Tigers, nangangapa pa

Tila napakarami ang nangyari sa Coca-Cola Tigers sa loob lamang ng isang taon. Dalawang beses silang nagpalit ng coach, nawalan sila ng mga lider, naka-kuha ng magagaling na baguhan sa draft, nakipagpalit para sa ilang beterano, at ngayo'y naghahanap ng pagkakaisa.

"Noong si Coach Eric (Altami-rano) ang humawak sa amin, di siya nabigyan ng panahon for us to regroup," paliwanag ng point guard na si Johnny Abarrientos. "Tapos, nagkaroon ng shuffle. Now, we're adjusting again to the system of Coach Binky. Then there was a draft, so there were new players.

Then there were trades, so there were new players again. And a new coaching staff. So, back to zero kami ngayon, square one."

Sa isang practice game laban sa Purefoods Chunkee Giants, maagang nalamangan ang Ti-gers, at hindi na nakahabol. Baga-mat maganda rin ang ipinakita ng dalawang rookie nilang sina De-nok Miranda at Jondan Salvador, napakarami nilang malapitang mintis, at halos di magkasundo sa pasahan.

"We're still in the process of trying to rebuild, to get the players to believe that things could still happen," pag-amin ng bagong head coach na si Binky Favis. "I know it's not going to be easy; the players know that. At least it's good that the players are working hard in practice, so I think we'll get there sooner than later."

Bagamat hindi gaanong katangkaran ang Tigers, solid pa rin ang frontcourt nila, na kinabibila-ngan nila Billy Mamaril, Poch Jui-nio, Rafi Reavis and Ali Peek. Subalit, sa dami ng manlalarong hindi pa nagtatagal sa koponan, tulad nila Gerard Francisco, Peek, Miranda, Salvador, Mamaril, John Arigo at Carlo Sharma, mahirap pag-isahin ang lahat, lalo na ha-bang wala pang import.

"Hindi namin talaga alam ang style ni coach Binky ngayon," dagdag ni Abarrientos."When he was the assistant of Coach Chot (Reyes), he would give us things on the defensive side. Now, he's the head coach, we have to adjust to him on both the defensive and offensive side.

What he did, so we won't be confused, is he brought us back to the basics. Kung saan kami sanay, sa triangle, doon niya dinadala yung flow ng sistema."

Mula nang mawala si Rudy Hatfield at Jeff Cariaso, wala pang tumatayong lider ng Tigers, na siyang mamumuno sa katapusan ng laro.

"We're having a hard time get-ting acquainted with the screening game again," sabi ni Favis, na isang assistant sa Ginebra bago hinirang na head coach ng Coca-Cola. "That's one thing that I'm trying to inject into this team.

Again, they're a lot better now than when we started, but we're still a long way off."

"Isa pang bagay na tutoo is that the Tigers are out of shape," paglalahad ni Abarrientos."We need to work harder, para pagsi-mula ng liga, we'll be ready."

"We just want to be the best that we could possibly be," pahabol ni Favis. "We just want to be competitive; we just want to keep improving every day.

Whether that will mean winning is another thing. But I'm pretty sure these guys know what it takes, anyway."