Ayo's Way

Photo: Rappler.com

In only his first season as a PBA head coach, Converge FiberXers' Aldin Ayo has made it clear that it's his show by making an example of both his Commissioner's Cup and Governor's Cup imports-- tournament standings/ seedings be damned.

If memory serves us right, the 6"10 Quincy Miller who was averaging nearly 31 points a game while leading the team to an 8-2 start was benched in a match against NorthPort due to disciplinary measures. This led to the team bowing out of the conference, as they couldn't recover or regroup from that loss.

Recently, in the ongoing season-ending Governor's Cup, it's the high-scoring Jamaal Franklin's turn to be sent home. This, following a series of 30-40+ point games which really brought more fans to the games. After a 50+ point output, it was said that Ayo told his import to share the basketball some more. Which, well, the import followed to the letter in a crucial match against Barangay Ginebra. Things got so bad, that Franklin simply refused to shoot and just kept passing the ball even when he was wide open for easy bunnies.

The Maverick

Photo: Manila Bulletin

This writer has to be honest with you, as a former Rain or Shine Elastopainters fan during head coach Yeng Guiao's initial run, I was not too thrilled when the team opted to draft one Maverick Ahanmisi over the NCAA triple-double machine Scottie Thompson in the 2015-2016 PBA Draft.

Sure, he was a legitimate US NCAA Division 1 talent for the University of Minnesota, but he averaged a little under 3 points and 1 rebound a game for his entire career. Though we were already in the age of social media, there was simply little to no talk of his game-- which was telling at the time, considering every Fil-foreigner looking for a PBA run had a (self-made) video montage on YouTube already (re: Julius Pasculado.

Additionally, this was during RoS' Paul Lee's final year with the team. So there was pressure from fans and management to find someone suitable to carry the team post-Lee. That being said, Lee left (after winning a title mid-season), Guiao left, and Ahanmisi averaged a little under 10 points and 3 assists in 25-26 minutes of play.