Magnolia coach Chito Victolero is positive that William Navarro will soon get the hang of playing within his new reality, being with a perennial contender.
And he hopes that the highly-touted forward catches up by playoff time, with the Hotshots aiming for a deep run in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup.
“Hopefully when the playoffs start, medyo maganda na ‘yung tatakbuhin ng chemistry with William,” the champion bench tactician said.
Magnolia played its first game with the 28-year-old on Sunday when they fought Ginebra in another Manila Clasico affair at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Of course, much of the attention in this rivalry matchup was on Navarro, who was traded to the Hotshots just last Tuesday in exchange for two-time BPC Calvin Abueva and Jerrick Balanza, along with a future second-round pick.
It wasn’t, however, a case of plug-and-play for the former Gilas Pilipinas winger. He only had five points on six shots, four rebounds, and an assist against three turnovers in the 16 minutes and 44 seconds he saw action on the floor.
Still, it was understandable.
According to Victolero, Navarro only had three practices with his new team before the match, and that is too short a time for anybody to fully grasp a team’s scheme of things.
“It will be a process,” he said. “Wala pang jell talaga. ‘Yung chemistry, medyo malayo pa. But we expect naman na mag-aadjust talaga siya.”
Now it’s back to the drawing board for the Ateneo product and Magnolia, with one of their goals set on fine-tuning the jelling.
“Tatlong practice lang siya sa amin so siguro mas magiging maganda naman ‘yan after a few days,” said Victolero.
And along with it is a recalibration of sorts to make sure that they execute the best they can, especially in crunch time — something that his charges failed to do after coughing up a 71-61 fourth-quarter lead against the Barangay.
“They were executing very well, ‘yung Ginebra, down the stretch, in the last three minutes of the game. And we had some mistakes, bad decisions nung huli,” said Victolero as they committed three turnovers in the final 4:21.
“So I think we need to strengthen ‘yung halfcourt and execution namin defensively and offensively.”
#WATCH: William Navarro says he’s still adjusting to the Magnolia system but remains eager to learn and improve 🏀
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times#PBA2025 pic.twitter.com/AGU3LRvqMx
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) June 1, 2025
