A different air

Trying to live up to the name
(Photo credit to the owner)

It is beginning to smell a lot like Christmas for Coach Leo Isaac and the Blackwater Elite.

Though they are currently near the bottom of the PBA Philippine Cup standings with a 1 win - 4 losses record, the sophomore ballclub is starting to look and play like a legitimate professional basketball team instead of a whipping-boy expansion one. Save for that blowout loss to the streaking Rain or Shine Elastopainters, the Elite have managed to keep most of their games quite competitive and close with an average end game deficit of only 7 points per.

We do not really feel the need to remind anyone about the team's maiden campaign, and how brutal it was to watch them play on the court save for one Brian Heruela.


Well, Heruela's no longer there but in his place is the "Cool Cat" Mike Cortez who is averaging similar numbers (Heruela averaged 33mpg 10 ppg 5rpg 5apg while Cortez is averaging roughly 33mpg 9ppg 4rpg 5 apg) only with a slightly better field goal percentage-- oh, and that while Heruela did not really have anyone competent to pass to, Cortez has a boat load of guys who want to showcase their individual skillsets. Ahead of the pack are: JP Erram (24mpg 13ppg 8rpg), Reil Cervantes (19mpg 9ppg 3rpg) and Carlo Lastimosa (20mpg 8ppg 3rpg 2apg) with other well-traveled names like Bam Gamalinda, Jerick Canada and Raffy Reyes all pitching in from time to time. The team also has some young, scrappy guys who have shown some promise in Art dela Cruz, Keith Agovida and Jason Melano.

So what is next for the Elite?

Composure and consistency.

In the three losses, they fell apart mostly in the second half. Guys started doing their own things on offense, forgot to cover for one another on defense and basically abandoned whatever gameplan was discussed by Coach Leo and his staff.

We would love to see more from Gamalinda and Lastimosa, who are being groomed as the team's 1-2 punch from the perimeter. Erram is also starting to look nice, but he is more of a clean-up guy than go-to-guy in the paint.

Once dela Cruz gets more minutes, he is our best bet to slide into the small/ power forward position because he is just so efficient on the floor and fills all the gaps be it on offense or defense. Right now he is playing about 17mpg which isn't much to work with for a guy of his skillset, but Coach Leo probably wants to break-in the former San Beda Red Lion slowly.

Cervantes is crazy. He is Kevin Garnett tenacious-- but on offense, not defense.

We don't really know if that is a good or bad thing. But we like it since it gives the Elite a different flavor when he is on the court.

Oh, and Almond Vosotros is NOT a point guard. Someone tell Coach Leo.