Chongson rues UE’s ‘predictable’ reliance on Diakhite, Suerte

MANILA, Philippines – In two games so far for the UE Red Warriors, Senegalese big man Alex Diakhite and one-and-done scoring guard Rey Suerte have lived up to expectations.

Coming off a 20-20 game against UST, Diakhite again towed UE with 21 points and 15 rebounds with 4 blocks while Suerte rolled along with 17 markers and 10 boards.

However, for active consultant Lawrence Chongson, this situation has so far been less than ideal as his Warriors end the opening weekend with a 0-2 slate. 

“For us, we’re becoming very predictable,” he said after the game. “Right now, I’m torn between sticking to those two because the rest don’t contribute anyway or find a way to get those contributions from others.” 

Other veteran stalwarts like Philip Manalang and Jed Mendoza have remained silent while top prospects such as Harvey Pagsanjan have not done enough to draw attention away from their top two scorers. 

“Do we just stick to the two? Yung iba decoy-decoy na lang?” Chongson wondered. “Palamuti na lang kayo diyan o dekorasyon na lang kayo? Or do something para maging mas unpredictable naman kami?” 

(Do we just stick to the two while the others are just decoys or decorations? Or do we do something to make ourselves a little bit more unpredictable?) 

“Basically, it’s about the other guys stepping up as well,” he continued. “Basketball is a five-man game. Diakhite and Suerte got their numbers, but then we need help. Our opponents got contributions from everybody.”

Meanwhile for Suerte, he’s not too worried about his team’s over-reliance on him. 

“Kakasimula pa lang naman, puwede pang bumawi,” he said. “May 12 games pa. Adjust, get better every practice, every game.” 

(We just started. We can still come back. We have 12 games left. Adjust, get better every practice, every game.) 

But for Chongson, he believes that his team cannot afford to slack off any longer as they move along to their next games against powerhouse squads Adamson and La Salle.

“Hopefully lahat ‘to maging leksyon sa mga bata. Dapat seryosohin nila. Dapat i-improve pa namin yung preparasyon namin coming to a game. Dapat medyo meron na tayong sense of urgency.” 

(Hopefully, the kids all learn from this. They should take this seriously and we need to improve our preparations coming to a game. We already should have a sense of urgency.) – Rappler.com