2007-08  

Season in Review:
With no picks in the 2007 PBA Draft, the TJ Giants welcomed back Raymundo and Pingris to the team, while trading Paul Artadi to the Air21 Express for virtually nothing after a feud with the coaches (Artadi ended up playing in Ginebra). The Giants then had a 7-0 start at the 2007-08 PBA Philippine Cup with Yap having a banner conference. Despite losing the Christmas Day game against the Barangay Ginebra Kings, the Giants clinched the semifinals berth and the #1 seed on their next game thanks to a win against the Tigers. In the semifinals, they were up against Red Bull, the winner over the Magnolia Beverage Masters (new name of the Beermen) in the quarterfinals series. The Giants drew first blood in the semifinals by routing Red Bull but needed to win the 7th game to finally clinch their 12th AFC finals stint (the most by any team in history) against Sta. Lucia.

Purefoods Lost a controversial 7 game series with Yap serving a suspension in game 5 after the Giants had come back a 0-2 deficit to tie the series at 2-2. They managed to level the series at 3-3 thanks to a classic fourth quarter performance by James Yap, nailing 5 of 6 Three point Attempts and scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter. Game 7 was almost a carbon copy of game number 6. Purefoods struggled in the third quarter with key players in foul trouble, and in the end it was Sta. Lucia who made the crucial shots down the stretch and won the game 100-88.

Before the start of the succeeding Fiesta Conference, Rommel Adducul was dignosed with cancer and had to take a leave of absence. Lacking a starting center, Purefoods was forced to make a deal for Enrico Villanueva and sacrifice Marc Pingris, who went to the Magnolia Beverage Masters in a four-team, multi-player transaction. For their reinforcement, they tapped the services of 6'11" Darius Rice. Rice was a prolific scorer but was not able to lead the team to enough wins for the Giants to keep him. He was replaced by Moroccan Reda Rhalimi, who was decent enough on both ends of the floor, but was also unable to lead the Giants to an impressive finish. They ended up with a 7-11 win-loss card in the classification phase.

The knockout wildcard match-up against Talk 'N Text accentuated the frustrations that have marked the Giants' campaign. With the team trailing by 16 points halfway through the fourth, Jondan Salvador got involved in an altercation against the Phone Pals' import Terrence Leather. After the import threw the ball at Salvador, James Yap retaliated with a kick, which in turn caused players from both benches to join the fray. With the situation almost resulting in a disastrous brawl, cooler heads eventually prevailed, penalties were given and the game came to an end---as well as the Giants' season.

The controversial blow-out loss at the Ynares center turned out to be the last game of Noy Castillo and Rey Evangelista as professional basketball players. Castillo retired while Evangelista joined the Giants' coaching staff. Evangelista played his entire career with the Purefoods franchise that drafted him second overall in 1994. He won four championships with Purefoods and was known as a solid defender and rebounder. Castillo, on the other hand, was dreaded for his clutch baskets and was a consistent marksman thoughout his career. He won a championship with the team in 2006 PBA Philippine Cup.

Roster:
KERBY RAYMUNDO
ROMMEL ADDUCUL
BRANDON CABLAY
ROGER YAP
JONDAN SALVADOR

TITO CASTILLO
RICH YEE
ROB SANZ
ARDY LARONG
OMANZIE RODRIGUEZ

MARC PINGRIS
CHICO LANETE
REY EVANGELISTA
JYAP
JUN SIMON