Phoenix aims for Final 4

Phoenix Petroleum coach Ariel Vanguardia said yesterday the goal remains for the Fuel Masters to qualify for the semifinals in the coming PBA Commissioner’s Cup after finishing a respectable sixth in the first conference and with a lineup featuring new faces, the outlook is bright for a breakthrough.

Last season, Phoenix took over the Barako Bull franchise in the Commissioner’s Cup and took 11th place then improved to eighth in the Governors Cup. The Fuel Masters continued the upward trend by taking sixth in the Philippine Cup. Vanguardia said team owner Dennis Uy is challenging the team to do even better and make it to the Final Four next conference.

“Boss Dennis enjoyed the conference because he saw we fought hard,” said Vanguardia. “We had some come-from-behind wins and never gave up until the final buzzer. He wants us to play tough. We’re known by our hashtag Tigas and we want to live up to that.”

Vanguardia said there were good and bad games for Phoenix in the Philippine Cup which is now in its finals phase. “Our strength was in the wings with J. C. (Intal), Cyrus (Baguio) and Matt (Wright),” he said. “We could’ve used some help with our bigs. At point guard, we were young and inexperienced with Simon (Enciso) and Gelo (Alolino). Cyrus was our quiet leader, he lets his playing do the talking. Willie (Wilson) was another leader but he’s also quiet. We needed a more vocal leader, someone who could lift up our spirits on the court.”

* * *

In the quarterfinals, Vanguardia said Star’s twin wins broke his heart.  Phoenix and Star battled in a best-of-three series which the Hotshots swept, 114-83 and 91-71. “We made it to the playoffs but it wasn’t OK the way we lost,” he said. “Our guards were outmatched, our bigs were outplayed. In Game 1, we were competitive until we got into foul trouble and gave up 18 free throws. Both games weren’t close in the end. It was tough to close out the conference that way.”

Vanguardia said since the end of last season, he tried to negotiate a deal for Alaska guard R. J. Jazul. “Alaska wouldn’t trade him, he was untouchable,” he said. “But after we were both eliminated in the Philippine Cup, I called coach Alex (Compton) again. There were other teams interested in R. J. It was a choice between R. J. and Jvee Casio. It was difficult to let go of Simon but I felt we needed a vocal leader on the court. I’ve worked with R. J. before at Toyota Otis so we’ve got history. R. J. and J. C. were teammates with the Letran juniors so they know each other well. Simon was one of our best players but we had to fill a void.”

Vanguardia said aside from Jazul, Phoenix picked up Joseph Eriobu in a trade with Mahindra for Prince Caperal. “Mahindra called us asking if they could trade for Prince,” he said. “Mahindra was concerned about losing Russel (Escoto) to Gilas so they needed a big. We brought in Joseph whom we want to develop like another Willie Wilson. Willie has two or three more years left in his tank but he’s already thinking about a coaching career. We want him to mentor Joseph, that will be his introduction to coaching.”

* * *

Vanguardia said Phoenix will cede Wright and Norbert Torres to the Gilas pool for the SEABA Championships here in May. Wright will join the pool two months before the tournament starts and Torres, one month. “We were lucky to get Karl (Dehesa) who was an unrestricted free agent with GlobalPort,” he said. “Because of the five Fil-foreign limit per team, GlobalPort was switching Anthony Semerad, Josh Urbiztondo and Karl. We knew we would lose Matt to Gilas so we got Karl in time for the quarterfinals this conference.”

Vanguardia said he’s hoping to sign up import Jarrid Famous for the coming conference. “There’s still a kink in the negotiations because GlobalPort has his rights,” he said. “But we’re hoping GlobalPort will release Jarrid so he can join us. I worked out Jarrid in New York in 2011 when I was recruiting imports for the K. L. Dragons in the ABL. Jarrid ended up playing in the NBA D-League. I’ve kept in touch with Jarrid through the years. He’s now a naturalized Lebanese citizen. I like Jarrid because he’s a family man, a hard worker. He played for Meralco in 2012 and GlobalPort in 2015 and has lots of experience, having played in the Dominican Republic, Lebanon, China, Taiwan, Bahrain, Venezuela, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”

Vanguardia said the team has released rookie Jeff Javillonar whose contract expired at the end of the Philippine Cup.

For the next two weeks, Phoenix will be trained by Nigerian national coach Will Voigt, a 40-year-old American who was once a video coordinator with the San Antonio Spurs. Voigt arrived in Manila the other night.