Black’s magnum opus

It took coach Norman Black about three hours of serious thinking to formulate the plan of action for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) pre-draft rookie camp that he’s supervising at the Quezon Memorial Circle this afternoon.

Black said his idea is to give equal exposure to all 49 draft applicants. No special treatment for any player, no matter his credentials. It’ll be an exciting three-hour showcase starting at 3 p.m. The rookies will be spread out on three quartercourts to do a variety of drills–in front of scouts, fans and probing TV cameras.

After the camp, it should be clear what each player will bring to the table when D-Day (draft day) comes at the Glorietta in Makati this Friday.

Culling from what he’s observed in camps here and abroad, Black assembled a curriculum that will take the rookies through 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 fastbreak drills to test a player’s ballhandling skills and decision-making in transition situations; 3-on-3 games to test the player’s abilities to execute basic strong side movements offensively and defensively (the basic offensive sets to be applied are the screen-down UCLA cut, the triangle offense, the high pick-and-roll, the hi-low play and the post-up), shooting drills to test the player’s shooting ability from 15 feet, 18 feet, the three-point arc and the foul line; speed, strength, agility and vertical jump drills to test the player’s physical abilities; and 1-on-1 drills to test the player’s abilities offensively and defensively in halfcourt and 3/4 court situations.

To climax the camp, Black will split the rookies into 10 teams to play a series of scrimmages. In all, there will be five six-minute scrimmages.

Helping out Black in the camp are a slew of PBA assistant coaches–Sta. Lucia Realty’s Cholo Martin, Red Bull’s Alfredo (Mon) Amador, Barangay Ginebra’s George Ella, Coca-Cola’s Biboy Ravanes, Talk ‘N’ Text’s Ariel Vanguardia and Virgil Villavicencio, San Miguel Beer’s Siot Tanquincen, Alaska’s Dickie Bachmann, Shell’s Jigs Mendoza and FedEx’ Jojo Villa.

Black said in the strength drills, the players will be made to bench-press 125 to 150 pounds in as many repetitions as possible. The "small" men will lift the lighter weights, naturally.

Incidentally, I asked Black about his own benchpressing ability. "I do 200 regularly, sometimes 250 in limited repetitions," he replied. No wonder Black’s physique is rippling with muscle. Body fat isn’t in his vocabulary.

The vertical jump drills will involve a player leaping to touch flaglets on the side of a pole. Two jumps will be made–one off a foot and another, off two feet. Speed sprints in various distances will reveal a player’s agility and ability to get off a quick start.

In the shooting drills, each player will take 25 shots. The big men will be spared from taking three-point shots although 6-5 Ranidel de Ocampo and 6-7 Ervin Sotto–who are gifted outside riflemen–surely wouldn’t mind throwing up treys.

To avoid confusion, Black categorized the draft candidates into three groups–point guards, shooting guards or small forwards, and power forwards or centers–for the 1-on-1, shooting and strength drills which will be conducted on three separate quartercourts. Here are the player breakdowns:

The point guards–5-10 Arnold Booker, 5-10 Manuel Huelar, 5-8 Lyndon Lagat, 5-8 Nino Marquez, 5-9 Kim Valenzuela, 5-8 Francis Arabit, 5-10 Paul Artadi, 5-11 Ronald Cuan, 5-6 Chris Quimpo, 5-8 Ricky Ricafuerte, 6-1 Denver Lopez, 5-10 Joselito Celiz, 5-8 Warren Ybanez, 5-10 Lou Gatumbato, 5-10 Mario Reyes and 5-9 1/2 Ryan Dy.

The shooting guards/small forwards–6-2 Arvin Garcia, 6-2 Gary David, 6-4 Wesley Gonzalez, 6-2 1/2 Rhagnee Sinco, 6-3 James Yap, 6-3 Willie Wilson, 6-3 Joel Lagare, 6-3 Chris Guerrero, 6-4 Cezar Catli, 6-3 Nick Fasano, 6-2 Tristan Codamon, 6-2 Eric de la Cuesta, 6-3 1/2 Jay-Arr Estrada, 6-2 Rommel Sungcap, 6-3 Nino Gelig, 6-4 Nelbert Omolon and 6-1 Richard Michael.

The power forwards/centers–6-7 1/2 Joachim Thoss, 6-4 Rich Alvarez, 6-6 Carlo Sharma, 6-4 Bernzon Franco, 6-5 Manny Ramos, 6-4 Theo Hawkins, 6-4 1/2 Alvin Pua, 6-5 Steve Marucot, 6-7 Ervin Sotto, 6-5 Ranidel de Ocampo, 6-5 Jean Marc Pingris, 6-4 John Flores, 6-5 Francis Mercado, 6-3 Nurjan Alfad, 6-4 1/2 Jessie Lumantas and 6-5 Julius Binuya.

Black mixed and matched the 49 players in three separate groups for the 3-on-3 drills. He did the same for the 10 scrimmage teams but is allowing each player to fill his natural spot, meaning there will a semblance of balance in each five.

For record purposes, Black noted he will document each player’s shot chart (in the shooting drills) and his performance in the strength, speed and vertical jump drills then make the papers available to PBA coaches and scouts for scrutiny.

The exercise is another brainchild of PBA commissioner Noli Eala who’s charting a new and exciting course for the PBA this year and beyond.

It should be an eye-opening show this afternoon–a mouth-watering aperitif to the sumptuous main course, the draft, on Friday. Check out the action live and see the stars of the future display their wares, hobnob with coaches and pros, talk to hoop experts and try to guess who’ll be this year’s first overall pick.

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