The (interim) Luigi Trillo era begins

Trillo: 1st 2 moves for the Aces:
open up the offense, play Baracael

So the (interim) Luigi Trillo era opens for the Alaska Aces not with a bang but a whimper, a lopsided ass-whooping that, to their credit, they tried to fight in the 3rd quarter for but just couldn't pull off defensive stops with any consistency.

Why did they drop Joel Banal again?

Oh, right, to return to the Triangle Offense that was stripped off them by now B-Meg and recently minted Commissioner's Cup champion coach Tim Cone. During the off-season, they had two choices: to go with Jojo Lastimosa-- who actually played within the system, or the young Trillo who was having a coaching renaissance of sorts in the PBA Developmental League.


If the Aces were consciously trying to run the Triangle in their debut against the Rain or Shine Elastopainters, well, whatever they were running looked nothing like it. It was more, "call your own number and see how it goes"-- you know, the type of offense Banal tried to instill in only his second conference with the team before getting unceremoniously booted out.

To give credit where it's due, the Aces succeeded in running up the score and getting everyone involved- mainly their core unit of L.A. Tenorio, Cyrus Baguio, Sonny Thoss, import Jason Forte and- gasp- Mac Baracael. You know, the former SMART Gilas stalwart who could defend multiple positions and played like he didn't give a rat's ass if he were up against 6"9 power forwards or 6"2 burly guards? Yeah, him. The guy Banal buried and didn't know how to use. He got the starting nod and actually played big minutes for the Aces.

Say what you want, but anytime you get a SMART Gilas player-- someone who actually played a certain role for the team and not just another end-of-the-bench guy (hi Jason Ballesteros of Meralco), you don't want your coach keeping him on the bench. That's more than three strong years or international exposure and training you're wasting there. Either play him or trade him to interested parties for stars.

The nice thing about the whole thing is, it's only one game and we have yet to see Trillo feel truly comfortable in the sidelines. His rotations are far more imaginative (though in a traditional sense) than Banal who kept insisting on the 3 small, 2 bigs style that worked for other teams but not if you have a no D shooting guard playing the small forward spot like Baguio and an even worse, nay, abysmal player in combo guard Bonbon Custodio (what the hell happened to this man?). With Baracael at the small forward (where he should've been as early as the Philippine Cup), they are able to play with more balance and purpose.

Tenorio almost had a triple double with an impressive 16-7-8 statline, Thoss with a solid 15 and 7, Baguio with 19 and Baracael with 13. Are they playing too many minutes? Yes, they are. But none of them are over 32-33 years of age so that shouldn't be a concern at all. Custodio also goes back to where he's best utilized-- as a spark off the bench, a gunner with no conscience and only role on the floor is to shoot, shoot and shoot. His old coaches tried to make him into a PBA-level point guard, but Custodio's just too much of a natural born scorer to have the instincts to make correct passes during tight situations.

Read: like Kobe Bryant, he'd rather shoot 1 vs 3 then pass the ball.

We'll all have to wait however on how new recruit Gabby Espinas blends in. He's not exactly a solid low post scorer, and his calling card- defense, shotblocks and rebounds-- is pretty much the same thing Thoss brings to the table. We'll leave it up to Coach Luigi for now.

Honestly, despite what you may think, this team is too good to be eliminated early this time around. Forte is a solid, all-around import, Tenorio looks healthy and Thoss is almost Tim Duncan-like in his approach and contribution to his team.

The deciding factor for the Aces is going to be Baracael from here on out. On offense, he's a little iffy, but defensively, he gives the Aces more teeth as opposed to having to rely on Custodio and Baguio to get stops versus the league's best scorers (good luck with that).