Aces start the year awful

Alaska's franchis player
is a glorified role player at best

While the future still looks bright (any or all arguments against the Aces' should be put on hold until their number 2 overall pick, the San Sebastian Stags' Calvin Abueva, suits up), the Alaska Aces opened their Philippine Cup campaign being blown out by the San Mig Coffee Mixers, 103-83.

The team trailed from the start, failing to execute their sets and looking worse than Air21 did the whole last season. That's just how awful they appeared to be against a Mixers' team that features a hall of fame coach in Tim Cone and a crew of established and still in their prime veterans led by James Yap, PJ Simon and a vintage all-around performance by Yancy de Ocampo. Sophomore Mark Barroca was also huge in this one, running circles over SMART Gilas buddy and now Aces' "PG of the future" JVee Casio.


While the Aces preached of going back and running the triangle system, they just couldn't run anything last night-- more so against the one guy who actually brought the system to Philippine Basketball (Cone). Though they finished with a balanced attack led by Dondon Hontiveros, Cyrus Baguio and Mac Baracael, this team will need more firepower and rebounding in order to make a dent (not sure how Abueva's offense will carry over in the pros, but rebounding is rebounding no matter what league you play in).

Also, there seemed to be a little too much onus placed on having franchise player Sonny Thoss produce.

Let's get one thing straight: Thoss is not the best center in the PBA. There's a difference between being consistent and being a star. He gets double doubles, he works his ass off, but he's nowhere near half of Asi Taulava's skill set (which isn't saying much, since Taulava's pretty limited himself).

Thoss is at his best just working the glass, setting screens and playing defense. This is why the trade for Gabby Espinas was a little dumbfounding. They sent JayR Reyes-- a guy with legit, finesse post moves, for a supposed "energy" guy who hasn't played with much fire not since his college days. The result? No post presence/ threat for the Aces.

Another guy who looks to be most uncomfortable with the PBA's new, physical style of play is Baguio. This guy is struggling to finish at the rim and isn't attacking like he did two-three years ago. They need to have the old Skyrus back, else just have him play the 6th man role full time and go with an Hontiveros-Tony de la Cruz pairing at the wings.

That, or Coach Luigi Trillo should seriously consider giving rookie Raffy Reyes more playing time-- this kid plays with a lot of fire and energy (even outscoring Casio 6-2).