The Philippine Basketball Association hopes to resume its interrupted 2020 season soon with a conference that could be held within a two-month period.
The Alaska Aces, well-conditioned because its players strictly followed a home workout challenge during the home quarantine period imposed by the government, could have the edge. While some players of other teams try to regain their form the Aces will already have the jump in physical conditioning.
“To be honest, physically I think we are not too bad with regards in being shape. Our trainers have done a great job in making sure that (players stay in shape) these past few months,” said Alaska Head Coach Jeff Cariaso.
“The players have a program, even if it is at home, to work out at home. But they have a program that they will follow. To keep them in some form of shape from where you can build up from at the beginning.”
PBA teams have been allowed to practice in small groups with the Aces returning to their practice facility at Gatorade Hoops Center. Because of strict health and safety protocols they are allowed to perform shooting and dribbling drills only.
The Alaska mentor said he expects the PBA to be soon allowed full practices which include scrimmages and practice games.
“I think, once we are regular in our practices, once the teams are all allowed to have full team practices, that’s when you can really recover again and bring the team back to where we were,” said Coach Cariaso.
The Aces have made astute trades and now boast of a lineup which could compete on even terms against the best in the league. They performed well in the past pre-season tournament held just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all activities around the world.
The team gets a chance to show what it can do once the PBA resumes its 2020 season.
“We’ve always believed in our team. That’s why we are very strict and very disciplined in our workouts. We’ve been doing the pandemics program. Once we are able to get on the court. We want to not waste a lot of time to get back into shape. We believe we are in pretty good shape,” said Coach Cariaso.