What's really ailing Barangay Ginebra?

The Philippine Basketball Association’s most popular ballclub underwent another major facelift before the Commissioner’s Cup, with Renato Agustin, a former all-time great as a player, given another chance to redeem himself with a second head coaching duty.

With Jeffrey Cariaso given his walking papers after two underachieving conferences, pundits declared that the Gin Kings will be back to their run-and-gun style of play, getting rid of Cariaso’s Triangle Offense philosophy that brought success to his mentor, Tim Cone.

Cariaso steered the Gin Kings to a sixth place finish in last season’s Governors’ Cup and to fifth place in the Philippine Cup won by San Miguel Beer.

Certainly, those finishes were crap considering that the Kings are loaded on all fronts.

It seemed that Cariaso wasn’t able to get the best out of his players, who were reported to be so unhappy with the way he was running things that coach and players didn’t see eye to eye during Cariaso’s last few months calling the shots.

A team insider told Arab News that 7-foot center Greg Slaughter was one of the most dissatisfied with the way Cariaso ran things, and that LA Tenorio and Mark Caguioa felt that their effectiveness was being hampered by the Triangle.

So, after two conferences, management let Cariaso go, and the former slasher who earned the nickname ‘The Jet’ while he was playing has found his way back to the team that broke him in the league, Alaska.

You cannot blame the guy for trying. At least he did. And he did so with full determination.

Things just didn’t work out, but it is not the end of the road for Cariaso, who was also a lightly-regarded player when he came in but earned Rookie of the Year honors and will go down in league history as one of its finest players ever.

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Ginebra now has all the tools to dominate this tournament with the arrival of Michael Dunigan, the former Air21 import who terrorized the field two seasons ago because of his intimidating defensive presence and suave scoring skills.

Well, that’s what we all thought.

That’s actually what the entire field thought.

After two games, the Gin Kings and Agustin have a 0-2 card, with squads of lesser value on paper like Meralco leading the pack with a 3-0 record.

In fact, it was Meralco that was first to deal the Kings a defeat, doing it on opening day using an energetic import and a local roster that certainly doesn’t look like a powerhouse on paper.

Ginebra is the powerhouse in this conference, no doubt. A billing the Kings share with reigning Philippine Cup champion and sister team San Miguel Beer.

But with a 0-2 start, things are certainly not looking well this early for Agustin.

The other Ginebra loss came at the hands of another ‘weak’ team in Barako Bull, which is also undefeated at presstime after two games by playing as a team to make up for what it lacks in talent.

Ginebra has all the talent at its disposal, with guards like Jay-Jay Helterbrand, Tenorio, Josh Urbiztondo and Caguioa. So loaded is Ginebra in this position that it put a promising talent in James Forrester on the reserve list.

At center, Slaughter is there along with Billy Mamaril and very recently, Dorian Pena, who was acquired from Barako Bull in a trade that involved San Miguel.

Aguilar is at the forward spot together with Joseph Yeo, Chris Ellis, Mac Baracael and Dylan Ababou.

All the ingredients are there. It’s just a matter of coming up with the right mix, and Agustin better do so in a hurry.

So what’s ailing Barangay Ginebra?

The product itself is a best seller, but the right concoction as far is this team is concerned is far from being discovered.