(c) PBA Media Bureau
Tomorrow, the 44th season of the PBA will finally begin. Other than that, we will also witness the Award Nights of the 43rd season.
The award that could be the hardest to determine is the Coach of the Year.
For me, this award should be given to the coach that added the most to a successful run. Knowing that we have three champions last season, their coaches are basically the top candidates.
So, which one between Leo Austria, Tim Cone and Chito Victolero should bring home the coveted Baby Dalupan trophy?
Not Leo Austria
Even if San Miguel Beermen accomplished a grand slam last season, I still do not think coach Leo deserves to get the award. The firepower of his line-up is just too good that he doesn't need to add much for them to succeed.
And last season, he only managed to win one crown and only appeared in other finals match-up. That is not the ceiling of the roster that he is handling.
Not Tim Cone
What he did in their 2018 Com. Cup final series victory over the San Miguel Beermen was one of the best coaching performance in the history of the league. Unfortunately, they failed to reach the finals in the two other conferences.
They still have the 2nd best line-up in the league. I think the difference between Ginebra's line-up and the 3rd best is not that small. They also have Justin Brownlee, easily one of the five best imports in the two-import laden conferences.
It should be Chito Victolero
If the voters will just look at the success of these three coaches and do not go deep into the context of each one, it will be really hard to decide.
Coach Victolero led his team to the 2018 Governors' Cup title wherein they were not even considered as a serious contender when they were already in the semifinals. That was primarily because they do not play a flashy style and they did not sign a flashy import.
During that run, they embarrassed Brgy. Ginebra with a 3-1 semifinals series.
Do not also forget that they were also the 1st runner-up in the 2018 All-Filipino Cup.
They managed to do that with multiple injuries to the core of their rosters, specifically Marc Pingris.
With those accomplishments, it should be pretty clear that coach Chito added the most to what he has
Comments
Post a Comment