What are the advantages of having "young guns" inside the PBA Bubble?

It has been two weeks since the 2020 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup restarted in a bubble in Clark and in that span, we've seen different things that happened on the court. For one, games are being played seven days a week with some seeing action up to three times a week and that's exhausting especially for the veterans of each team. And that's where the young guns of each team will enter the picture.

Bull By the Horn by Benny Benitez aired its 14th episode on Saturday and second straight episode that is solely dedicated to what has been happening inside the PBA bubble. And like in the past episodes, Benny Benitez was also joined by nine-time PBA champion coach, Jong Uichico and this time, Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Head Coach Caloy Garcia was able to join the discussion. 

Among the topics that were heavily discussed in last Saturday's episode was the importance of having young players on your team in a compressed conference inside a bubble. 

For the former national team coach and current head of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) Coaches' Academy head in Uichico, "Especially now that you're playing almost every other day. They (the players) aren't used to it (playing almost every other day). In the past, they get to rest for three days because the games were being played on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays so your back-to-back games are very limited. Usually, you have three to four days worth of rest," Furthermore, Uichico added, "You will need young players who can on going. Your motor is going and going. When you're young, a little rest is enough and you can play again. It's a big thing that the young players to the team nowadays and that's why the bench is very important. It's important that the bench players contribute so that the veteran players can rest,"

For Caloy Garcia who has four rookies in his squad inside the bubble, "They're (the rookies) a big help in the sense that you have to have fresh legs" Garcia, whose team holds a 3-1 slate heading into Sunday's game against the Blackwater Elite, also revealed that during their first practice inside the Clark bubble, it was the rookies who suffered from cramps rather than the veterans but for the mentor, "It shows that the only problem of the rookies is that they don't know how to pace themselves because when it comes to the game, they are still interested because it's their first time to play in the PBA. I took that as an advantage in the sense that you know that they will come up and play defense. They're giving us time (for the veterans) to get back into game shape"

Among the four rookies that Rain or Shine has, Adrian Wong has been playing the most minutes and has already appeared in mall four games of the team thus far. Wong is averaging seven points while shooting 35% from the three-point line. In their 89-88 loss to the Alaska Aces, Wong finished with 12 points after scoring 15 points in their previous encounter against the NorthPort Batang Pier.    

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