Norman Black
INTERVIEW: JASMINE PAYO
PHOTO: RYAN ONG
October 9, 2009 | 1848 views
PROPS TO UE
Coach Lawrence (Chongson) did a great job. Nobody really expected much on his first year in the UAAP. A lot of people have comments because his style is a little different from the others. But to be a coach doesn't mean you have to follow a particular style, it's about getting your players to play well. It's more about motivating your guys. I believe he has a system and the players followed it. I think we defended them well in Game 3. It was something we've done the entire year, but did not do in Game 2.
SENIOR MOMENTS
This is really sweet for me. When you look back at my stay in Ateneo, everything pretty much started with the three guys who are graduating this year—Rabeh Al Hussaini, Nonoy Baclao and Jai Reyes. They're the three guys who've been with me since they've been in college. The entire focus is to dedicate the championship to them so they can at least finish their college career happily. I'm really proud of these guys, If there's ever been a time that I really want to win it for the players, it's right now.
BUMPING HEADS WITH RABEH
Let's face it, Rabeh and I have gone through a lot. We've bumped heads. We've stayed on the court hours after every practice working out one on one for five years now. We've bumped heads, but we've been able to make it. We've been able to work together and become successful.
I always talk to Rabeh more about his attitude than his basketball skills. He has the skills, there's no question about that and he likes to work hard. He does not mind putting in the extra hours to make himself better, which is going to make him a better player later on in his career. I just want him to stay cool-headed, not to get upset all the time on the court and retaliate on the players when they hit him, things like that, and just stay focused on what he's doing. I'm convinced he's going to be a very good PBA player one day because he has the skills and he's willing to work for it. As long as he stays cool, he'll be okay.
ON NOY AND JAI
I also remember back when I went to Bacolod for the Unigames and I saw Noy Baclao play for the first time in West Negros. And first thing I said was boy, I have to get this guy. I had to go back to Bacolod three times to talk to the owner of West Negros to convince him to let us have him. And seeing him go from the province to the big city and become a star, I'm really proud of him.
Same thing with Jai. We bumped heads a lot too. But in the end he follows me, in the end he believes in me and I'm so happy he's able to win back-to-back championships.
LOOKING AHEAD
Next year is a little bit of a question mark. I'm losing Rabeh, Noy, and Jai. We probably won't lose as much as five, but of course we'll lose talent and experience. But we have guys coming up like Justin Chua and Nico Salva. My feeling is next year they'll be much, much better players than they are right now. These guys really have work ethic, they really get in there, they're looking to improve their game between now and next year. We also have some guys on Team B who'll be joining us next year. But I don't want to be making any predictions right now. We'll just try to develop our younger players during the course of the off-season. We'll play a lot of tournaments to give them some playing time and experience, and we'll see what happens next year.
Related articles:
Interview with Rabeh Al-Hussaini
Scenes at the UAAP Finals Game 3
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Tags : basketball, college
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