Ginebra Plays The Blame Game

Ginebra Plays The Blame Game
Tuesday, April 17, 2012


Could the Barangay Ginebra Kings really have won their epic semifinals
duel with the mighty BMeg Llamados had they chosen to keep Chris
Alexander instead of the now “butt-of-all-chokes/jokes” Jackson Vroman?

Would they have advanced to the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals had Mark
Caguioa not suffered the nasty eye socket injury he did (also at the
hands of BMeg but in an earlier showdown)?


While the ball bounces differently, this writer answers both queries with a resounding NO.

Chris Alexander is a fighter, he walks it, he talks it—and lately, he’s
been tweeting about it like an obsessed Justin Bieber fangirl. But the
Alexander that came back to Manila wasn’t the dominant 25-20 beast that
led the Kings to a title romp a few years ago. This was a guy who was
content with being a presence defensively, grabbing rebounds and
scoring only when asked for acceptable yet subpar averages of 14 points
and 20 boards a game.

If you were Kings brass (led by the KKS’ Vince McMahon of the PBA), and
you saw that a FIBA star by the name of Jackson Vroman was ready and
available—wouldn’t you take the bait?

The Kings did, and Vroman was just as good as advertised. He was vocal,
energetic and played like a 6”10 version of Rudy Hatfield. The concern
wasn’t more about his game, but how another “energy guy” could possible
mix with a team that already boasts of scrappy forwards and centers
(Rudy Hatfield, Billy Mamraril, Enrico Villanueva and Willie Wilson).

Was it the early injury suffered in practice that led to Vroman being
forced to wear a face mask that altered his game? Was he playing on
cruise control? Was he looking forward to finishing out his contract
and moving to another league? All of these questions were raised the
minute the playoffs started. Vroman’s production dropped drastically,
and even his approach to the game was laughable at best. The same way
you’d see guys like Willie Miller and Ranidel de Ocampo (yes, KKS loves
those two, but we spare no one around here specially if they’re not
playing up to par) not giving their all on the court.

Could Alexander have played a bigger role against BMeg? Yes. He’d at
least fight for rebounds and keep runaway Best Import awardee Denzel
Bowles in check. Scoring wise, well, it remains to be seen if he could
ever regain that old form of his (he’s now with the AirAsia Philippine
Patriots in the ABL) . That, plus Alexander has always been decent from
the free throw line.

Then there’s the injury to Caguioa.

Had the Kings brass not been so trigger-happy to rebuild (half-assedly
though), they could’ve held on to Ronald Tubid and at the very least,
JC Intal. The Tubid trade brought in rookie Dylan Ababou which is the
best value you could get on the table. The Intal trade which brought
veteran Kerby Raymundo?

Well, not so much.

Coach Siot Tangquincen never really bothered to better integrate
Raymundo in the Kings’ scheme of things. Opting instead to continue
with his preferred 3-guard, uptempo line-up that reduces skilled bigs
to reboudners and putback players. The only time they really went to a
big in the half-set was when Eric Menk was around and Jong Uichico
called the shots (or at least had a say in things). Raymundo could’ve
opened up the iso-heavy Knigs offense by either playing down low on the
weak side (opposite Vroman) or at the high post to look for cutters.

Sadly, it just never materialized.

Had the Kings opted to keep Intal, they could've had a taller rotation
with Cortez-Intal-Ababou-Canaleta-Vroman to do counter BMeg's best five
of Simon-Yap-Pingris-DeVance-Bowles.

Also, Coach Siot ridiculously counted on JJ Helterbrand to come back
from injury and pick up the slack left by his partner Caguioa instead
of dusting off John Wilson who is arguably the team’s best perimeter
defender at this point (Hatfield and Wilson D up best in the paint, not
chasing around speedy forwards). In case you weren’t able to watch
Wilson play in college—the guy is a straight up, knockdown shooter
rivaled only by Jimbo Aquino (who he beat for NCAA MVP mind you).

So in the end, what this writer is saying is, the Kings couldn’t have
won over BMeg even if they kept Alexander or had a healthy Caguioa.

Why?

Because they would’ve still been terribly out-coached.

You do the math.

Source: KKS

Malaking bagay din ung pagkakawala ni mc47..kung andun cguro sya bka nanalo tayo

betterhalf wrote:Malaking bagay din ung pagkakawala ni mc47..kung andun cguro sya bka nanalo tayo

correct ka jan mod better... kaya nyang basagin yung depensa ng mga biik...