I HAD the privilege of guesting alongside veteran sports journalists Rick Olivares and Rico Navarro, Philippine Superliga Chairman and Athletics Association President Dr. Philip Ella Juico and De La Salle Green Archers Head Coach Derrick Pumaren in Benny Benitez’s “Bull by the Horn” Pinoyliga.com podcast last Saturday.
The subject was coffee table conversation for any die-hard alumnus and for sports journalists like yours truly. Using corporate language, what are the key performance indicators for coaches in search for the next big talent to bring their basketball program to the crescendo, brink and on the verge of honor and glory for the school.
The character and personality of the kid are tops among a laundry list of things you look for in a recruit. If the recruit, early in his career, is already a prima donna, has a sense of entitlement, then, no matter how good he is, no matter how athletic he is, nobody would want to work with him. The kid may just disrupt cohesion and team chemistry. Those are the foremost things Coach Derrick checks with the student athlete.
The recruit needs to fit in the system or there must have complete buy-in by the student athlete of the system the coach intends to implement. I wish all recruits would have Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant’s mentality of never being satisfied—working hard and bringing something new into their game year in and year out.
We were all one and the same that La Salle and University of the Philippines were the big winners of the recruitment wars also known as the arms race. First to topple Ateneo wins. La Salle successfully bagged 6-foot-8 athletic big Kevin Quiambao and UP welcomed to its fold Carl Tamayo, Gerry Abadiano and RC Calimag.
Are both schools done? We don’t know and that we’ll see in the next few days and weeks.
UP, as of this writing and on paper, is not just loaded with talent, but overflowing. If I’m Coach Bo Perasol, how do I talk to these kids into playing cohesively with chemistry hopefully gelling and peaking at the right time. Can their scorers produce without the ball in their hands? Can their stars score without the ball? Will there be egos that need to be checked at the door in order to win the school’s first championship since 1986?
La Salle will enter Season 83 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines as arguably having the biggest lineup in all of Philippine collegiate basketball. You have their foreign student athlete Ndiaye at 6-foot-11, then Brandon Bates, Michael Philips and Benjamin Philips all at 6-foot-8. And you have Balti Baltazar at 6-foot-7 and Tyrus Hill, who may be a converted small forward at 6-foot-6, so that’s six young guys who are 6-foot-5 and taller.
Coach Derrick indicated on the program that he’ll be giving a lot of premium and priority to rebounding this coming season. You can’t score without the ball, right?
Unfortunately, I’m only familiar with the National University kids, but the rest of the 2020 recruiting class are made up of young guys who can do it all, scorers and facilitators who can produce buckets if necessary.
Scouting reports on these kids will mean nothing unless they work hard on their games and bring something new to their repertoire.