To infinity and beyond

Sino Coach ko ulit?
(Photo credit: Sports5.ph)

Where do we go from here, STAR Hotshots?

The architect of your 1st PBA Grand Slam (plus two other titles during his tenure), Tim Cone, is now officially out of the door and with him-- his greatness, coaching philosophies, Triangle Offense and so on. In his place will be Jason Webb, as announced in a joint press conference that should've been exclusively for Cone-- but hey, it's San Miguel Corporation, who has little to no coaching experience both in the amateurs and professional ranks.

Great. Just great.

Here is a guy who, among all of Cone's deputies, has the least experience and doesn't really look like he's meant for the part. There's always that one guy who, in team meetings, school group projects, who is the leader. Then there's the other guy, the second guy, who just pushes the rest and makes it happen. You see it in basketball, during timeouts. The coach does his thing and gives instructions, the lead assistant whispers in the ears of the rest. Eggs them on. Tells them what to do. Clarifies things. There are guys in the huddle that would make you think "ah, this guy will be a head coach someday."

But Webb?
We'll give him the benefit of the doubt, as he's played the game for years-- though not as well as you'd think. A 6"0 good looking point guard who can run the floor and do little of everything else. Skills wise, he's a poor man's Paul Artadi. Anyway, that's just to describe his game overall. Coaching is another thing, since it's been proven that you don't have to be an MVP type to coach effectively.

Then again, we don't have anything to work with to validate Webb as coach.

The years he spent making jokes and doing half-assed analysis on your favorite YouTube shows?

If you're going with that argument, then Miakka Lim should be head coach soon.

Has he learned enough from Cone? Then what about Abarrientos, and Jose? They've been there longer. Abarrientos for one undoubtedly knows the Triangle like the back of his hand. Did Webb learn enough from his old Stag Pale Pilsen coach and now San Miguel Sports Director Alfrancis Chua (who undoubtedly had a lot of say in Webb's "promotion")? But they did all the winning in the 90s for crying out loud!

So now we'll just try to understand Webb, from what we know of him after years of watching him on TV. He looks like a naturally good guy. He's been through a lot. His family has always been on the spotlight for one reason or another, yet he's managed to separate himself from all of that.

So character wise, we'll give Coach Jason his props. Lots of it. Respect. We bleed green and white too, so we will support him.

But as a coach, we don't see him as an authority figure like Cone. Can't be a father figure, since he's just a few years older than Mick Pennisi and Rafi Reavis, two of the Hotshots' senior statesmen.

But he can be a brother to them, the voice of logical reason. We don't know which offense he'll run, maybe he'll open the playbook and go away from the Triangle. Maybe he'll run more motion and turn the Hotshots into an open court basketball team. They have the guns, so they can do it.

A lot of folks see Webb's promotion as something of Steve Kerr's. You know, the former "average" NBA player who won a couple of championships, retired, became a TV analyst before landing a gig with Phoenix.

Oh, he failed at the first job. But he landed another gig with Golden State and just won a title so...

So maybe that is what the San Miguel brass is going for here. That Webb can mirror Kerr, while skipping the whole Phoenix part of his coaching/ management career.

Honestly, we're going to picture Webb more like Luigi Trillo when he took over Alaska (although Trillo had tons of OJT experience by way of Adamson). Trillo brought in a handful of elite assistant coaches to help him not only turn Alaska back into a contender, but change the culture over all-- names from Alex Compton, one of the Banal brothers, Topex Robinson, Louie Alas to the legendary Aric del Rosario even (as consultant). Problem is, does Webb have enough power to get his guys, or will he be stuck trying to lead his peers-- guys who are his senior on the team, while also leading the players overall?

We don't see Webb having any problems with the young guys: Mark Barroca, Justin Melton, Alex Mallari, Allein Maliksi, Ian Sangalang and Yousef Taha. Those guys are hungry. They want to prove themselves as potential PBA stars. So either way, Cone or Webb, those guys will go get it.

But the veterans?

2x PBA MVP James Yap, PJ Simon, Marc "ako ang nakikita, ako ang nasisisi, ako ang laging may kasalanan" Pingris and Joe Devance?

The Hotshots' prized Big Four?

The guys were called out this season for being off. For not putting in the effort. Coach Tim had to make an example of Pingris even, just so Simon and Yap would fall in line and play their games.

Who is to say that they'll respond better to a noob like Webb?

Champion ka, elite ka, MVP ka, coach mo yung pinakamagaling na utak sa Pilipinas, tapos ngayon susunod ka lang dito sa katropa mo lang na wala naman napatunayan?

The above statement is what we're worried about.

With Cone out of the picture, the Hotshots' will be liberated offensively. The Triangle won't be there, so they are free to run and gun as they please which plays to Yap and Simon's strengths.

But if and when they start losing, that's when the doubting and blaming starts.

That's where Webb's maturity will come into play and question.

Where to, Hotshots?