Bates finally gets chance to blossom

Brandon Bates is set to be unleashed when Meralco competes in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup starting 28 February.

Bolts coach Luigi Trillo said he expects the 6-foot-9 Bates — their first-round pick — to get utilized in the all-Filipino conference since he doesn’t have to contend with their import for playing time.

In the Commissioner’s Cup, teams were allowed to parade imports who are 6-foot-9 and below, prompting Bates to ride the bench while watching reinforcements Sulaiman Braimoh and Shonn Miller take bulk of the minutes.

“Brandon plays the center spot and we had imports who played center for us in the Commissioner’s Cup. They were averaging 40 minutes a game,” Trillo said in a telephone conversation with DAILY TRIBUNE on Saturday morning.

“But we’re going to use him more in the Philippine Cup and he will be needed more at the center spot.”

Trillo admitted that Bates is in between being a project player and somebody who is still learning the system.

“He’s somewhere in between and you cannot expect him to make an immediate impact,” Trllo added.

“But he will definitely be an asset for us and he can help us along in the center position, especially matching up against bigger players and he had proven that when we beat Magnolia.”

Prior to the playoffs of the Commissioner’s Cup, Meralco defeated Magnolia in the elimination round, 85-80, in an out-of-town game in Iloilo City. In that game, Bates was able to do a great job slowing down the production of James Laput.

Meralco has been a banged up team as practically half of the squad are either nursing injuries.

Cliff Hodge sprained his ankle during the playoffs against Phoenix Super LPG, but played in pain until the second game of their quarterfinals tussle. Allein Maliksi, Bong Quinto and Chris Banchero also sustained injuries as well as Chris Newsome, who is worrying about his aches and pains.

Trillo is hoping the Bolts would play sooner than expected to give the players more time to recover.

“We were among the teams that played many games in the past conference and we were also playing in the East Asia Super League,” he said.