Pushing through plateaus

Casio needs to take the big leap
while Abueva struggles
(photo courtesy of Sports5)

Don't blame Calvin Abueva for the Alaska Aces' mildly surprising 4 wins, 9 losses slate in the on-going PBA Philippine Cup.

There's plenty of that to go around. Despite the impressive numbers shared by starters Sonny Thoss (16 points, 9 rebounds), JVee Casio (14, 3 and 3 assists), Cyrus Baguio (13, 3, 3), Gabby Espinas (11, 9) and Abueva (10, 8), the Aces are struggling more because they've become rather bland. Yes, the names on the roster are almost the same to when they punked their way into a PBA Commissioner's Cup title last season, but the fire and energy just isn't.

And while Abueva continues to find that balance between a flopper and token energy guy, the Aces need to come up with surprises to battle the strengthened/ overhauled PBA teams. Though we have nothing but love for the blue-chip recruits in ASEAN Basketball League Most Valuable Player Leo Avenido, Ryan Buenafe and Ping Exciminiano, it appears as though the three have yet to really learn the Aces' offensive sets as proven by the little amount of minutes they get on the floor (aging small forward Tony de la Cruz logs close to 19 minutes a game). 

It's almost like the Aces and their "attitude" guys have embraced the overall team philosophy and become as vanilla as can be. Yes, Abueva gets into situations such as the one with Meralco Bolts' guard Jared Dillinger, but is anyone at all surprised when it's Abueva getting himself on the headlines for all the wrong reasons?

When was the last time we saw Baguio play like a bonafide star and drop 20 points in consecutive nights? Or when will we ever see Casio make a solid claim for being one of the PBA's top point guards? Surely, a bunch of scattered clutch shots this conference won't matter if the Aces still end up getting the boot right? Is Sonny Thoss going to have to carry a subpar team all throughout the season? 

At the end of last season, we touched on how the Aces could continue to grow as a team.

Yes, Abueva took the league by surprise (because of his height, reputation and what not which didn't exactly spell PBA success outright-- or at the very least, wasn't according to script), but not anymore.

People know what to expect of Abueva. He's a game changer, he's out there to either get in your heads with his antics or just out hustle the timid. Pay no attention to all the jersey pulling or sweet nothings he tends to whisper in your ear and you'll be alright provided you match his intensity. Thoss is Thoss, Casio is only a threat in the end game (most of the time when he's trying to pull the Aces out of a bind as their last scoring option/ "clutch hero") and depending on the situation, Baguio/Dondon Hontiveros is the PBA Joe Johnson (highly skilled, great player overall, but for some reason has that "glass ceiling" as a star player).

We pushed for Abueva to make the transition from under-sized power forward (more offensively-gifted, skinny Willy Wilson) to a full time shooting guard/ small forward. That means, he needs to add range. To work on his dribbling and passing. To get better working off the basketball. Just a lot of things but with his energy shouldn't be much of a problem (just rewind to his 1st and last years in college wherein he went from "junkyard dog" to "triple double playmaker").

In truth, the Aces appear to be in "cruise control" this conference.

The same "growth" should be expected from lead guard Casio, who continues to hide behind his teammates in a very generous way. He sets the table and appears to be happy just being a full time facilitator unless the situation calls for him to knock down threes.

Problem is, Casio is a liability on the defensive end. That's not even a secret. Power point guards bully him (check out Jayson Castro and Sol Mercado's stats versus Casio) and cat-quick ones give him fits. To trump this, Casio needs to realize that he is arguably the best shooting point guard in the PBA bar none.

If Casio would only come out shooting, to help set the tone of games and push the tempo, then the Aces would be a lot harder to guard.

Oh, and did you know that their starters average at least 2 turnovers a game?

Sometimes, it's the little things that can help a team get back atop the hill.