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With the way the San Miguel Beermen Management is acting this season, it’s no secret that they are very serious in getting the coveted 2008-2009 KFC PBA Philippine Cup championship. After acquiring the necessary players in the offseason to fill the void, they just hired 17-year National Basketball Association veteran Alton Lister to improve the skills of the San Miguel Beermen specially the bigmen.

Have you noticed any changes in the way Dorian Pena played in their last game against the Sta. Lucia Realtors? Have you seen any new moves? If there was anything that could contribute to that, the hiring of Alton Lister certainly made impact to Dorian’s inside play.

If Dorian benefited with Mr. Alton Lister’s skills coaching, I don’t see any hindrance why our other San Miguel Beermen bigmen will not learn from him. When that happens, expect our frontliners to be one of the fearsome in the league.

To tell us how Alton Lister was hired by San Miguel, our journalist friend Mr. Rey Joble of Manila Standard Today (manilastandardtoday.com) tells us the full story.

Beermen hire NBA mentor

SAN Miguel Beer, the winningest team in the Philippine Basketball Association and owner of the league’s most talented line-up, has also shored up its coaching staff with the acquisition of 17-year National Basketball Association veteran Alton Lister.

The 7-foot Lister was the first-round draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks (21st overall) in 1981 and had his best moments in 1986-87 while playing for the Seattle Supersonics, where he averaged 11.6 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.

The inclusion of Lister, who had the privilege of playing the best big men in the NBA, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers, Robert Parish of the Boston Celtics and Moses Malone of the Philadelphia 76ers, among others, was certainly a big boost to the Beermen, according to head coach Siot Tanquincen.

“His inclusion was made possible by Boss Danding [Cojuangco]. He asked me if we could hire a skills coach and I said yes. Fortunately, Paul Howard, a friend of coach Ron Jacobs, called him up and said that Lister is available,” Tanquincen told Standard Today.

“First day pa lang ng practice niya with us, he had this great observation agad sa mga players namin. His contribution would be very valuable to us.”

Lister was hired to become part of the coaching staff of the Atlanta Hawks to assist Mike Woodson last year. Prior to that, the former NBA slotman, who also had stints with the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics and the Portland Trail Blazers, coached for seven years at Mesa.

With San Miguel Beer, Lister is tasked to work on the skills of the players, more particularly big men like Dorian Peña, Mick Pennisi, Samigue Eman and Ken Bono.

“This guy certainly knows his basketball and players know that, too, that’s why they all listen to whatever he says,” said Tanquincen.

Lister was seen sitting behind the bench of the Beermen during their game against the Sta. Lucia Realtors yesterday at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig.