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| Photo courtesy of Interaksyon.com |
Tenorio has earned the mantle from Gilas teammate Jimmy Alapag the last two years. He is the top Filipino playmaker today given his ability to play different styles. He can play uptempo like Alapag and Alex Cabagnot, he can slow it down in the halfcourt a la Wynne Arboleda and Mike Cortez or he can even call his own number and score at will like Paul Lee and Jayjay Helterbrand.
The first time we laid eyes on Tenorio, he was a wide-eyed Atenean rookie trying his best to win an already lost game to their collegiate rivals. While everyone was busy just wanting to go home and beat the usual post-collegiate game traffic, Tenorio was carving up veterans with a string of impressive reverse lay-ups. That’s when we knew that Tenorio was going to be big. Not then, but eventually.
And did he ever.
After learning the game from some of its brilliant minds, Tenorio has established himself as the league’s top guard. With Gilas, he will be asked to anchor the complex dribble drive motion offense that head coach Chot Reyes loves so much. While that may be easier said than done, be reminded that this Gilas Pilipinas squad has gone on long, dragging (and painful) scoring lulls in the past when no one is clicking—that’s where Tenorio needs to come in and right the ship (please refer to what Alapag did in the exhibition game last Wednesday).
Defensively, we see Tenorio at an obvious disadvantage given the taller and stronger competition. But thanks to the likes of Lee, Cortez and Cabagnot, Tenorio won’t be working from scratch not knowing how to play bigger guys who are just as agile. The best chance for Gilas to win is for Tenorio to make it the “L.A. Tenorio Show” with him controlling tempo.
And you know what we love about having Tenorio as the starting guard of Gilas Pilipinas?
He’s bringing his ka-barangays to FIBA Asia.
I just hope that the way JVee Casio outplayed him in the finals is not a preview of things to come. He did not play well in the 2 exhibition games that Gilas played and Chot will always have a quick trigger to bring in Jimmy whenever the two younger guys are not playing well. Tenorio has always been known to play his best when given long minutes. Sharing minutes with Jason and Jimmy might not maximize his talents. My hope is that he gets back to the form he was in when we won the championship in the jones cup.
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