Vanguardia hopes Phoenix’s youth will translate to better defense

MANILA, Philippines — While youth is usually correlated to inexperience, Phoenix Fuel Masers head coach Ariel Vanguardia hopes his team’s fledging state will lead to more opportunities — especially on the defensive end.

“Now that we’re younger, I think we can press some more and deny passing lanes,” he said, noting that they might employ a faster pace and a tighter defense on the hardwood.

“We'll see a lot of small ball, we could play JC Intal at the four,” he added.

Vanguardia, a champion coach in the Asean Basketball League, took over the reins from Koy Banal for Phoenix. And now that he has the cogs, what he now needs is to put them the machine to the test, hoping to turn a 3-8 record into something much more palatable.

In the PBA Draft, the Fuel Masters snagged National University guards Gelo Alolino and Jeoff Javillonar, and Gilas cadet Matthew Wright, who Vanguardia mentored and won a title with during their time with the Westports Malaysia Dragons.

“I hope he’s the right choice,” the coach said of Wright. “He’s an unknown. I had to prove to management to pick him early because they wanted (Arnold) Van Opstal. But I told them Matthew is the only Filipino aside from (Stanley) Pringle who played in Europe that’s in the PBA right now.”

“They all practiced with us. They're familiar with the dribble drive and that's one edge for them,” he said of the cagers out of NU. “They fit very well into the system and all of them are very good defensive players.”

Vanguardia and the Fuel Masters will get to break in his crew and his tactical mettle in the PBA against the Blackwater Elite — who snared this year’s best amateur talents — this afternoon at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum for the PBA’s second play date.??

The Elite-Fuel Master tussle will be followed by a clash between Rain or Shine and TNT.