The change made some good strides in the early stages of his second stint with Talk 'N Text. With Pumaren using the star players Asi Taulava and Jimmy Alapag, and mixing Harvey Carey and seldom-used rookie Mark Cardona, the Phone Pals went 5–4 through nine games of the Philippine Cup. However, the Phone Pals suffered three succeeding losses, prompting team officials to land Ren-Ren Ritualo from Air21 for Leo Avenido and a future first round draft pick, Don Allado from Alaska for Willie Miller, John Ferriols and a future first round pick on May 8. The move saw the Phone Pals as a potential title contender with the squad boasting a group of star players from their past teams along with Taulava, Alapag, Cardona and Carey. Even with a strong lineup, the trade put the Phone Pals in a deeper hole, losing three more games before a win against Coca-Cola gave them a disappointing 6–10 card. In the wildcard phase, the Phone Pals did not win a single game in the round-robin format. In their initial game, Talk 'N Text lost to Barangay Ginebra, eliminating them from quarterfinal contention before losing their final two games to Air21 and Sta. Lucia. The Phone Pals had a shot of taking the No. 1 pick in the draft but they traded that rights to Air21 in a trade months ago, which dealt a big blow to the franchise. Rumors then speculated that TNT management was set to make drastic changes for the team after their disappointing season. Talk 'N Text released Poch Juinio, while the contracts of Vergel Meneses and Chris Cantonjos were not renewed, leaving the team with only 10 players. The Phone Pals participated in the 2006 NBA Summer Pro League. In the 2006 PBA Draft, they selected Mark Andaya in the first round, their only pick in the draft. Talk 'N Text managed to start off big in the 2006-07 PBA Philippine Cup, but a string of losses put them beneath the standings. A late surge, followed by a crucial Christmas Day victory over Ginebra, gave the team a 10–8 record and a quarterfinals berth against Purefoods. The Phone Pals won the series 3–1, dethroning the defending Philippine Cup champions by winning the next three games by convincing margins. At the semifinals, they took crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra Kings to six games but they were eliminated by the eventual champions; they defeated Red Bull Barako in the third-place game.