The Other De Ocampo

The Postman Returns

Just when everyone has dismissed the San Mig Coffee Mixers' Yancy de Ocampo as the irrelevant party of the two siblings playing in the PBA, the former number one overall draft pick flashes his old vintage form to help lead his team to the number 2 spot in the Philippine Cup standings.

And while he no longer dominates the shaded lane like he used to given all the young, abled bodies of today's PBA (read: heavyweight enforcers), De Ocampo stands as the only legit 6"9 skilled big man who has both the touch and handles (sorry June Mar Fajardo fans) in all of Philippine basketball. Credit of course goes to Mixers head coach Tim Cone for getting the most out of his versatile big. Say what you will, but confidence and trust goes a long way in basketball-- specially for a big man who saw his more productive years gone to waste playing back-up to future PBA Hall of Famers Asi Taulava or Eric Menk.

With de Ocampo, Cone is able to play Marc Pingris and not have to worry about his frontline's offense since they compliment each other. Pingris provides the energy, hustle and defense, de Ocampo takes care of scoring either from the high or low post areas. Currently averaging a respectable and solid 9.31 points, 8.31 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 00.92 blocks in just 26 minutes-- de Ocampo is turning a lot of heads and is anchoring Cone's triangle offense to the hilt whenever he plays up top (to serve as the fulcrum).

Of course, there are still some glaring holes in de Ocampo's repertoire (mostly old ones, highlighted by age and injuries). He's not as quick defensively guarding fleet-footed bigs like those of Ginebra's or Rain or Shine's, and he is starting to become foul-prone (a fault shared by aging players who can no longer stay in front of their assignments and resort to cheap fouls/tricks).

Still, for any Pinoy basketball fan, Yancy's "vintage" run this conference is a joy to watch. The Mixers' run atop the standings is no accident, James Yap and PJ Simon are still doing their thing-- but now, they have a third and reliable big man to play the "Chris Bosh" role. Some nights he dominates, others, he just does his thing down low.

Oh, and watch out for those mean elbows that are second only to his younger brother Ranidel's.