With the retirement of Danny Ildefonso will now posed a serious blow to the Meralco Bolts. he may not be as explosive as when he was still with the San Miguel Beermen, but Ildefonso gives the team an outstanding pick and roll finisher and almost 10 minutes of quality time.
With the veteran expected to call it quits, the Bolts has to find a solution to its center position. Unless they managed to get one of the top two picks in the 2015 drafting order, the team should not expect to inject a rookie center in its line-up anytime soon.
The Bolts need to explore obvious avenues to replace Ildefonso with a PBA-quality center or someone that can approach his talent ten years ago. Years of roster mismanagement under former coach Ryan Gregorio has finally caught up to coach Norman Black's team. There was a time when Meralco had Asi Taulava, but failed to take him back after his stint at the Asian Basketball League (ABL).
Because of that, the roster is woefully unbalanced. The tallest player the Bolts have under contract is Kelly Nabong. Let's repeat this sentence: The tallest player the Bolts have under contract is Kelly Nabong. Nabong is not a center, Reynel Hugnatan is no a center and James Sena is too soft to be of sue in the shaded area.
The Bolts' avenues to remedy that problem, though, are extremely limited. They really are in big trouble when facing quality bigs.
Perhaps the Bolts can take a flyer on someone like Raymund Alamazan, Samigue Eman or Doug Kramer, veterans who have proven little in the league, but may have some upside. Maybe Black can convince former Bolts player Bryan Faundo and Jay-R Reyes to come back.
Then, the Bolts can tread water for a year with Cliff Hodge, Gary David and no frontcourt and go shopping for a replacement when the 2016 draft begins.
Man, that's depressing.
With the veteran expected to call it quits, the Bolts has to find a solution to its center position. Unless they managed to get one of the top two picks in the 2015 drafting order, the team should not expect to inject a rookie center in its line-up anytime soon.
The Bolts need to explore obvious avenues to replace Ildefonso with a PBA-quality center or someone that can approach his talent ten years ago. Years of roster mismanagement under former coach Ryan Gregorio has finally caught up to coach Norman Black's team. There was a time when Meralco had Asi Taulava, but failed to take him back after his stint at the Asian Basketball League (ABL).
Because of that, the roster is woefully unbalanced. The tallest player the Bolts have under contract is Kelly Nabong. Let's repeat this sentence: The tallest player the Bolts have under contract is Kelly Nabong. Nabong is not a center, Reynel Hugnatan is no a center and James Sena is too soft to be of sue in the shaded area.
The Bolts' avenues to remedy that problem, though, are extremely limited. They really are in big trouble when facing quality bigs.
Perhaps the Bolts can take a flyer on someone like Raymund Alamazan, Samigue Eman or Doug Kramer, veterans who have proven little in the league, but may have some upside. Maybe Black can convince former Bolts player Bryan Faundo and Jay-R Reyes to come back.
Then, the Bolts can tread water for a year with Cliff Hodge, Gary David and no frontcourt and go shopping for a replacement when the 2016 draft begins.
Man, that's depressing.
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