Cabagnot Conundrum

The Crunchman Saveth?
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

A few weeks ago, we felt that it was rather unfair for Global Port Batang Pier's neophyte head coach Pido Jarencio to single out his starting point guard Alex Cabagnot amid their losing ongoing losing streak.

If you walked up to us and said that the Batang Pier lost their first eight games because Cabagnot was averaging 10.38 points to go with 5.88 assists per game, we'd have laughed at your great and admirable grasp of the sport. Looking back at Cabagnot's career since 2005, the man's averaged 11 points and 5 assists.

Yes, he's had incredible, clutch games here and there, but overall, Cabagnot is an 11 points and 5 assists man-- which isn't bad on the PBA level mind you, given the years of consistent play.


So all of the losses prior to today's win over Barako Bull Energy Cola (which Cabagnot won via an end game, "Crunchman" trey), are not entirely on Cabagnot. If anything, it's on Pido Jarencio-- his paltry, collegiate-level defensive coaching, his inability to find the right players for whatever system he intends to run and...

... and that he believes/believed in Cabagnot.

What did Jarencio expect from Cabagnot? A conference-long brilliant run of 20 points and 8 assists a night?

Even the game's best point guard, L.A. Tenorio, couldn't manage those Godly numbers for more than maybe 4 or 5 games for Ginebra.

The last time out, Cabagnot went crazy versus Talk 'n' Text and dropped 29 points in a loss, this afternoon he scored 14 (with the game winning trey) plus 9 assists in a win. Those are arguably his two best games this conference for Batang Pier and everyone knows it (he scored 16 in a game mid-conference, but hardly made any impact).

Question now is, was Cabagnot on "cruise control" the whole conference? Is he hurt? Is his feelings hurt from being traded? Was he Vince Carter-ing the Batang Pier?

What about the last two games? Where was THIS Alex Cabagnot when the Batang Pier and their new coach Jarencio were going blown out of games?

Sorry, but we find the sense of urgency rather lacking now that it's clear that he could elevate his game to this heights whenever he sees fit.

So maybe, just maybe, Pido Jarencio was right after all.