It’s basically a battle for fifth place.
That’s how NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao sees the field for the next PBA season, especially with how the top teams like Ginebra, San Miguel, Magnolia, and TNT have loaded up during what truly has been a busy offseason.
“Gusto ng mga PBA fans, maganda mga laban, pare-parehas ‘yang lakas ng mga teams. Labanan talaga, pagalingan talaga. Kaya lang nga, tingin ko merong mga teams talaga na sobrang lakas na,” he told The Chasedown.
“Nung nakita ko ‘yung mga lineup na ‘yan, feeling ko pinaglalabanan na lang dito fifth place eh. Dati sinasabi natin ‘pag may isang malakas na team, o, second place na lang pinaglalabanan. Alam na natin sino magcha-champion,” he continued.
“Pero ngayon, ang tingin ko, fifth place na lang ang pinaglalabanan.”
The past months have seen tremendous shake-ups within the aforementioned teams. Things kicked off last January when the erstwhile reigning five-time Philippine Cup champs Beermen made a trade to acquire CJ Perez from Terrafirma.
The following month then saw the return of Chot Reyes at the helm of the Tropang Giga. He now has the task of mentoring a squad whose first five features some of the past and present Gilas Pilipinas cagers.
Days after that coaching comeback, the Hotshots became the talk of the town when they entered a deal with Phoenix Super LPG to land Calvin Abueva, who’s coming off a BPC-worthy run in the Clark bubble last season.
And finally, the Gin Kings got Christian Standhardinger from a straight-up swap with NorthPort just last week. The Gin Kings bow bolster their bid of repeating as all-Filipino champs after ruling the bubble play at the expense of TNT.
While Guiao acknowledged that some of the other ball clubs have also done their part to improve like the Fuel Masters (Vic Manuel and Chris Banchero) and Meralco (Mac Belo), it’s just tough to take down those four teams.
“Although of course lumakas din ‘yung Phoenix, lumakas din Meralco, lumakas din ‘yung Alaska, I hope lalakas din kami, ‘no? Ang hirap nang buwagin nung apat na team na ‘yun dahil sobrang lakas na,” he offered.
Guiao has many questions about how to beat those teams, given that those top squads, he said, also feature some of the top players today that have also played for Gilas.
Himself a former national team mentor, the 61-year-old mentioned that some of the players he has coached during his time in Gilas from late 2018 to the 2019 FIBA World Cup are already with those four powerhouses.
“Kung titignan mo lang ‘yung Ginebra for example, eh kalahati na ng Gilas team ko ‘yun eh,” said Guiao.
“Andun na si Christian, andun na si Stanley [Pringle], andun na si Japeth [Aguilar], nandun na si LA [Tenorio], andun na si Scottie [Thompson]. Eh Gilas team yun eh. Gilas team ko ‘yun, nagamit ko yun sa window tsaka ‘yung iba nagamit ko sa World Cup. Imagine that kind of firepower that you have. You cannot out-talent that team. And you cannot out-coach Tim Cone. So papano mo pa tatalunin?
“Puntahan mo yung San Miguel, magbabalik na si June Mar [Fajardo]–Gilas. Si Arwind [Santos] nag-Gilas din sakin. Si Marcio Lassiter nag-Gilas din sakin. Nilagay mo pa si CJ Perez, Gilas player ko din yun. Andun pa si [Alex] Cabagnot, nag-Gilas din yan sa akin. Tapos andun pa si [Chris] Ross. Papano mo bubuwagin ‘yang team na yan? Ang lakas na nung dalawa. Pasok ngayon si Talk N Text, nawala pa nga si Ray Parks diyan, Gilas si Poy [Erram], Gilas si Troy Rosario, nag-Gilas si [Roger] Pogoy, Gilas din si Jayson Castro.
“Tapos, makukuha pa nila ‘yung number four pick, ‘di ba,” continued Guiao, referring to the recent three-team trade that saw his Road Warriors send the no.4 pick for Sunday’s Rookie Draft to the Tropang Giga via Blackwater. “Bagsak tayo ngayon sa Magnolia. Nag-Gilas si Ian [Sangalang], andyan na si Calvin Abueva. Andyan si Paul Lee, Gilas din. Nag-Gilas din sa akin si Barroca. So nandyan sa Top Four teams na yan ang ating lahat ng Gilas pool … All the top players are in the top four teams.”
Guiao said that the other teams can consider themselves lucky if they have even one player from Gilas. NLEX, for example, has Kiefer Ravena and Kevin Alas, while the Fuel Masters have Matthew Wright and Justin Chua.
“‘Yung mga teams na matitira, maswerte ka kung meron kang isang naglaro sa Gilas,” he said. “Kami may isa, Meralco may isa, siguro ewan ko kung masasabi mong Gilas si Raul Soyud kasi nag-practice siya ng dalawang linggo sa Gilas, si Kevin Alas siguro previously nakalaro ng konti sa Gilas.
“With the other teams, they just have to work with what they have. Diba. Agrabyado ka na doon sa top four teams na yun. Yung pool nasa kanila na e. So what do you do, ‘di ba?”
For the seven-time champion coach, it also doesn’t help that those top teams not only have the top players but are also being mentored by some of the best and the brightest minds in the local basketball scene.
“All the top players are in the top four teams. And they have the top coaches. So anong gagawin mo? You cannot out-coach them. You cannot out-talent them.
“How do you beat them? ‘Di ba? You say you’re going to outwork them. Everybody, all the teams have been working hard. You cannot even say that you’re going to outwork one team. There is no team that is not working hard. All teams are working hard. It’s only a matter of the pieces. It’s the pieces and probably a little bit of the coaching,” he bared.
Guiao, who has been coaching for over three decades now that has seen him cop two Coach of the Year titles, admitted that it is just too tough to spot any possible weakness and whatnot on those squads at this point.
“Tinitignan mo yan from a coaching point of view e. Naghahanap ka ng butas, naghahanap ka ng weakness, naghahanap ka ng advantage. Wala kang mahanap na butas. Wala kang mahanap na weakness. How do you beat them? Are you going to say I’m gonna out-coach Norman Black or I’m going to out-coach Tim Cone or I’m going to out-coach Leo Austria? Ang hirap. ‘Di mo ma-out-coach yung mga yun dahil sobrang beterano na rin yung mga yun. Are you going to say mas maganda sistema namin? Eh proven ‘yung sistema nila eh,” he said.
“How can you beat them, ‘di ba?”
Asked how this kind of field would affect the PBA as a whole, Guiao believes that the fans will continue to watch the league no matter what. But it is their responsibility to put out the best possible product they can offer.
“Alam mo, itong mga PBA fans, manonood pa rin sila eh. Andyan pa rin sila in the first place. Saan ka pupunta? ‘Di ba? Saan ka pupunta? Ano panonoorin mo? Of course may NBA diyan, ewan ko kung buhay pa yung MPBL, kung itutuloy nila, of course ngayon meron silang Finals, but masyadong mahal ng mga Pilipino ang basketball eh. Manonood pa rin sila.
“Kaya it’s really up to us to give them the best product. Ibigay mo yung best product sa mga tao. Hindi yung dahil sa wala silang magagawa, magtiis kayo rito,” he lamented.
