Kamusta mga ka-Barangay?

Even when he's trying to be physical,
Slaughter still looks SAWFT
(Photo credits to Sports5)

We will be very honest with you:

We love head coach Frankie Lim for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. Because he's like the "daddy" that a team loaded with egos, and fans who are borderline fanatics and sometimes even, illogical, need. While some circles were busy ranting about who should and shouldn't have been traded, or how Player A should get more minutes than Player B because "he is good-looking and could dunk so he should be a borderline PBA superstar, right?"-- well, CFL has basically stuck to his guns, played the guys he wants to play, and still doesn't give a rat's ass what you think of the team's first Asian import and how much he should've/ should've not played.

Eight games. Three wins. Five losses.

They score 93. Give up 95. Rebound 49. Give up 50. Dish out 18 versus 15. Foul 26. Get 27. Turn the ball over 14. Force 13.

The numbers are close.
So let's drop the stat-talk and number-crunching for now.

Ginebra, under CFL, is running. The guards are happy, they get their touches, the team plays uptempo and everyone is confident with their own shots-- yes, even Japeth Aguilar.

Bigs play like bigs: Dorian Pena, Rodney Brondial, Dave Marcelo. Traditional, blue collar, dirty-workers. Just the way CFL coached in San Beda. The offense comes as a bonus. He's after the gritty things which has always separated the bigs from the guards.

That being said, there are still certain "issues" that need to be addressed.

Is L.A. Tenorio going to be traded or not?

Because he surely doesn't look the Tenorio of old. He's looked a lot like an OLD, unhappy and impatient Tenorio. With vintage games here and there, which is too early IMHO for anyone to be calling good Tenorio games as "vintage."

Will he be a 20-minute player from here on out? With Sol Mercado, Josh Urbiztondo and Emman Monfort all coming in to take his minutes? Would be the ideal number, on a happy, team-first, uhm, team. Just a bit of a waste of talent if you ask us.

Twin Towers.

It just won't work. Aguilar wants to play the very high post (borderline no longer the post, lol). While Greg Slaughter has been painfully slower than usual (due to injury) and seems to be a 7"0 eyesore that none of his guards would like to pass the ball to.

Because, why would they?

Seven feet tall, asking for the ball near the free throw line-- looking for a lazy jumper instead of setting up shop down low and just brutalizing teams left and right.

He's a great pick and pop option sure. But then, why would any of his guards-- who can score the ball just as well (if not better) from outside bother to pass him the ball?

He doesn't rebound as aggressively as he should. Most of his rebounds come from gimmes.

CFL has definitely seen better centers. Sam Ekwe. Marcelo. Pascual. Guys who do the dirty work inside the paint and get the job done. High post playing, soft, non-resbak centers? Pick and pop? Not sure if CFL is a fan of that style of big man basketball.

Some of our friends say that this will continue to be the case, that Slaughter will continue to be the new age Andy Seigle to Junemar Fajardo's Marlou Aquino/ Asi Taulava, until Ginebra is able to load up on shooters instead of slashers for guards. Mark Caguioa, Mercado, Tenorio-- they all prefer to attack inside. Monfort is Slaughter's only best friend there on the court. Urbiztondo is a shooter, yes, but he's not the type of point guard that Slaughter can really thrive with.

Ginebra needs shooters. Or Slaughter needs to start living in the paint.

Otherwise, he'll be another wasted talent. A 7"0 solid role player which could've been a legitimate star.

Overall, this is just CFL's first conference with the team which has been running on a three-guard line-up no thanks to the injury to Chris Ellis, and whatever is going on with Mac Baracael. So a 3-5 win loss record is acceptable. A system looks to be in place. CFL has complete control of the team and that's all you really need for Ginebra right now.

Oh, and Aguilar is responding well to CFL's style (which was our main concern going into the Lim Regime).

Konting pasensya, konting tiis lang. E ano kung kangkong ngayon, kung bukas kampeon?