THOUGHTS | MARK NONOY'S FOUR-POINT ATTEMPTS

The only way the PBA can stay relevant in the basketball conversation right now is through trades. From irrational deals—like Will Navarro going to Magnolia in exchange for Calvin Abueva, Jerrick Balanza, and a second-round pick—to the hottest trade at the moment involving Jordan Heading and the rights to Mikey Williams, these moves have made the league worthy of mention even amid the twin conference finals showdowns between Oklahoma City and Minnesota (good luck next season,) and New York and Indiana.

Heck, you could even argue that the PBA is currently taking a backseat to the Gilas Pilipinas Under-16 squad, which is laying waste to its competition in Clark, Pampanga.

However, there’s one thing I noticed while reading the Converge vs. Terrafirma box scores.

What kind of coach allows Mark Nonoy to go 2-of-10 from the four-point line?

TEN CURRY RANGE SHOTS?!?

Isn't that a bit excessive?

The four-point line was introduced this season to mixed results. Sure, top-seeded teams like Magnolia have implemented it well, with Paul Lee leading the conference with 11 makes, but most teams hardly use it. Instead, many top teams avoid the area altogether. While it gives you double the reward of a two-pointer, it’s also a high-risk scoring option.

My Boston Celtics are a prime example of how living and dying by the three-point shot can be a double-edged sword—and most PBA teams know this. In fact, Rain or Shine, TNT, NLEX, and Ginebra each have five or fewer four-point conversions this conference, while Converge has none.

And while the league is filled with excellent long-range shooters, that doesn’t mean teams should spam the area. That’s why I question why on earth Mark Nonoy, Terrafirma’s first-round pick this season, ended up taking 10 shots from there.

And I know that another former UST player, Meralco's CJ Cansino, went 0-for-6 in one game. It's bad, but at least Cansino isn't the team's main gunner, and Meralco has a core of scorers to limit his attempts.

Terrafirma is currently sporting a 1–8 record and may be on its way out of the league, if a worthy buyer comes along. My biggest issue with this overdependence on long shots is that unless a team has gunners like Magnolia, it usually lacks the confidence to attack the inside. This also results in almost non-existent ball movement, as frontliners are reduced to chasing rebounds and putbacks.

Magnolia, Meralco, and San Miguel are the league leaders in team four-pointers—and aside from having reliable gunners, they also have dominant big men. There’s a reason someone like Rodney Brondial has managed to find his niche this conference. In eight games, the former Adamson standout is second on his team in rebounds—which is both surprising and impressive, as he’s averaging just under ten boards per game.

While Terrafirma has Louie Sangalang putting up near double-double numbers, the only other players averaging at least four rebounds are CJ Catapusan and Aldrech Ramos. Once again, this raises the question: why rely on long-distance bombs when your first line of defense, the offensive rebounds, is shaky?

Terrafirma is a team that has never seriously attempted to chase a title, not since they selected Manny Pacquiao as their top pick in the 2014 PBA Draft.

That sentence alone should send shivers down a fan’s spine.

Over the years, they’ve squandered opportunities that could have led to off-court benefits. Let’s not kid ourselves—this team could have built a promising core with Stephen Holt, Juami Tiongson, Javi Gomez de Liaño, Isaac Go, and Andreas Cahilig, along with Kemark Cariño, Louie Sangalang, and Mark Nonoy. They might still be raw, but at least we’d know they aspire to become serious contenders.

What’s worse is that while Nonoy is shooting 35% from four-point range (8-of-23 this conference), he’s just 6-of-31 (19%) from the three-point area. That’s a combined 14-of-54 (26%) from both zones.

In the same game against Converge, Terrafirma took 45 of its 83 shot attempts from long or longer range. Meanwhile, they were dominated on the boards, 61 to 35. Converge only went 9-of-29 from three and attempted just two shots from four-point range. Alec Stockton, Bryan Santos, and Schonny Winston went a combined 0-of-13 from deep, but Stockton, Winston, Justine Baltazar, and King Caralipio were a combined 26-of-37 from inside the arc.

Now, I’m not saying Mark Nonoy is a bad player. While he definitely needs to work on his shot selection, what’s more alarming is how Terrafirma plans to fix this, if they even intend to stick around for another season.

Sure, maybe if they stop giving away their stars, they could diffuse this mess. But if they can't bring in better talent, they’ll need to find a way to attack inside more consistently, rather than settling for low-percentage hail marys from long range.