The Future is Here for Ginebra

The future looks bright
for Barangay Ginebra

The story of last Sunday's game was Mark Caguioa, his goggles, and the way the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings easily and handily whooped the upstart Air21 Express-- who were coming off a respectable Commissioner's Cup performance.

Caguioa was joined by tried and tested veterans Rudy Hatfield, Mike Cortez and Kerby Raymundo in dismantling the hapless Express, 103-85 with the help of the solid debut of import Cedric Bozeman.

This tells us that the Kings are primed to make another deep Playoff push this Governor's Cup behind their All Star core for as long as Caguioa is able to make shots and no longer complains of headaches and what not.


But there's another plus going for the Gin Kings which may not pay off anytime soon, but could very well be a "diamond in the rough" of sorts in a year or two. The UST pair of rookies Allein Maliksi and Dylan Ababou both came into the game and scored 13 and 9, respectively. They didn't get those points in garbage time as most rookies would-- no, they were contributing on both ends of the floor (Maliksi more on offense, while Ababou on both ends).

Of the two, Maliksi looks to be a natural born scorer who's quite fearless with the basketball. He's height and overall athleticism (although still recovering from injury) is already making it tough for opponents to guard him one-on-one. He's pretty much the high-scoring small forward that the Gin Kings' management and faithful thought they had when JC Intal was in town. Too bad they got a confused version of the now B-Meg stalwart instead of the Ateneo MVP-type of player from years back.

Then there's Ababou, who can contribute right now for the Gin Kings because of his high basketball IQ. He's nowhere near Maliksi in terms of offensive gifts (we all went to the same school at around the same time, and if you would've told me back then that Maliksi would be the better and more creative scorer of the two, I'd laugh at your face and buy you drinks at MoMo's to help calm you down), but the way he picks his spots is just as solid.

A low-risk, high-reward type of player, Ababou shines in the way he simply has a nose for the basketball and is able to make great in-game reads. Caguioa needs a screen? Check. Rebound? Ok. Run the floor to confuse defenders? Check. Stay on Ren-Ren Ritualo or keep the pesky Bitoy Omolon off the block? Check.

Should the Gin Kings fail to advance due to age and injuries (which is not that far off given their aging All Star core-- J.J. Helterbrand didn't suit up last Sunday, ditto with Eric Menk), then maybe the coaching staff could consider fast-tracking these two guys' development as far as being franchise players is concerned. They have all the tools, all they need now is the right push.