Taskmaster Toroman Steps Back for Rah-Rah

Ikaw, pala'y, salawahan

The writing, in thick, bold neon hot pink colors, was on the wall. It was just a matter of the right people taking a step back to see the big picture, that their proposed "coaching partnership" was the equivalent of what we'd all say as being "a great proposal/ thesis, but hardly probable executable."

Serbian and former SMART Gilas Team Pilpinas head coach Rajko Toroman has finally opted to take a backseat from being the annoying, overly hands-on assistant coach/ team consultant of the struggling Petron Blaze Boosters. From here on out, as far as the team is concerned, it's going to be head coach Olsen Racela fulfilling his duties to the letter: supervising drills in practices and drawing plays in-game both offensively and defensively (as what a head coach should be doing in the first place).

While people were quick to point out that this shortened partnership could've mirrored the highly successful "mentor-protege" pair of former San Miguel Beermen head coach Ron Jacobs and understudy Jong Uichico, this writer argues otherwise.

Jacobs was feisty, vocal and a personality different from his would be foreign peers Norman Black and Tim Cone. Uichico on the other hand is as zen as his one side combed hairdo. The man rarely blows his top, usually dismissing non-favorable calls with SMHs and laughs. Nothing wild or fancy, just cool, calm, collected as always.

The Toroman-Racela dynamic however couldn't be more different.

Toroman is a taskmaster, a teacher of the game at the highest level. Reports/ rumors of his strict and militia-like practices and drills have always been the norm over at Twitter-verse. This works for players who are trying to make a name for themselves in the basketball world. The young, unshaped and unmolded minds who need guidance and direction. Toroman is arguably as good as advertised, but that doesn't exactly translate to him being a perfect fit for the Pinoy brand of play and its players at the professional level.

He's a foreigner, he's strict and he's a teacher. Filipinos are happy-go-lucky by nature. We laugh at ourselves when we do something idiotic (Willie Miller though pushes it a lot by being goofy ALL the time).

Toroman is not a "player's coach." He's simply a coach.

We won't go as far as saying that the Boosters basically tuned him out, since he's the guy calling the shots during games while Racela watches on by his side. It's just them choosing not to play as hard for him because of the lack of that "human" factor.

Enter Racela.

Unlike Uichico, Racela has always been vocal. Hello, the dude's monicker is "Rah-Rah." He cheers people up, he eggs on his teammates when they're down and he barks out orders when something has to be done on the court regardless if they're 2x PBA MVP Danny Ildefonso, Cebuano All Star Dondon Hontiveros, Danny Seigle or even Arwind Santos.

For all intents and purposes, Racela is a "player's coach" because he's played at that high level. He can communicate and reach out better to point guards Alex Cabagnot and Denok Miranda. It won't be much of a surprise to surmise that Santos would play a lot better for Racela than for Toroman.

While Toroman tries to pencil in players at certain positions based on their style of play (our observation on why he never goes with a Santos-Jay Washington pairing or a Cabagnot-Miranda combo for long spells), Racela recognizes mismatches because that's what point guards do on the floor: "get the ball to the guy who's being guarded by a patsy."

Of course, everything will depend on how the Boosters, now at 2-3, fare after Toroman's decision to take a step back from the sidelines. But we're going to bet the whole farm that they'll do better simple because the players will start playing with more fun under Racela.