Bust-a-move

Author's note: Happy new year!

Hype is a terrible thing; it can build you up just as fast as it can bring you down. The PBA and its fans have seen its fair share of “hyped” rookies, baptized as “franchise saviors” who ended up being role players on a different team at best.

Here is our short list of “hyped” players who did not exactly live up to expectations:

Moala Tautuaa, TnT 2015 1st pick
We are still waiting for the “Junemar-stopper.” And while we are at it, for Tautuaa to develop anything close to a post-up game.

Matt Ganuelas Rosser, TnT 2014 3rd pick
He got locked in Jong Uichico’s doghouse, but now that he’s freed by Coach Nash Racela, we’re still not seeing anything stellar out of this former Gilas player as he continues to play like a skinny, long-haired Jon Ordonio.

Shooting Stars

Puta, kalma.
(Photo credit: inquirer.net)

Contrary to popular belief, the Star Hotshots are not in trouble; transition yes, trouble no.

Despite the 0-2 record under new coach Chito Victolero, this isn't the same as least season's debacle under Jason Webb. This isn't an ominous sign of things to come, at least that's what we would like to believe anyway. No, this team, save for a few Grand Slam leftovers, is a team that is trying to build on and off court chemistry as well as an overall identity.

So who are the Hotshots, exactly?

Well, they were the PBA's token glamour boys. Pretty boys who could back it up on the court. They weren't known for their offense or defense, they were simply known as a solid bunch and a classy organization over all. Like San Miguel's own yellow (then blue) version of Alaska.

When Tim Cone took over, he built a new culture. When he left, everything fell apart. Some guys wanted to change the blueprint, others were not sold on the idea. In comes Victolero, who is no Webb but is definitely no Cone either, plus a new star in Paul Lee. Of course there is going to be a rough period.

When you wish upon a STAR

Keep on
(Photo credit: Inquirer.net)

Other than Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s Japeth Aguilar, we have grown fond of mocking and ridiculing STAR Hotshots head coach Jason Webb at every chance we get on social media. To be clear, we are making fun of them NOT as human beings, but rather as ill-equipped basketball personalities.

Aguilar being the “has all the athletic gifts of an NBA talent but the IQ of a JV player” and Webb, well, let us talk about how Coach Jason’s first season as a legitimate PBA head coach went shall we?
To recap, STAR finished the season with a 10 wins and 19 losses record: 4-7 in the Philippine Cup, 5-6 in the Commissioner’s, and finally 1-6 in the Governor’s. It could very well be concluded that the mid-season acquisition of RR Garcia, Rodney Brondial and Jake Pascual distorted whatever mediocre-level chemistry was present in the team. Sure, Garcia suddenly emerged to play big minutes, but it is not like they gave up any of their core rotation guys to acquire his services (they traded away rookies Mark Cruz and Norbert Torres if we remember correctly).

Should everything be blamed on Coach Jason?

A ringing endorsement

The struggle is real for Star
(Photo credit: PBA.Inquirer.net)

When Jason Webb took over the Star Hotshots’ bench in the preseason, we had a feeling that things might get rough at first. Still, we believed that everything will be just fine since he is taking over an already-made group of champions (grand slam ones, at that) and did not really need to make a world of adjustments.

A conference and two games into the second of the PBA season we are just as worried as the next Star fan.

Praying for the best

Our only concern here is,
Pingris, Fajardo, Aguilar AND Slaughter
are all playing HEAVY  minutes this conference
(Photo credit to the owner)

Just a quick update on our Gilas Pilipinas 17-man pool for the Olympic Qualifiers:

Ranidel de Ocampo is out recovering from a near-serious injury. Ian Sangalang has been absent from majority (if not all) of the team's only Monday practices. Paul Lee is still out. L.A. Tenorio for the most part of his PBA run this season, has been off. Collegiate standout and 2x UAAP MVP Kiefer Ravena has officially been added to the pool.

That makes three guys who will have to make up for lost time should they wish to rejoin the group, another guy who seems to be having some trouble getting back to top form and a young blood who fits the bill to a "T" as far as a well-rounded, highly-skilled national player is concerned, but in our honest opinion is probably NOT the guy we wanted to add right now.

Out of focus

Looking for the D
(Photo credit to the owner)

This is not how a "liberated" Grand Slam team should be performing.

Flirting with disastrous start to the season, rookie coach Jason Webb and his STAR Hotshots are currently sitting ugly with a 2 wins versus 6 losses slate in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup. It honestly seems that while people were so busy looking at how Webb was supposed to run some Golden State-like, high-octane offense, the team forgot its championship defense somewhere in the middle of exorcising the Triangle Offense from their system.

For the numbers-hungry, STAR is averaging 91 ppg 46 rpg 16 apg while giving up 95 ppg 47 rpg and 19 apg to opponents. They are also committing 19 turnovers a match, which by itself tells you that this team has a lot of problems on so many fronts.

Back to the future

Is Sangalang ready to takeover?
(Photo credit to the owner)

This was supposed to be the year wherein expectations were to be set low while the STAR Hotshots make the transition from Tim Cone's rigid yet winning ways to Jason Webb's free-flowing, youth-oriented attack.

Don't tell that to the veterans.

Led by 2x PBA Most Valuable Player James Yap, the STAR Hotshots are fighting in games despite their current 1 win 2 losses card. Surprisingly, instead of the younger guys on the roster, it's Yap and Marc Pingris who are putting up the numbers and playing like they were freed from whatever shackle it was that held them back. Yap is taking more shots (his % suck, but shooters shoot) while Pingris is roaming and lurking. Sure, PJ Simon is playing less minutes but he is still their 3rd leading scorer behind Yap and Mark Barroca.

So where will the Hotshots go from here?

Back to the one we love

The PBA is BACK!
WOW! Fantastic baby.
(Photo credit to the owner)

Though we were definitely upset over all the drama that still, fortunately, led to a silver medal finish for our Gilas 3, there is no point in denying that we will always be fans of the Philippine Basketball Association by default.

One; because we do not really see another Metropolitan Basketball Association rising out of the woodwork (until of course either Team San Miguel or Team Manny V Pangilinan pulls all of their teams out of the Asia's first basketball league), and two; because Filipinos in general are a fickle, forgiving lot (we are generalizing here, because this basically explains how and why troublemakers and borderline idiots get seats in the government).

So yes, we forgive you PBA for the Gilas 3 drama. But only because we are left with no other alternative (at the moment, once the NBA starts holding Global Games in Manila then all bets are off). Now that you've named a 17-man pool for the Olympic Qualifiers, we kinda, sorta, hate you guys less. We still hate some of the guys in charge, but not as much as before.

And we will forgive you for making up-and-coming emcee Abra look like a complete tool last Wednesday.

On to STAR vs Rain or Shine, NLEX vs Blackwater and Alaska vs Talk'n'Text then.

The PBA is BACK!

Free Rein

Make or break
(Photo credit to the owner)

It is a great time to be a fan of STAR Hotshots basketball.

Sure, you can look at it from the other end of the spectrum since they recently lost their grand slam coach Tim Cone and the walking mismatch that is Joe DeVance, but then you should consider that no triangle means more running and gunning. More points. More fun.

At the very least, that is what we feel Coach Jason Webb is going for.

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?

Dethroned

Old timers need some help
(Photo credit to Sports5.ph)

As you get older, there are certain things that you slowly realize:

Your timing is off; your mind knows what you want to do, but there seems to be a split second lapse between judgment and action.

You find yourself needing to exert more effort, to something that you would routinely perform. Be it running, jumping, hustling.

And when you find yourself in front of a wide-eyed youngster, who you know will always go left on a crossover, which he does, and you smile to yourself thinking "I got you!" only to hear the whistle-- or worse, lose your man completely as you turn your around and see him waltzing in for an easy lay-up.

Age. It happens to the best of us.

With yesterday's unceremonious sweep at the hands of the Alaska Aces in the Semifinals of the PBA Governor's Cup, the Purefoods STAR Hotshots find themselves officially dethroned in the 40th season of the league after taking home all three titles just the year before.

Is it time to rebuild?

Stars are bland

Look up, look up!
(Photo credits to Sports5)

Definitely not a typo.

The re-christened, yellow-and-red sporting STAR Hotshots are finding it even tougher to defend their third and final crown from last season's grand slam romp, specially with the absence of future cornerstone 6"7 Ian Sangalang. Head coach Tim Cone has stuck mostly to playing an eight-man heavy rotation, with other guys playing sparingly by design.

Thus far, the Hotshots' record is five wins versus five losses. Stuck somewhere in the middle of the Playoff hunt.

Leading the team's hope for a last title defense are returning import Marqus Blakely (39 mpg 23 ppg 13 rpg 3 apg), Marc Pingris (29 mpg 8 ppg 6 rpg 2 apg), Joe DeVance (29 mpg 11 ppg 3 rpg 2 apg), Alex Mallari (28 mpg 10 ppg 3 rpg 3 apg), Mark Barroca (29 mpg 10 ppg 4 rpg 3 apg) and 2x PBA MVP James Yap (25 mpg 11 ppg 4rpg 1 apg). Guys like Justin Melton and PJ Simon are contributing as well, though it appears that they are having some trouble meshing with the rest or excelling in limited minutes (specifically Simon).

KKS Gilas 3.0 (Part 1)

In this three-part series, we want to discuss the 12 men who we believe deserve to be on the final Gilas 3.0 roster headed by coach Tab Baldwin. First off are the 11th and 12th players who we feel should be more of the "utility" kind in terms of being able to contribute in so many ways and not just being typecast into one specific role (re: scorer, defender, rebounder).

Though the 11th and 12th guys don't always get to play or enjoy heavy minutes, we feel that the way the sport is being played nowadays is to make full use of every single man on the roster. This way, scouting reports in short tournaments (such as FIBA's) is thrown out the window because teams are unable to readily prepare for all 12 guys on the court. Against two, three players sure. But having to plan and set up defenses to combat 12 individual styles?

Not sure if even the best coaching minds could solve that one.

So without further ado, here's our pick for Gilas 3.0's 11th and 12th men:

2014 Philippine Cup Finals Reaction

Now it can be told.

This writer purposely and consciously refrained from updating this blog simply because we chose to be more fan than analyst. Though we provided some with our Finals Preview over at SolarSportsDesk.Ph, nothing beats just taking a step back and appreciating the beauty of the game-- specially when your team (Rain or Shine Elastopainters) is playing the PBA's "glamour boys" (San Mig Coffee Mixers).

It's good versus evil. The handsome hardcourt heartthrobs doing battle against the gillage (gilid of the village) goons The prince pitted against the pauper.

Going into the Finals, we weren't as sold on our chances as some other fans were. They were elated because they felt the Elastopainters had a legit shot at their head coach's, Yeng Guiao's, first-ever All Filipino championship after dominating the standings. We weren't sold because opposite Guiao is head coach Tim Cone and his quest to win "number 16."

Out of sync

Is the playing-injured James Yap
hurting/helping his team?
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Should someone make a quick call to the conspiracy theorists behind the whole "only two of the three San Miguel umbrella teams can have winning records per conference" schtick? Because the way things are going, the San Mig Coffee Mixers are bound to be left off the PBA Philippine Cup title hunt.

How else can you explain the Mixers' paltry three wins in ten games predicament despite having a souped-up roster?

Granted, the Mixers were bit by the injury bug with stars Joe DeVance, PJ Simon, Marc Pingris and 2x former PBA Most Valuable Player James Yap all sitting out games early in the conference. But ten games in, with the stars all back, and still a losing record?

Something's amiss.

A Tall Order

Two year contract/ showcase
for Mixers' Sangalang
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

The Philippine Basketball Association's (PBA) 39th season is well underway with all teams having debuted in highly-entertaining games, carrying-over from the last season's success. Already cast as title favorites are the crowd-favorites Barangay Ginebra San Miguel who went from being undersized and being the butt of all "security guard" related jokes to Goliaths of the local pro scene with their towering frontline of Japeth Aguilar JayR Reyes and rookie Greg Slaughter.

Though we only have a game to assess the 2013 PBA Draft's top three picks who all play the big man position, we were more or less given a preview of "things to come."

Greg Slaughter, C, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
36 minutes, 5/9 field goals, 10 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 0 steal, 2 blocks, 1 foul
The number one overall pick is off to a rousing start, looking every inch like the "big man presence" Ginebra has been lacking since Eric Menk fell off the charts due to nagging injuries and veteran acquisition Kerby Raymundo couldn't provide. Truth be told, Slaughter is far from being a polished post player. He's more Zaldy Realubit at the moment than a Dennis Espino. But Ginebra can live with it, given Slaughter's massive 6'11 frame which constantly commands double teams or at the very least-- the help defense to always keep an eye out for any lobs or drop passes which would lead to bunnies. It's going to be hard to convince Slaughter to develop a true post up game, since he'd have to be pitted against guys of equal size to really be pushed to his limits. At the moment, given his nifty touch, Slaughter can easily catch the entry pass (by way of point guard par excellence L.A. Tenorio), face up and shoot over his defenders head. Simple basketball for this guy really until December 25 when he finally meets his rival/ Gilas buddy Junemar Fajardo (or the next conference/s where teams are set to bring in big imports).

2013 PBA Draft Results

The Big Men Cometh
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

We will work on the post analysis in a bit, for now we'll borrow some copy from the InterAKTV website because we're simply too lazy to retype the damn thing.

In our honest opinion, all hell broke loose after the "given" Top 3 Picks.

First Round

1. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel – Greg Slaughter
2. San Mig Coffee Mixers – Ian Sangalang
3. Rain or Shine Elasto Painters – Raymond Almazan
4. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (from Barako Bull) – James Forrester
5. GlobalPort Batang Pier (from Barako Bull via Petron) – Terrence Romeo
6. GlobalPort Batang Pier (from Barako Bull) – RR Garcia
7. GlobalPort Batang Pier – Isaac Holstein
8. Alaska Aces – Ryan Buenafe
9. Rain or Shine Elasto Painters – Alex Nuyles
10. San Mig Coffee Mixers – Justin Chua

KKS Scouting Report: 2013 PBA Draft Favorites (Part 1)

Since we’ve already touched on the 2013 PBA Draft: the first rounders, sleepers and which teams they’re most probably/ ideally/ logically going to play for, it’s high time that we take a step back and review the favorites for who and what they are on the basketball court based from what we’ve observed.

And since we have limited information on all 84 applicants, we’re going to offer a scouting report on the “favorites” or pretty much the ones we’ve seen and followed through the boob tube. Here we break down their Strengths and Weakness while also offering a Ceiling and Basement or the CURRENT, ACTIVE PBA Players that each rookie reminds us of (Ceiling being the potential/ high point and Basement being the low point).

Greg Slaughter, C, 6’11”

Strengths: soft touch, great hands, can shoot free throws and 15-17 feet jumpshot, can finish around the rim finesse or force, knows where to receive the basketball, can set sturdy screens

Weakness ( / needs work):  footwork, is essentially slow and lanky as expected of seven footers, lacks explosion, lacks basic back-to-the-basket post-up game, slow on the pick and roll (more of a pick and pop type)

Ceiling: Slightly taller Asi Taulava with range, if he works on his post game can turn into 7”0 Sonny Thoss

Basement: 7”0 Rob Reyes

KKS 2013 PBA Mock Draft Version 3 FINAL

Jeric Teng: What going HAM in the UAAP Finals
on national TV can do to your PBA Draft stock
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

The first time we did this, there were a lot of top-Peso names on the list that we could easily throw out there in any order and no one would've raised an eyebrow or posted a seven-tweet rant calling for our heads (in case you haven't, feel free to follow us on Twitter through @kilikilishot).

When the second version came out, we had an idea more or less of who are going to apply and where they'd land-- 1st or 2nd round. Thanks to an insider whose identity we've promised to keep under wraps (till maybe he himself makes the sports headlines), high profile names such as those of the Gilas Cadets, Chris Banchero and later on Bobby Ray Parks, Jr. have been omitted from our list.

Now, we present to you our FINAL 2013 PBA Mock Draft-- based on what we've heard, read, researched, know and also, on what the other PBA teams (who haven't sent any feelers yet) need going into the next PBA season. 

#KKS2013PBADraft

With the 2013 PBA Draft just around the corner (November 3), we asked some of our friends over at @kilikilishot on Twitter who they think will be drafted in the first round (10 draftees in total).

For everyone's convenience, the draft order is as follows:

1. Ginebra 2. San Mig Coffee 3. Rain or Shine 4. Barako Bull 5. Barako Bull 6. Barako Bull 7. Global Port 8. Alaska 9. Rain or Shine 10. San Mig Coffee

Here are our friends thoughts on the Top 10: