It was another forgettable season for Blackwater Bossing in 2022-23.
After a promising start in the Philippine Cup -- where they finished 8th and managed to sneak into the playoffs -- it was all downhill in the last two conferences where they posted 3-9 and 1-10 marks in the Commissioner's Cup and Governors' Cup respectively.
The dismal performance led to the dismissal of coach Ariel Vanguardia, who ended his two-year stint with an overall mark of 10-36. In his place, team management brought in former Alaska Aces and Converge FiberXers head coach Jeffrey Cariaso, who faces the monumental task of making the franchise a consistent contender.
Cariaso has the tools at his disposal to make the Bossing more competitive.
To help him out, he brought in former top overall pick Mike Cortez as an assistant. In last month's rookie draft, the Bossing surprised by picking mystery man Christian David with the second overall pick, while also tabbing guard James Kwekuteye and towering center Clifford Jopia in the later rounds.
The core of Troy Rosario, Baser Amer, Rashawn McCarthy, Rey Suerte, Mike DiGregorio, JVee Casio, Yousef Taha and Ato Ular are returning. For the upcoming Commissioner's Cup, the Bossing signed up Chris Ortiz, who suited up for Puerto Rico in the recent FIBA World Cup.
"Slowly but surely. Being an import conference, a couple of new guys, that being familiar with one another is still lacking," Cariaso said after the Bossing lost to the Converge FiberXers in a pocket tournament last week.
"Everyone is still understanding the system, understanding roles. We're a little all over the place right now, to be honest with you. But I told them, that's the purpose of why we're having these games is, to knock out some of the kinks in what we're doing and by the time opening comes around we should be better.
"I'm really happy with a lot of the guys coming in, putting in the work, excited about the change in coaching staff."
Cariaso knows that it will take more than a few new faces to change the fortunes of a franchise that has gone 61-180 and has not made a single semifinals since joining the league in 2014.
"We're trying to bring in an improved culture, and I told them it doesn't happen overnight," he conceded.
"It's one of those things where you got to just stay in the process, keep working, take the wins. Despite the losses, if you lose a game, take the wins out of that. There's positivity in that and growth from that and then the things that we need to work on.
"If I may be honest, one of the things that we'd like guys to be more positive and focus on is when adversity hits you, when struggle hits you, when you hit a hard time and it could be during the course of the game, it could be a play here and there, it could be stretches throughout a course of a game, or it could be just games in general - when adversity hits you just to be mentally strong."
When the Bossing hit the floor in the coming Commissioner's Cup, all eyes will be on their prized rookie David, who was something of a mystery heading into the draft after he declined to work out in the combine and who was dogged by speculation about the condition of his knees.
The Bossing, though, did their homework.
"We're happy with him, we're patient with him," Cariaso said. "Everyone talked about his injury. We did our due diligence and making sure what exactly it was.
"We found out that his rehab and therapy after surgery wasn't well, wasn't good. So right now, we're focused on strengthening his legs and getting him in the best shape of his career, and we feel like he has so much potential."
At 6-foot-6, David is an intriguing player in that he runs the floor well for someone of his size.
He figures to be a match-up problem for opposing teams given his ability to play small forward or even shooting guard.
"That's what we were excited about because we know he's a natural three man, but he has height at 6-6," Cariaso added. "He has skills where he can post up and seal guys like a four, but he can shoot it like a two or the three.
He's very smart, very intelligent, he has a good basketball mind."
Cariaso also brushes aside any talk about David's health, declaring: "He was 100% even coming in.
It's really just the strength of the legs. He can't move the way he wants to, so we're focusing there and making sure and it's gonna be continuous. He's got to understand that to play minutes and long minutes in our league, you got to have the strong legs and I think we're on the right path."
For his part, David said he's still adjusting to the style of play here.
"It's been a smooth transition," he told ESPN. "I'm still getting used to the physicality here, but it's been good. I'm learning a lot from the veterans on our team. I'm still adjusting to everything that's going on here."
David also hopes to bring "a lot of energy" and "good defense", adding: "Hopefully (I'll bring) a lot of scoring as well. I'm still adjusting to everything, but it's coming together."
"He's still learning how to play in the PBA," Cariaso concurred. "I'm sure there's a culture shock a little bit in the style of play. So once he learns how to be physical, once he understands he needs to be stronger then I think he'll look adjust fine."
Cariaso likens David to "a taller Allein Maliksi" and "a little like J-Wash (Jay Washington)" in that "he can shoot and then he's big."
In Ortiz, Blackwater hopes to get an all-around import who can provide offense on multiple fronts.
"What we liked about Chris and is his ability to again stretch out the floor, shoot the three, go to the basket, play bigger than his size," Cariaso explained. "He just needs to understand that learning curve of being the lone import in the PBA, there's a lot expected from you.
"So he's going through that as we speak. But again, the purpose of these games is for him to improve. But we're happy with him, works hard, gets along with the guys. He's learning how to play in our league."
The Bossing certainly have the potential to make some noise, especially when Kwekuteye and Jopia finally join the team after their MPBL and NCAA obligations.
It's up to Cariaso to make sure they stay the course.
"Unfortunately, a lot of these guys were on the team last year, and they were part of that team that struggled and had a difficult time kind of digging themselves out of the grave," he said.
"As much as we'd like to say, 'Hey, it's a new year, it's a new season, it's a new staff, it's a new way of doing things, it's a new culture,' we're still gonna hit adversity.
"So when that happens, (we have to) just be stronger. Forget about what happened last year and just kind of motivate yourself to try to improve."