Magnolia would need more from big man James Laput if it wants to go far in the Philippine Cup of the Philippine Basketball Association starting 28 February.
Hotshots playmaker Mark Barroca yesterday cited the need for a dominant slotman, somebody who is similar to June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer and Christian Standhardinger of Barangay Ginebra.
Laput, a 6-foot-9 center, was a big letdown as he was hardly a factor in the recent best-of-seven Commissioner’s Cup finals series in which they lost to the Beermen in six games.
Despite showing traces of improvement in the eliminations, Laput was disappointing as he averaged a woeful 1.5 points per game.
In the Philippine Cup, Laput is expected to play more consistently as the Hotshots have been dominating the tournament through the years.
In fact, they won six of their 14 titles in the all-Filipino tournament and the Hotshots are determined to sustain that run with Laput manning the shaded lanes.
“We’re going to need more from him in the Philippine Cup,” Barroca, a member of the franchise’s grand slam team in 2014, said.
“In the Commissioner’s Cup, since there were bigger and taller imports, his potential was hardly utilized, especially during the finals series.”
Barroca said the likes of Fajardo and Standhardinger are tipped to dominate the Philippine Cup so Laput has to work doubly hard and hold his own.
He had shown remarkable improvement, which he started in the preseason tournament, PBA On Tour, where he posted averages of 12.3 points and 10 rebounds per game, which he eventually carried over to the elimination round of the Commissioner’s Cup.
In fact, Laput was able to unravel some big games like a 16-point performance in their 99-72 win over NLEX on 1 December last year, a 14-point production in their 94-90 triumph over San Miguel Beer on 10 December and a 10-point showing in their 88-80 victory over Converge last 23 December.
Still, Laput needs to step up in big moments and carry the Hotshots back to the title they last tasted in 2018.
