Aguilar Stellar in Debut

Expectations were high for the PBA's so-called 'prodigal son.' Japeth earlier demanded a trade from his mother team, the Talk N' Text Tropang Texters, a move that left a bad impression to some. People felt that it's quite immature, for someone who hasn't proven himself much yet, to be asking demands. Well, Japeth eventually got what he asked for, and on his first game as a member of the GlobalPort Batang Pier, all eyes were on him.

We knew what to expect from Japeth's game. Blocking and rebounding. Last night though, he showed much more, proving that his recent ambitious plight to get to the NBA wasn't so much of a failure after all.

Finishing with 16 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals and only a single foul in 37 minutes, Japeth surely made a statement in his first game. And while it's quite too early to call him the real deal already, it's not premature to recognize his improvements and potential.



Japeth like it's hot

Earlier in the game, Japeth missed a couple of midrange jumpers, but his stroke looked nice. He impressed nonetheless after 2 nice passes underneath to import Justin Williams, leading to dunks. I've never seen much of Japeth's passing game, but now I do.

Kid's got handles

Another aspect in Japeth's game that caught me by surprise was his ball-handling. Both assists to Williams came off Japeth penetrations, attracting the opposing defense. In another instance, he stole the ball from Alex Cabagnot then dribbled a quarter length of the court for a lay-up. We also saw a couple of dribble drive - dish out plays from Japeth, and while most big guys attempting to do that ends up either looking awkward (I'm looking at you, Mr. Belga) or turning the ball over; Japeth managed to avoid both.

 "These long limbs are made for blocking.. and stealing."

Ok Mr. Aguilar, you can rebound, you can block. If you can add 'stealing' to that, you'll be a pretty complete defensive player already... What? You can do that too?

Yes he can, grabbing 2 steals last night, both against Petron guards nonetheless, with both instances leading to easy baskets.

"Sit back Justin, I got this."

When Williams got thrown out (unjustly I say, the guy was merely clearing space, and Fajardo's face was on the way), coach Ansai's, err.. Baculi's biggest concern must've been on who's going to stop the opposing import now. If this happened last year, we'd be stuck with choosing between Rabeh, Antonio or Adducul, and therefore we'd be pretty screwed.

Not this time though. Japeth stepped in and took on the gargantuan task of guarding ex-NBA'er Renaldo Balkman, and boy, did he deliver. He forced Balkman into some tough shots and kept in step with him. He also denied Balkman a couple of offensive rebounds by simply tapping the ball out.

In his series of work-outs and tune-ups in the NBA D-League, Japeth shared the court with 9 other Balkmans, so matching up against only one must not have been that daunting, right?

Well, only when you're an athletic and agile 6'9'' dude who can defend, block, rebound, dribble and pass.

Only when you're Japeth Aguilar.

Roar out.