Back at 1: Kiefer Ravena on point in old spot

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

TAIPEI – Kiefer Ravena has gone back to his roots and has gotten the chance to prepare for his pro career in the process.

Playing point guard for Gilas Pilipinas in the Jones Cup Invitational here, Ravena has easily handled the transition back to his boyhood spot, which he abandoned when he tore the opposition while leading Ateneo to glory in the UAAP.

“I’m very comfortable playing the point,” Ravena said after his fourth game. “It’s a spot I used to play in high school. I even came to college as a point guard.”

Though his glorious collegiate career happened just a couple of years back, Ravena talked about it as if it were a lifetime ago because circumstances surrounding his conversion into a shooting guard has made him the hottest amateur of his time.

And he has Norman Black to thank for it.

“I remember my first game, it was against Adamson,” Ravena recounted. “I was excited, all pumped up and I was a point guard. I was Eman Monfort’s chief reliever and I knew I was going to play a lot even if I was a rookie.”

Well, fate had it that he wouldn’t do well in that game.

“My stat line was consistent – zero points and most of everything else was the same,” he said with a smile.
Then came the genius that is Black.

“The following practice, and in our next games, coach Norman turned me into No. 2 (off guard) and had me playing alongside Eman,” Ravena said. “That was it. I was able to help the team more.”

Jong Uichico, one of Chot Reyes’ assistants at Gilas, has become a Ravena fan ever since this team was assembled. And the veteran internationalist believes that there is no better spot for Ravena to play, especially when he turns pro.

“He’s got instincts and IQ that you don’t see everyday,” Uichico said.

Uichico is raving about Ravena’s ability to read game situations and make quick decisions.

“I have to be smart because I am not as athletic as the other (point) guards in the team, or in the
league,” Ravena said. “I use that to offset some of my deficiencies, like being slower than the other guards.”

While in college, the so called experts have declared that Ravena would be a “project” when he makes the jump to the PBA – being smaller and less athletic than the other swingmen who are dominating the league at the moment.

If the 6-footer from Iloilo wasn’t as hot a prospect before, his performances for Gilas here has certainly
changed all that.

And turning pro – which everyone knew to be inevitable – is like coming home for Kiefer.