2015-16 PBA Season Preview: Blackwater Elite
Blackwater head coach Leo Isaac admits that his focus now more than anything is trying to get the Elite as competitive as possible with the new season just days away.
To put Blackwater’s campaign last season into perspective, the Elite won only four out of their 29 games in their maiden PBA season while the fellow expansion team Mahindra Enforcers (formerly Kia Carnival) had four victories in one conference alone.
“Wala naman [akong expectations]. I’m just more concerned on our competitiveness against the other PBA teams,” said Isaac shortly after his team took a 97-87 loss to title contender Rain or Shine in a tuneup game.
“Right now talo kami but it’s okay. Gusto ko lang iparating sa mga players ko tomorrow sa practice, sa viewing namin kung anong kailangan i-improve, ano yung kailangan naming iwasan kasi mayroong talent, mayroong potential kailangan lang ma-hit namin yung tamang approach sa game para makarating kami doon sa gusto naming puntahan.”
Isaac knows what his team needs to be better at, and there’s a lot. The Elite were exposed of their weaknesses just in the third quarter of their loss to the Elasto Painters.
Blackwater opened the second half on an 8-0 run to take a one-point lead but then were outscored 24-7 in the last six minutes of the third period.
“We need to improve in a lot of departments. There were some instances na talagang we were there competing against Rain or Shine and there were also instances where we really need to correct and improve our individual and team attitude towards the game,” Isaac cited.
Raring to put its woeful season, which included a winless Philippine Cup outing, behind, the Elite underwent a major revamp to their line up and also spent some time abroad as part of their training.
Blackwater traded away one of the league’s best assist man in Brian Heruela and replaced him with veteran playmaker Mike Cortez, who is just one of the team’s five guards.
The Elite also hauled four rookies led by San Beda’s Art dela Cruz in the Rookie Draft.
“We are a lot younger. Players who are wanting to have a spot in the PBA nandito. Mga unheralded players. Keith Agovida, Jason Melano mga nasa fourth or fifth round na yata namin nakuha and they want to prove themselves in the PBA and we’re trying to mold them into good players in the PBA.”
Keith Agovida may not be as popular as other college standouts but he played a pivotal role in Arellano University’s finals run in the NCAA last season while Jason Melano was a key contributor for Cagayan Valley in the PBA D-League.
Blackwater also drafted former De La Salle guard Almond Vosotros.
The Elite are hoping that their new recruits and their key returnees like Reil Cervantes, Bam Gamalinda and Gilbert Bulawan will be able to come together and lead the team’s way out of the rut.
“Definitely we would want to do a lot better than the performance we had last season and that would be winning more games and it would take a lot of discipline, a lot of hard work to accomplish that,” said Isaac.
“Right now, second tuneup namin against a PBA team and nakikita namin ano yung mga kailangan naming i-improve and I’m not concerned about the outcome of this tune-up game. I’m more concerned on how we are matching up against the other PBA players and the other teams.”
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