Don't drink the (Black)water

"Hurricane" Heruela needs
to takeover
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

If you were to tell us at the start of the PBA season, with all things considered, that Kia Sorento would have more wins (one) than Blackwater Elite we would've trolled you from Manila all the way to Muscat in person or on social media.

Seriously, a team of low-ranked players coached by a non-basketball mind in Manny Pacquiao can't possibly have more victories on its present day record than a team that already has a proven winning basketball tradition, legit coaching staff and players who were under-utilized more than undeserving to be in the PBA. A news report came out the other day that the team owner, Mr. Dioceldo Sy, was willing to fork over whatever he must if only to buy out some of the players on the roster if it meant improving their chances of winning.

That's how bad the situation has come for the 0 wins and 9 losses Elite.



It's rather tricky and mind-boggling to explain considering this team boasts of tried-and-tested players (and one-time PBA starters) such as Paul Artadi, Sunday Salvacion and Eddie Laure  as well as promising names such as BamBam Gamalinda, Alex Nuyles, Jason Ballesteros and Larry Rodriguez. Hell, Brian Faundo (who, surprisingly, leads the team in scoring with a 10.67 clip) and rookie darkhorse Brian Heruela (10 ppg, 4 rpg, 5 apg) are outplaying those "proven" names at the moment, with head coach Leo Isaac continuously (and rather bullishly) opting to play a "spread minutes" style which may not be at the team's best interests.

For one, this is a new team with guys out to prove their worth. So instead of falling in line and having a systematic "pecking order" in place, guys are playing selfish, stat-padding basketball. As far as the PBA Philippine Cup is going, Heruela has earned the right to be the team's starting (big) point guard. Artadi can back him up with his usual speedy, uptempo play while rookie Juami Tiongson adjusts to life in the PBA.

At the guard spot, we're going with Ogie Menor and Gamalinda. Menor, minus the crazy, can help set the defensive tone (that he has come to embrace, Wyne Arboleda style) to help Heruela while Gamalinda plays superstar. We can go with a more established guy in Salvacion here as well, but at the moment it looks like Gamalinda has more upside than the former King CSB Blazer. Nuyles comes off the bench as the token 6th man, with a lot of creative, offensive freedom which should play to his strengths. It's rather alarming that he still hasn't gotten into the PBA flow of things despite being an able one-on-one player.

At the forward spots, Faundo, Rodriguez, Ballesteros and JP Erram need to do a better job crashing the boards. Erram is developing into a nice, low post defender but doesn't have the muscle for the job. If he could either bulk up or get faster, he'd benefit a lot more as a hybrid forward. Of the bunch, Rodriguez has the highest basketball IQ, but only when used by his coach correctly (Isaac has failed to maximize the former Elastopainter so far).

Basically, instead of "buying guys out," perhaps the Elite could consider shortening their rotations and playing guys a lot longer. Finding a go-to-guy would be the quick fix here, but for a newcomer like the Elite they will need to first come together and commit not only on offense, but on defense as well.

The losses have been very ugly thus far for the Elite, unlike those suffered by Kia wherein they were right in the thick of things until experience came into play.

Hopefully, the Elite are able to turn things around and get the right guys (players and or coach) and not fall into the whole #TankingForRayRay or #TankingForTautuaa.