Injuries mess up Blackwater’s season

IN another season of highs and lows, Blackwater coach Ariel Vanguardia believes the Bossing could have done well if not for the spate of injuries that hit them during the import-spiced conference.

Veteran playmaker JVee Casio, young guard Joshua Torralba and many-time Gilas stalwart Troy Rosario, whom the team acquired prior to the start of the Commissioner’s Cup, missed a lot of games due to injuries.

Even three-time PBA All-Star Baser Amer missed the tail-end of the Commissioner’s Cup due to a calf strain, which eventually contributed to the Bossing’s failure to make the playoffs.

“Our best conference was when we were healthy,” Vanguardia told The Manila Times. “We started the All-Filipino at 5-1 until Yousef (Taha) got hurt. And then we struggled with various injuries to our key players in the second conference until the third. We were only complete in our last two games.”Playing with an incomplete roster was, indeed, a challenge for Vanguardia as he had to shuffle his starting five like a deck of cards during the import-spiced conferences.

The worst part, he added, was when the team didn’t get a good break in its choice for import for the Governors’ Cup.

“(Shawn) Glover was not 100 percent (healthy) the whole conference and that really hurt us,” said the Blackwater coach.

Troy Williams, who played for Memphis, New York, Houston and Sacramento in the NBA, averaged over 38 points, 11.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game in his threegame stint for the Bossing.

The team lost all games with the 28-year-old American as their import.

In as much as Williams was a high-scoring player, Vanguardia explained that the 2017 NBA DLeague Slam Dunk king failed to play team basketball.

“Then his (Glover’s) replacement did not want to play team basketball. Troy Williams was a disappointment,” he added.

But with the PBA’s 2023-24 season still set to start in October, Vanguardia said they are exploring the possibility of playing overseas to keep the players sharp.

One option is going up against foreign squads in a tournament in either Malaysia or Thailand. Another is setting up games against NBL teams in China or Taiwan.

The Bossing ended their season campaign with an aggregate record of 9-25 win-loss record. Vanguardia said by his own estimate, Blackwater could be picking within the top three in the upcoming PBA Rookie Draft.