The long and winding road

How far can Asi take NLEX?
(Photo credit to the owner)

While their elders, Talk'n'Text and Meralco, enjoy having youthful bigs to continue building their foundations around, head coach Boyet Fernandez and his NLEX Road Warriors find themselves stuck in the mud with aging frontliners who are an injury away from retirement.

Sure, Asi Taulava (fresh from another tour of duty with Gilas 3) and Enrico Villanueva are still fearsome names and that Asi has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts the last three seasons, but can a team really pin their hopes on a 40+ year old with limited low post offense? How about Villanueva? He hasn't been the same since suffering an injury after a stint with Barako Bull and has played more like a TV-friendly version of 90s role player Chris Bolado than the "Raging Bull" we once knew.

These proud veterans are backed by Rob Reyes, Eric Camson, Mark Borboran and Jeckster Apinan. They are a solid, role-playing bunch, but not in the same area as TNT's Moala Tautuaa and Troy Rosario, and Meralco's returning Rabeh Al Hussaini.

Definitely nowhere near.

Glenn Khobuntin is going to be nice, maybe a more rugged Bitoy Omolon project for Coach Boyet, but we are keeping expectations low for the rookie since he will be forced to keep in step with quicker small forwards in the PBA from here on out rather than his preferred hybrid 4 spot.

So yeah, this team is lost in transition.
They still have Jonas Villanueva and the returning energy guy Sean Anthony, but even those two can't deliver as much. We would make a case for Mac Cardona, but there seems to be a gap somewhere last season between him and Coach Boyet that we can't put a finger on. There are a lot of times wherein NLEX needed a killer on the floor, and yet Coach Boyet looked at other guys. This year, maybe it will be John Wilson who will be thrust into the limelight as the designated gunner for NLEX. We won't have any problems with this one, since the former NCAA MVP has the (vastly under-rated) two-way game for it.

We don't really expect NLEX to run a lot. Not with Nino Canaleta gone, and Villanueva being as inconsistent as he is.

We don't really expect anything exciting from NLEX...

... until Kevin Alas and Garvo Lanete are healthy enough to play.

That's when things will start picking up and maybe the future, to start taking shape.

Wonder if Coach Boyet will still be around by then.