Payback time for KG Canaleta

Ever Bilena CEO/Blackwater team owner Dioceldo Sy pointed to 14-year veteran K.G. Canaleta as the emerging Elite leader in the PBA’s 45th season opening today. And they go back a long way.

“We drafted K. G. in 2000 for our PBL team Blu Detergent,” said Sy, who celebrated his birthday last Friday. “Now, he’s our senior player with Blackwater. I reminded K. G. that I drafted him 20 years ago and he remembered. That’s when he told me he appreciates coming back to us. This season, K. G. promised it’s payback time.” Canaleta has played for eight other PBA clubs, aside from Blackwater and could be in the twilight of a journeyman career. He was Air21’s first round pick in 2005, is a five-time Slam Dunk champion, won the Mr. Quality Minutes award in 2010, took Most Improved Player honors in 2013 and once scored 41 points in a game.

Canaleta, 38, leads a Blackwater cast that Sy said is balanced and free of superstars. “Actually, we haven’t had too much success with our first round picks over the last few years,” he said. “Ray Parks, Toto Jose and Ael Banal are no longer with us. Last year, we picked Maurice Shaw and we’re hoping he’ll make an impact so he breaks our first round jinx. He’s coming along and our big man coach Romel Adducul is working with him. We’re just hoping it’s Shawtime, not Lemontime.”

Sy said Blackwater couldn’t be happier with what the Elite got in the recent three-way trade involving NLEX and TNT. “The trade went through us and as far as we’re concerned, we got what we wanted,” said Sy. “Ed Daquioag and Marion Magat came in. We also got TNT’s first round picks in

2021 and 2022. The PBA added Yousef Taha to what we got but we’re dropping him. We’re loaded at this time. We understand Ginebra and Phoenix are studying whether or not to pick up Taha. We’re not keeping his rights. He’ll be free to sign with any team. We gave up Tony Semerad, Rabeh Al Hussaini and our 2020 first round and 2021 second round picks to NLEX. Rabeh’s in Kuwait at the moment and I’m not sure if he’ll come back to play another season.”

Sy said Daquioag has been a pleasant surprise. “He’s tall, long and smart,” said Sy. “When we played Magnolia in a practice game, he matched up well against Paul Lee. We were down by 18, brought it down to 2 then lost by less than 10. I thought we were very competitive. Ed gets our offense going and he’ll be our No. 1 point guard. What I like about (coach) Nash (Racela) is he teaches our players to be better. When we don’t get a play right during practice, he’ll stop and explain how to do it. Nash believes execution is about making split second decisions like when a pass is made to a teammate whose defender’s back is turned. If you miss the timing on the pass and the defender is able to recover, you lose your advantage. Ed is the kind of point guard who gets everybody moving.”

In a recent Blackwater tune-up against TNT, the Elite scored on a last-second four-point play by Paul Desiderio to win. “Paul’s gaining confidence and that four-point play is proof,” said Sy. “We’re expecting big things from Paul this season. He can play two or three but we’ll play him more at two. Another player whom we believe will break out for us is Don Trollano. He just goes out there, works hard and performs. We’re very happy with our team. We don’t have to contend with superstars. Walang tapon sa team. Everybody has a role and can contribute.”

Mike Tolomia and Roi Sumang were recently signed to two-year renewals while Chris Javier and Matt Salem were given one-year extensions. “Tolomia has to be more consistent with his outside shooting because he can’t just penetrate all the time,” continued Sy. “Javier was recently involved in a minor motorcycle incident. The PBA doesn’t allow motorcycle riding because it’s a hazard. He couldn’t practice for a week.”

Blackwater team manager Jacob Munez said MPBL recruits Jon-Jon Gabriel and Cris Bitoon started full-time practice with the Elite yesterday. Another MPBL recruit Richard Escoto suffered a high-grade ankle sprain in his last MPBL game with Iloilo and will be out four weeks before joining practice. Veteran Mac Belo recently underwent surgery to remove loose bone particles and tissue in his knee and will be sidelined four to six weeks. Another veteran Carl Bryan Cruz also went under the knife for a knee issue and will miss the Philippine Cup.

Sy said Blackwater’s 3x3 team, to be known as Blu Star Detergent, is still being formed. A plan is to recruit actors Rayver Cruz and Ronnie Alonte for the six-man roster to be led by MPBL and possibly, PBA veterans. Depending on Racela’s rotation, there may be PBA players relegated to the 3x3 team with James Sena and Diego Dario under consideration. Bitoon may also join the 3x3 tournament. Sy said he will lend some of Blackwater’s 3x3 players to Caloocan for the next MPBL season to help out Mayor Oca Malapitan.

Sy said he’s looking forward to suiting up Gilas draft pick Rey Suerte whose PBA rights are with Blackwater. “We were told Rey will be part of the Gilas program for overseas training,” said Sy. “If Gilas won’t use him, we’ll line him up at Blackwater and whenever Gilas needs him, we could send him over. I think Rey will be a great fit for us.”

Last season wasn’t particularly memorable for Blackwater. In the Philippine Cup, the Elite finished dead last with a 2-9 record, counting wins over only Rain or Shine and Columbian. Blackwater’s average losing margin was 12.8. In the Commissioner’s Cup, Blackwater went 7-4 in the eliminations, sparked by a 3-0 start but lost to Rain or Shine in the best-of-three quarterfinals, 2-1. Three of Blackwater’s seven wins in the eliminations came in overtime. In the Governors Cup, the Elite was back in last place with a 2-9 record, beating only NorthPort and Magnolia and losing by an average margin of 10.7 points. Overall, Blackwater registered a record of 12-23. The previous season, Blackwater was 13-23.