And they’re off: PBA teams start individual workouts for players

Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) coaches start whipping their players back into shape after a five-month layoff starting Tuesday when teams resume training under strict health protocols in preparation for the restart of the league’s 45th season.

“I think the situation forces us (coaches) to be creative,” said Louie Alas, Phoenix Super LPG Fuelmasters coach, noting that only four players at a time will be allowed to train. “We have to incorporate our plays with training sessions even though we’ll only have four players on the court for each session.”

The Fuelmasters resume training on Wednesday, although eight teams will push through with their workouts a day earlier.

Defending champion San Miguel, Barangay Ginebra, the Magnolia Hotshots, Rain or Shine, Alaska, the Blackwater Elite, Meralco and NLEX are all scheduled to start training on Tuesday after clearing COVID-19 swab tests late last week.

Alas said he has divided his team into three groups with the other two training under his assistants Topex Robinson and Willy Wilson. “The first week will just be physical conditioning, but we will slowly ease the players back into doing things at speed,” Alas said.

Alas said he won’t even incorporate contact drills in the first few weeks of training as precaution.

Two Phoenix players in Jason Perkins and Jansen Rios have both been excused from the initial phase of their training as they are living in households with persons at risk. Perkins’ wife is pregnant, while Rios has two senior citizens living with him.

“Right now, if they’re not comfortable, we are not forcing them to practice,” Alas said, referring to Perkins and Rios. “But as soon as we have a fixed date to the restart of the season, then we will have to make practice mandatory.”

Out of all the teams, only TNT will be training in a bubble outside Metro Manila. The KaTropa are also starting their workouts this week at the Inspire facility in Calamba, Laguna province.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial is hopeful that the training phase will run smoothly as its success may determine if the league can push through with the season, hopefully, by October.

“The league will monitor and always remind the teams to follow our health protocols,” Marcial said. “We’re hoping that the success of this period will lead us to the resumption of the season.”

Action was halted after just one game with the pandemic blowing up in the country. This would have been a milestone season for the PBA, with San Miguel’s chase to extend its Philippine Cup reign posing as the main theme of the season.