ANTIPOLO - Under Pat Aquino's watchful eye, expect more playing time for Blackwater's top picks.
Aquino said one of the directives team owner Dioceldo Sy gave him was to give more minutes to the young players whom the franchise picked high in the past drafts.
“That’s part of the plan. It's not just a marching order from Boss Dio to use your picks. It's about time that we use all the top picks that we have and expose them to what we need,” he said.
The Bossing still trot out their top picks over the last three drafts in Christian David (Season 48, No. 2), Sedrick Barefield (Season 49, No. 2), and Dalph Panopio (Season 50, No. 3).
READ: TNT survives late Blackwater run to spoil Pat Aquino's PBA debut
Panopio was the most impressive in Blackwater's first game with Aquino at the helm when he had 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals in 31 minutes of play in their 99-94 loss to TNT on Tuesday.
The minutes of the former Gilas Pilipinas Youth player were up from the 17 minutes he was averaging during the first four out of the possible five games this conference. He missed one game against Magnolia.
David saw action for 32 minutes, up from his 22.8 average, and had 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Barefield breached the 40-minute mark for the second straight game to end up with 12 points as well, but on a cold 4-of-18 shooting from the field.
“I think that would always be on that line na we are going to make sure that everybody gets that playing time,” said Aquino.
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