Trust is key to Star’s reversal
Star Hotshots coach Chito Victolero said yesterday trust is a key component in the team’s turnaround from failing to make it beyond eighth place in three conferences last season to finishing a win shy of advancing to the finals in the recent PBA Philippine Cup.
The Hotshots wound up ninth in the Philippine Cup, eighth in the Commissioner’s Cup and 11th in the Governors Cup last year. Victolero took over from Jason Webb at the helm before this season began and promptly piloted Star to the semifinals of the Philippine Cup, losing to Barangay Ginebra in seven games. In the ongoing Commissioner’s Cup, Star is unbeaten in four starts and will face Barangay Ginebra in a Manila Clasico duel at the Mall of Asia Arena this Sunday.
Webb was retained as an assistant in Victolero’s staff with Johnny Abarrientos, Mon Jose, Tony Boy Espinosa and Juno Sauler. Among the veterans struck out from last season’s lineup were James Yap, R. R. Garcia, Ronald Pascual and Jerwin Gaco. The newcomers include Paul Lee, Jio Jalalon, Chris Javier, Rome de la Rosa, Aldrech Ramos, Gryann Mendoza and Mon Abundo. For the Commissioner’s Cup, Star enlisted 6-8 3/8 former Detroit Pistons forward Tony Mitchell of the University of North Texas.
“When I stepped in as head coach, my goal was to improve the defense individually and as a team and to improve the teamwork on both ends,” said the 41-year-old Victolero who played in three PBA seasons up to 2005 for Sta. Lucia Realty and FedEx as a point guard. “I told the guys we just need to work hard as a team and enjoy every practice and every game because that’s one of the ingredients in motivating us to be happy. Then, I introduced my defensive system. Once they embraced the system, things started to run smoothly. Now, our goal is to become one of the best defensive teams in the PBA. I know everybody can score in this group of players but I challenged them to play defense. That’s why we’ve been successful so far. All credit goes to the players, especially the veterans.”
What turned the ship around was the Hotshots’ trust in each other and in Victolero’s system. “I think our defensive orientation and our chemistry on both ends are big factors in our turnaround even if we’ve been together for only five months,” he said. “They’re embracing and trusting each other. We learned a lot last conference and I hope we’ll be able to carry over that experience to the Commissioner’s Cup so that we can surpass what we achieved in the Philippine Cup. It’s a process to win a championship. We just need to improve our chemistry as a team, believe in each other and our system plus have the right attitude to play and pray hard always. I think we’ve got a bright future. We’ll just keep fighting.”
Victolero said Lee begged off from Gilas because of a nagging left knee injury. “Paul is one of our leaders,” he said. “He fit right away into our system and we developed chemistry quickly with him and our other new players because he’s a veteran and he knows what it takes to be successful in the PBA. Paul has an injury and is being attended to by our physical therapist. Sometimes, he skips practice so he doesn’t aggravate his injury. He’ll clean up his knee during the offseason.” Despite the injury, Lee is averaging 28.51 minutes this conference but his numbers are down to 5.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists an outing.
As for Mitchell, Victolero said he’s the perfect import for Star. “He’s doing great, he loves our system and loves his teammates,” said Victolero. “I personally picked him because of his style, his strength of being defense-minded and a team player. He’s active on both ends. He just needs to adjust a little bit to the rules so he avoids getting into early foul trouble. I think the imports of Alaska (Corey Jefferson), Meralco (Alex Stepheson) and San Miguel Beer (Charles Rhodes) fit their team system and complement the locals. It’s not about how good your import is but what makes an import hard to defend is if he fits his team system and blends with his teammates.”
Mitchell, who turns 25 today, is averaging 22 points and 15.5 rebounds. He was the Pistons’ second round pick in the 2013 NBA draft and played 21 games for Detroit in 2013-14. Mitchell played in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, China, Israel and France before moving to the PBA.