Converge saw the crushing end of its PBA Commissioner’s Cup campaign on Saturday night but the young crew isn’t heading to an early vacation.
Though it is the Holiday season, head coach Aldin Ayo said that the FiberXers will prepare for the season-ending Governors’ Cup right after a week-long break.
“With the approval of the management, I think we’re just going to have a one-week break,” he said moments after their 120-107 quarterfinal ouster versus San Miguel. “After that, we’re going to start preparing for the Governors’ Cup.”
It sure is a quick respite but the young mentor explained that the early buildup is part of their objective to turn Converge into a fundamentally sound unit, which he believes is something that his charges have yet to become.
Though the FiberXers strung together seven wins in a row during the elimination round, Ayo said that their level of play was actually deteriorating then, leaving a lot to be desired on his part in terms of the squad grasping the system fully.
And a part of which, he believes, was the players’ doubt on whether his philosophy and scheme of things and whatnot are effective.
“For me, ang naging problema rito, I don’t know kung bakit saan ako pumunta–coaching staff, kahit saan kami pumunta, ‘yung unang tournament namin or unang season, may mga players na at the start, parang hindi naniniwala.
“So during the preparations, some of the players, hindi pa nagba-buy in dun sa sistema namin until we kept on winning dun sa seven straight wins. Dun sila naniniwala e,” elaborated the former cager turned shot-caller.
“The problem was … even though we were winning, the level of our play was deteriorating. Dun natin nakita na kahit nananalo, wala pa e. Hindi pa rin na-aabsorb ang sistema, hindi pa na-aabsorb ‘yung mga gusto naming ipagawa,” he continued.
So the advanced preparations, Ayo hopes, would help Converge a great deal in forming the kind of habits they would want to see from every FiberXer.
“‘Yung goal lang naman kasi namin, maging fundamentally sound, na pumunta roon sa basic. Kasi we know that come playoffs, ‘yun ang sasandalan e. ‘Yung basic, ‘yung fundamentals,” said the former collegiate coach.
“These players, dun sa preparation, they did not believe in that. Until ‘yun na nga, medyo okay na, ‘Ganito pala ‘to’; ‘Ganito pala’; ‘Kailangan palang gawin ‘yun’. Dun sila naniwala. The thing is, you just can’t turn it on,” he added.
“Dapat meron dun sa habit na dapat ma-imbibe and mailagay sa sistema nila na umabot sa point na ginagawa nila ‘yun unconsciously kasi habit na nila. ‘Yun ang wala pa. That’s why we’re going to prepare early for Governors’ Cup.”
Having an import early is surely a big factor for any ball club but Ayo and the coaches are set to start the gear-up with the locals first and foremost.
“We’ll start working with the locals. And we’ve got good players here. ‘Yung mga locals, magagaling. They’re talented. pero sisiguraduhin namin na ‘yung talent nila, ‘yung skills nila, mailagay dun sa sistema namin,” he said.
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