The agony of defeat

Off to a good start
(Photo credit: pba.online.net)

You wake up at the sound of your morning alarm, ending your peaceful slumber that granted you a few hours’ rest. Today you should be getting ready for the PBA Finals press conference, to be held at some fancy buffet restaurant, ready to trade pleasantries and inside barbs with your opponents and the press. Today should’ve been the day that you take one step closer to greatness.

But it isn’t.

Instead you sit and sulk, wanting to avoid any sports replays or news. You’ll catch the game later, and will definitely attend your next team practice. But today just isn’t the day.

Star Hotshots

The Hotshots lived up to expectations from last year. They were supposed to be a running team, freed from Tim Cone and the Triangle Offense. Jason Webb was tasked to help steer them to a faster style akin to how some champion NBA teams play. They still had 11 out of the 12 guys who played a role in their Grand Slam/ title bids.

But if just didn’t work out.

Some recover from break-ups in a week or a few months, the Hotshots took a season.

It took an entirely new approach even, by adding a new head coach in Chito Victolero and an established PBA star in Paul Lee, to help wake the Hotshots from their heartbreak. They lived up to that running style that Webb dreamed of under Victolero. They were blowing teams out by twenty at least in the elimination rounds. They played defense like the Grand Slam Hotshots of old.

Only, when faced against Cone and Ginebra, they came up short in seven games.

So what’s next for the Hotshots? Well, adding an inside presence for an import next conference would help balance their offense and defense out. We’re not talking about a perimeter-playing one like last season when Webb chose to bring back Cone’s Denzel Bowles. We’re talking about a bruiser, a banger in the paint that can help set bone-crushing screens to further free-up Paul Lee and Mark Barroca; someone who can command double-teams in the paint and get Allein Maliksi, Justin Melton and PJ Simon open from deep.

Honestly, we hope that Coach Chito considers a new approach when it comes to his frontline of choice. In the playoffs, he relied heavily on veterans Marc Pingris and Rafi Reavis, but we feel that the smarter move is to go with the younger guys Ian Sangalang, Aldrech Ramos and Rodney Brondial. Sure, the first two young bigs failed to make an impact in the series versus Ginebra, but it should be noted that Reavis is 40+ and Pingris isn’t that far behind.

Of the three young bigs, it’s Brondial that has impressed us the most with his range and hustle though he needs to get in better shape to be able to keep up with the rest of the running Hotshots.

All things considered, it was still a very good conference for the young Hotshots as compared to last season.

TNT Katropa

More than the Hotshots, TNT actually had the best shot at knocking off their semis adversaries and make a grand return into the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

It just so happened that Jayson Castro went down with an untimely injury pre-Game 7 and San Miguel decided to reveal a trump card (the pick and roll of doom) that left Coach Nash Racela with a very long face heading into the dugout.

Wasn’t the plan, at the start of the conference, to move away from the whole “iso-Castro” approach that former coach Jong Uichico introduced? Wasn’t Coach Nash brought in to ensure that Troy Rosario, Moala Tautuaa and Matt Ganuelas are ready to step up to the plate? Wasn’t the plan to go back to the Dribble Drive Offense?

It sure as heck looked like Coach Nash took a big turnaround in the semis versus SMB; relying on his veterans Castro, RDO, Ryan Reyes and Larry Fonacier to get things done. Even if we throw in RR Pogoy, a Gilas rookie, he’d still be a veteran by Coach Nash’s standards because of their college ties.

Next conference, they’re adding Denzel Bowles, the same man whose buzzer beating free throws cost them the PBA Commissioner’s Cup title a few years back. With Bowles, they have a guy who can play inside and outside, which should help space the floor and give them different looks.

However, and this has been the problem for the last few conferences, they are still only as good as Castro wills them to be.

Rosser has been asked to play the point guard, and he though he has been steady, he hasn’t been great either. Kris Rosales, an ABL veteran, was brought in to help, but he looks just as lost as Rosser.
Here’s an idea, why don’t they let Ryan Reyes run the point? He used to be a point guard anyway. Larry Fonacier can also play the point, a lot better than Rosser and Rosales, he just needs someone to bring the ball down up to half court.

Granted, this is Coach Nash’s first PBA dance so he’ll probably come up with new things for next conference. He’s already done a great job in making Rosser and Tautuaa look capable, so it’s all just a matter of finding the right mix of players to go with in certain situations.
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