LOOKING GOOD
Coach Norman Black had less than two months to prepare his new squad – Meralco – for the upcoming 40th season of the PBA.
Boasting a very decorated resume, top brass hoped the American bench tactician can take his winning pedigree to the ballclub and help the struggling Bolts.
It didn’t take long before the wins followed. In their short time together, Black and Meralco have racked up an unbeaten six-game streak in the preseason, with their last two coming from a win against Ginebra and a tie with San Miguel Beer.
However, Black doesn’t want to look at the preseason wins as an early victory for his new team.
“It’s an exhibition game. It’s a scrimmage game. We’re just trying to get better every game,” he said.
It doesn’t hurt that Gilas mainstays Gary David and Jared Dillinger have just joined the squad last Friday, and Black is still looking forward for the return of Rey Guevarra from the FIBA 3×3 World Tour in Japan.
“Neither one of them really looked in great shape and they weren’t really sharp. But once we get them back to the groove of things, we should move a lot better,” Black said.
In spite of the absences in his squad, the multi-titled coach still got significant contributions from John Wilson, Sean Anthony, and Reynel Hugnatan in the offseason which helped them nab the Ws. These guys, as what coach Norman said, will make a difference for the Bolts come gametime.
He said, “They are parts of the team. These are the guys who I have to depend on this year. They’re my main players, my rotation players, so I need them to play good basketball. They will be key players for me this year.”
Taking a page out of his past jobs in the collegiate and professional levels, Black knows that it’s still too early to tell if Meralco can make that jump and claim a place among the league’s elite.
“I’ve only been with the team for a month. I just joined them when I came back from Spain, and we’re a work in progress. But we played six preseason games and we haven’t lost one yet. We’ll see how everything goes,” he said. (RL)
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