Ginebra Plays The Blame Game

After another disappointing run,
Siot's walking on thin ice

Could the Barangay Ginebra Kings really have won their epic semifinals duel with the mighty BMeg Llamados had they chosen to keep Chris Alexander instead of the now “butt-of-all-chokes/jokes” Jackson Vroman?

Would they have advanced to the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals had Mark Caguioa not suffered the nasty eye socket injury he did (also at the hands of BMeg but in an earlier showdown)?


While the ball bounces differently, this writer answers both queries with a resounding NO.

Chris Alexander is a fighter, he walks it, he talks it—and lately, he’s been tweeting about it like an obsessed Justin Bieber fangirl. But the Alexander that came back to Manila wasn’t the dominant 25-20 beast that led the Kings to a title romp a few years ago. This was a guy who was content with being a presence defensively, grabbing rebounds and scoring only when asked for acceptable yet subpar averages of 14 points and 20 boards a game.

If you were Kings brass (led by the KKS’ Vince McMahon of the PBA), and you saw that a FIBA star by the name of Jackson Vroman was ready and available—wouldn’t you take the bait?

The Kings did, and Vroman was just as good as advertised. He was vocal, energetic and played like a 6”10 version of Rudy Hatfield. The concern wasn’t more about his game, but how another “energy guy” could possible mix with a team that already boasts of scrappy forwards and centers (Rudy Hatfield, Billy Mamraril, Enrico Villanueva and Willie Wilson).

Was it the early injury suffered in practice that led to Vroman being forced to wear a face mask that altered his game? Was he playing on cruise control? Was he looking forward to finishing out his contract and moving to another league? All of these questions were raised the minute the playoffs started. Vroman’s production dropped drastically, and even his approach to the game was laughable at best. The same way you’d see guys like Willie Miller and Ranidel de Ocampo (yes, KKS loves those two, but we spare no one around here specially if they’re not playing up to par) not giving their all on the court.

Could Alexander have played a bigger role against BMeg? Yes. He’d at least fight for rebounds and keep runaway Best Import awardee Denzel Bowles in check. Scoring wise, well, it remains to be seen if he could ever regain that old form of his (he’s now with the AirAsia Philippine Patriots in the ABL) . That, plus Alexander has always been decent from the free throw line.

Then there’s the injury to Caguioa.

Had the Kings brass not been so trigger-happy to rebuild (half-assedly though), they could’ve held on to Ronald Tubid and at the very least, JC Intal. The Tubid trade brought in rookie Dylan Ababou which is the best value you could get on the table. The Intal trade which brought veteran Kerby Raymundo?

Well, not so much.

Coach Siot Tangquincen never really bothered to better integrate Raymundo in the Kings’ scheme of things. Opting instead to continue with his preferred 3-guard, uptempo line-up that reduces skilled bigs to reboudners and putback players. The only time they really went to a big in the half-set was when Eric Menk was around and Jong Uichico called the shots (or at least had a say in things). Raymundo could’ve opened up the iso-heavy Knigs offense by either playing down low on the weak side (opposite Vroman) or at the high post to look for cutters.

Sadly, it just never materialized.

Had the Kings opted to keep Intal, they could've had a taller rotation with Cortez-Intal-Ababou-Canaleta-Vroman to do counter BMeg's best five of Simon-Yap-Pingris-DeVance-Bowles.

Also, Coach Siot ridiculously counted on JJ Helterbrand to come back from injury and pick up the slack left by his partner Caguioa instead of dusting off John Wilson who is arguably the team’s best perimeter defender at this point (Hatfield and Wilson D up best in the paint, not chasing around speedy forwards). In case you weren’t able to watch Wilson play in college—the guy is a straight up, knockdown shooter rivaled only by Jimbo Aquino (who he beat for NCAA MVP mind you).

So in the end, what this writer is saying is, the Kings couldn’t have won over BMeg even if they kept Alexander or had a healthy Caguioa.

Why?

Because they would’ve still been terribly out-coached.

You do the math.