PBA-DL: Alvin Pua and the transformation of the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns

From winless in the last conference to two wins away from winning it all, this has been nothing short of a magical turnaround for the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns. After a disappointing PBA D-League debut, head coach Alvin Pua talked to the stakeholders of the team. They needed to make drastic changes and he needed a new line-up to avert further embarrassment. [Related: Cagayan Valley Rising Suns continue turnaround, drop Blackwater Sports to advance to the Final] The result was an almost brand new line-up for the Rising Suns. Only Jason Melano was retained from their original cast of players. “Yung iba kusang umalis kasi sumuko sa tindi ng practice namin,” Pua said. “Pero okay lang yun kasi gusto ko talaga yung mga players na nagpapakamatay sa practice.” Pua, a former player of the San Sebastian Stags in the NCAA and the Sta. Lucia Realtors in the PBA, has a simple coaching philosophy: “Madali lang ang basketball, huwag mong pahirapan,” he’d tell his players. It means cutting down on the flashy moves and concentrating on the effective ones. It means pinpointing the weakness of your match-up and exploiting it. It means diving for the ball like your life depended on it. That’s what Pua expects from his players because that’s the way he played. ACL injuries An ACL injury is often seen as a deathblow by basketball players. Yes, players who tear their ACLs can still come back and play at a high level, but few manage to do this. Pua suffered this injury thrice, twice on his left leg, once on his right. It got so ordinary for him that he asked the doctor to wake him up during his last operation so he could watch how it was done. Even after three operations, Pua still managed to fulfill his dream of being a PBA player. Even if he was not selected in the 2006 PBA Draft, which featured the likes of James Yap, Marc Pingris, Ranidel De Ocampo, and Gary David, Pua managed to land a spot on the Sta. Lucia Realtors roster. Pua knew that he wasn’t going to get a lot of time of the floor, so what he did was give it his all in practice, so that he would be ready in case he was inserted into the game. “Si Kelly Williams yung binabantayan ko sa practice o kaya yung import namin,” he recalled. “Kahit mas malaki sila, di nila ako basta-basta kayang sagasaan.” This intensity in practice is also what Pua expects from his players. “Sinasabi ko sa kanila, basta gawin nila yung pinapagawa ko sa practice, yung laro madali na lang.” Out to prove themselves Pua knew it would be hard to convince college superstars to buy into what he was selling, so he hand-picked players who were raring to prove that they belonged. “Karamihan ng players namin, tinapon lang ng ibang teams. Yun talaga yung mga gusto kong players. Yung mga sabik talaga makapaglaro,” Pua said. He selected Ping Exciminiano, known as a defense-only guard in FEU and a cast-off from the Cebuana Lhullier team, and turned him into a top-five scoring threat in the PBA D-League. Pua also signed Eliud Poligrates, a player banned from college ball, and unleashed him, and the result is the tenth best scorer in the league. He added guys like Raymund Almazan, Mark Bringas, Joshua Webb, Adrian Celada, and James Forrester and gave them roles that would play into their strengths. He gave them confidence and now the coach is reaping all that he sowed. “Masaya ako na nakaabot kami sa Finals kasi di pa talaga ako nakakapag-coach sa ligang ganito kalaki,” Pua said. Prior to this, he had only won as a coach at the high school level and in a couple of local commercial leagues. “Nung last conference, we only had three weeks to form a lineup and prepare. Now we have two months and we got most of the players na gusto talaga namin,” he added. Two mentors Pua's playing career did not pan out they way he wanted it to, but his coaching career now looks like it has a lot of promise. In the semis of the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup, the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns defeated Blackwater Sports who were coached by Leo Isaac, a former coach of Pua back in the PBL. In the Finals, his team will be facing the NLEX Road Warriors and mentored by another former coach of his in Boyet Fernandez. “Napakalakas talaga ng line-up ng NLEX. Puro mga superstar yan e. Pero iniisip ko na lang, lima lang sa kanila yung maglalaro sa court, lima rin sa amin,” Pua said. “Kukunin na lang namin sa sipag at tiyaga yan.” Pua does not need to say a lot to inspire his boys. “Ang sinasabi ko na lang sa kanila, kung maganda yung ipakita nila, siguradong may kukuha sa kanila sa PBA,” he said. “Kung mag-champion kami laban sa NLEX siyempre mapapansin yung mga pangalan nila.” The coach is setting his sights on a PBA D-League title but he knows they have a stiff challenge ahead of them. But he’s also targeting another thing, and that is to see his players be successful in the pros, to live the dream that he could not anymore. - AMD, GMA News