MANILA, Philippines – Scoring 8 points and hauling down 7 rebounds is usually a performance decent enough for a PBA neophyte. But for a talent like Kiefer Ravena, people tend to expect more.

NLEX Road Warriors head coach Yeng Guiao wasn’t too concerned after his prized rookie had a relatively off night that ended in a 95-102 loss to the Phoenix Fuel Masters Sunday, January 7.

Ravena put up impressive numbers in his first two games for the Fuel Masters, averaging 19 points, 8.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and two steals in two wins against Kia and Globalport.

Against the Fuel Masters, the 24-year-old had the worst plus-minus of all NLEX players with minus-26 as he shot a dismal 30.8 percent from the field, missing 9 of his 13 shot attempts. 

“Not concerned about Kiefer’s off night. He will have off nights, that’s natural, normal for a basketball player, especially as a rookie. I don’t want to put any more pressure on him by putting those kinds of expectations. We lost it as a team,” said the firebrand tactician.

For Guiao, who has handled a myriad of big name rookies in the likes of Willie Miller, Japeth Aguilar and Paul Lee, it is all about Ravena being patient moving forward as a PBA player. 

“I don’t want to put too much pressure on him. As a matter of fact, I want him to be able to just feel comfortable playing the game at this level, and also trying to create that chemistry with his teammates,” Guiao said. 

“Sometimes, the public’s expectation or his expectation of himself, pwede mong masira ‘yung diskarte mo dahil sa ganoon. But I think he’s smart enough to understand that there’s a certain way to manage talent.” 

(Sometimes, the public’s expectation or his expectation of himself, that can alter the way he wants to do things. But I think he’s smart enough to understand that there’s a certain way to manage talent.) – Rappler.com