Sky is the limit for Alaska

After going through the gauntlet (needing to beat the three most dangerous teams in the PBA in Barangay Ginebra, Talk n Text and San Miguel Beer) to eventually win the 2010 Philippine Basketball Association Fiesta Conference championship things are looking up for the Alaska Aces.

They have an intact lineup that narrowly missed winning PBA All-Filipino titles the past two seasons of the PBA and the team is steadily improving with their players getting more and more familiar with the triangle offense.

Cyrus Baguio, dubbed by many as the final piece to the championship puzzle, will be more familiar with the Alaska triangle offense and is expected to be more effective than ever before.

Cyrus is just scratching the surface of his potential, said Alaska coach Tim Cone. He is still not doing the little things like using a screen well. He is getting by on sheer athleticism. The triangle offense is built for him and the sky is the limit as to how good he can become.

The Alaska mentor likens Baguio to another Alaska legend in Johnny Abarrientos. Both are quiet and unassuming but deadly and virtually unstoppable on the court.

Though Coach Tim says the Alaska victory in the Fiesta Conference was due to a combination of many things.

The key to the series was the maturation of Joe (Devance) and LA (Tenorio), said coach Tim. Joe is actually our leading local scorer. His contributions are often underestimated. He certainly does not get enough credit.

Devance finally lived up to his potential after being drafted first overall by the Welcoat Paintmasters three years ago. The following year he was acquired by Alaska in a draft day trade for Eddie Laure and the rights to Sol Mercado.

Devance was an unstoppable force on offense in the series against San Miguel. He could post up inside the paint or drain the outside jumper. He used his speed to outsprint his defender downcourt and scored many easy transition baskets as the recipient of outlet passes. On occasion Devance was also the primary ballhandler.

Tenorio fully stepped into his role as the vocal facilitator of the Alaska offense. Curiously, coach Tim says Tenorio is more like Jojo Lastimosa. Whereas Baguio was stoic Tenorio was vocal, demonstrative and always asserted his presence in the team. Like Lastimosa before him Tenorio also demanded the best from the rest of his teammates.

Tenorio orchestrated the Alaska offense, finding the open player to make the shot or when the situation demanded making the open outside shot attempt or bringing the ball inside himself.

More bad news for the opposition, as big and dominant as Alaska was in the Fiesta Conference with import Diamon Simpson, they will be even bigger and more dominant this coming season with 6 feet 9 inches Sam Eman likely to get more minutes.

Coach Tim says he does not see Eman as strictly a backup to Sonny Thoss. The Alaska mentor wants to field Eman, Thoss and Devance on the floor at the same time to form an overwhelming triple tower combination.

Unheralded Tony Dela Cruz, who missed the last game due sore eyes, is the Alaska team captain who will be the leader of the squad on and off the court.

Rather than being vocal Dela Cruz likes to lead by example as he does everything required by the team to win from shadowing the highest scorer of the opposing team, to diving for loose balls, to grabbing rebounds, boxing out and any other dirty job needed to be done.

Mark Borboran and Larry Fonacier, usually fielded together as the Alaska second unit backcourt, have also cemented their roles. Borboran comes in for Dela Cruz and takes on the job of primary defender. He can also hit the open jumper that is always created by good spacing and good passing.

Fonacier comes in for Tenorio at the point and not only orchestrates on offense but is also deadly from three-point distance.

In the meantime coach Tim has a few more days to just savor his victory.

We won 12 titles before but this 13th PBA title is the sweetest because it was so hard to win, said coach Tim. We had to scramble from the start. Then we had to beat Ginebra. Then it was Talk n Text in seven games. Then San Miguel for the championship. This is so special considering those great teams, those great coaches. It is so sweet to win.

The Alaska Aces will be among the top seeds in the coming PBA Philippine Conference. But this is something that coach Tim would probably rather not think about yet. After all he only has a few more days of vacation left to enjoy.

Sunday it will be back to the salt mines for the Alaska head coach and his staff when they go to the PBA Annual Draft.