Casio's rookie struggles

Casio: point or shooting guard?

When Jayvee Casio decided to throw his hat into this year's PBA Draft, pundits were quick to anoint the 5"10 guard from DLSU as the top pick after his strong, clutch and quite patriotic showing for the SMART Gilas Pilipinas basketball team.

Leapfrogging early fantasy draft picks such as Rain or Shine's Paul Lee, Petron's Chris Lutz and Powerade teammate Marcio Lassiter, all eyes were on Casio to deliver. Problem was, he was coming off an injury suffered in the international meets and was joining a team that already had a top dog on its roster who pretty much brings the same offensive firepower to the table in Gary David.

So far, Casio is averaging somewhere around 6 points, 4 assists, 1 rebound and 2 turnovers per game while shooting an abysmal 17% from deep and 28% from the perimeter. These mind boggling stats, courtesy of PBA-Online.net, have left fans scratching their heads and wondering what happened to J-Shock-- is he still hurting, adjusting to his teammates (which would normally affect his other stats but shouldn't bother his shooting clip) or both?

I say Casio is struggling in the pros. For a number one pick, more is expected of him and rightfully so. His team has already accommodated him by playing him at the PG position beside David and Lassiter to form what is arguably the most potentially explosive backcourt/ wing combination in the league today. The problem I see here is that, Casio, a natural go-to-guy even with SMART Gilas, can't play point guard. 

Not in the traditional sense anyway.

Yes, he's averaging 4-6 assists per game. But that's more on having solid finishers like David and Lassiter at his disposal rather than creating scenarios or openings. This was the same flaw I saw back with SMART Gilas. For all his God-like clutch prowess, Casio is a system point guard who can only make passes if it's in the offensive set (which is a great thing to have). But when backed in a corner, say trapped by his defenders, he goes back to what he does best and that is to call his own number and create offense (again, nothing wrong with that but it undermines having David, Lassiter and even knockdown shooters like Sean Anthony and Will Antonio as teammates).

That's how point guards are measured, when the coach's plans go out the window, they are able to create their own plays on the fly and make the correct passes/ calls.

Also, his patented "step-in" threes that usually generate free throw opportunities haven't been working. Either the referees aren't calling it as much (since Casio is the one who's technically initiating the contact with his defender by jumping into his threes) OR the PBA guards are just bigger, faster and taller in some ways.

If Casio is to realize his dreams of being a PBA star, then he needs to first get healthier and probably learn to either move faster-laterally or change his shot-mechanics (maybe do an L.A. Tenorio who shoots step-back threes as opposed to Casio's step-ins). It's still too early to tell anyway just what his ceiling is at the moment, but from what I've seen so far, Casio's just a few clutch situation games away from being a Ronnie Magsanoc type of PG.