the players in the San Nicolas roster, staff and management.
And so in an unprecedented move, San Nicolas Sharks team manager Ceruver pulled the trigger on what is arguably the most controversial move in franchise history, putting every one of the Season 56 Finals roster on the transfer list with the exception of now-sophomore Chester Fabella. The move has since been called “Bloody Sunday” as it was done the Sunday after their season ended in a Finals appearance where they came up short yet again.
The move sent shockwaves of anger and disappointment amongst the Sharks fanbase and a groundswell of support particularly for roster cornerstones Markos Papatrichas and bigman Aldvydas Saulytis, with their partnership abruptly ending after just nearly two seasons. Papatrichas is also the last remaining member of the pioneering roster for the Sharks that took to the court representing the franchise for the first time in the latter part of Season 50. Saulytis was brought in to not only bring a competitive edge to the squad and increase the team’s chances of winning promotion, with his young age, he was also supposed to bridge the ability of the Sharks to possibly compete for titles and promotions over a longer period of time. The duo yielded immediate results as they connived to appear in two of the Sharks’ three straight Finals appearances as well as being named All-Star starters for the Big 8 conference, with Saulytis himself being named a Top 3 Finalist in the MVP voting in the recently-concluded season.
“I understand that there is frustration attached to the decision we just made. But as we made the assessment of how the team was constructed, we concluded that how we were doing business, how we were investing our resources, was not optimal to maximise our true potential nor was it sustainable enough that we can cover the cost of a competitive squad over the long haul.” Sharks’ gaffer Ceruver said. “We could’ve won the League and moved on from this division, but even so, our ability to compete over the long term was still in question.”
Aside from their dynamic duo, the Sharks will also lose the services of reliable swingmen Tom Proffitt and Juan Rodríguez, veteran bigman Marcus Eckart-Höbling, young beanpole Jano Melena as well as guard Rostislavas Chmaras and forward Eberhardt Chandra, the latter two were just acquired almost three weeks ago to bolster their Finals bid. Arkady Chernogryazskiy has also been put on transfer but is still awaiting bids as of this writing.
“While we are forgoing the ability to compete in the short term, the objective is to lay the foundation down, developing our infrastructure even further and reinvesting our resources to more sustainable purposes which we hope will deliver us a roster that can compete and contend for seasons to come.” Ceruver concluded.
With the seismic move, the Sharks are to being Season 57 with a completely different lineup. And with only CM Fabella left from last season’s roster, there can be no telling how the Cavite-based franchise will fare in the new League campaign.