A Brand New Day

Ginebra? Running the Triangle? Ok...
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

I was a Ginebra die-hard.

From the moment I picked up the sport some time in 1995, during the 2nd of what would eventually become 3 Michael Jordan eras (although the last one was more of an irrelevant, yet nostalgic, time), I would ultimately learn about the Philippine Basketball Association and watch games until I was won over by a certain team and its passionate, charismatic approach to the game.

No, my parents weren't Ginebra fans. My mom was Alaska all the way, primarily because of Jojo Lastimosa and his sexy legs. My dad never had an inkling for the sport so yeah. I wasn't "born and bred" a Ginebra fan much like today's kids are or claim to be.


My Ginebra, or the one that I've come to know, didn't feature a lot of PBA superstars. Rather, they were popular but were hardly the best at their positions. No one would take Bal David over Ronnie Magsanoc, Dindo Pumaren and a rising Johnny Abarrientos. Or Vince Hizon over Vergel Meneses. Noli Locsin over Alvin Patrimonio and Nelson Asaytono.

Marlou Aquino over... okay, back then, Aquino (with his height and craftiness) was probably about the closest you could get to having top-tier talent who could star for any other team and was easily Top 3 in Best Centers in the land.

But my Ginebra also had what you'd call today as a bunch of no-gym scrubs: Benny Cheng, Wilmer Ong, JayVee Gayoso, Dudot Jaworski and Pido Jarencio among others. Some of them were stars back in the day, some of them weren't. They were an odd bunch of guys forming and completing the Ginebra bench, and more often than not, I'd see them blow a bunch of defensive assignments if only because the guy they're guarding (or supposed to guard) can easily outrun them on the hard court (a certain lack of conditioning was pretty obvious).

But then, they also had Robert Jaworski, Sr. calling the shots.

He wasn't the X's and O's type. I never recalled him altering his offensive or defensive sets in any game. Just simple coaching here and there from where I sat, but a lot of one-on-one, "player's coach" coaching. He always had his players' ears. Everyone was glued to what he was saying. His team played with such passion and vigour.

Because of Jaworski and his never-say-die mantra which was embodied time and again by Bal David, who, before the Mark Caguioa era, was probably the most clutch Ginebra player of the 90s (1x versus San Miguel, 2x versus Mobiline and maybe some other games I failed to watch).

Even when Jaworski left the fold, I was a Ginebra fan.

Right until Allan Caidic entered the picture. Followed by a barrage of San Miguel Beer discards.

Which was then followed by a ransacking of the disbanded Coca-Cola powerhouse franchise of the early 2000s. Ginebra benefited from that trade/ free agent signing so much that they were pretty much the LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Chris Bosh Miami Heat before those three opted to hook up.

Mark Caguioa, Jayjay Helterbrand, Rudy Hatfield, Eric Menk, Billy Mamaril, Johnny Abarrientos and then some other guys.

Suddenly, Ginebra wasn't a rag-tag team anymore. They didn't feel like Ginebra. They sure as hell didn't look like Ginebra.

The only time that they really feel like Ginebra is when they fail in conferences owing to poor coaching or injuries. Other than that, on paper, this team was and is a legit powerhouse.

Even today.

Now, with a new head coach in Jeffrey Cariaso, this is the end of the Robert Jaworski, Sr. era. As soon as Ginebra fans are able to accept this reality, then the better it is for everyone.

It's only a matter of time for a team that, potentially, now has a technical system in place (Triangle Offense) to start racking up the wins. Specially with the right kind of players already in the fold, all just looking and wanting structure (L.A. Tenorio, Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar). Make no mistake about it, Ginebra is far from being an underdog. Hell, give them a conference-pass and next season you can bet your ass that they'll be in the title hunt for sure.

Hopefully, Cariaso is given enough freedom and leeway to coach as he pleases.

And that, should they lose (which I expect them to given the "growing pains" of learning the Triangle), that Cariaso is spared from all the backlash and backstabbing which has become a norm among Ginebra-- from management to their impatient fans (there are some who are willing to wait for growth, but then again, they're the same lot who go on 5-post Twitter rants every time their team is ousted).

A little patience please, this should be fun.