Now back as the chief lieutenant of Tim Cone's coaching staff at Alaska, Joel Banal faces the enviable task of meeting his former team in the Finals of the Talk `N Text PBA Fiesta Cup that gets underway on Friday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Banal was credited for guiding the Phone Pals to their first and only Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) title four years ago, while leading the same team to back-to-back Finals appearances in the 2005 Fiesta and Philippine Cups.
But the partnership didn't last long and soon after, Banal saw himself again reunited with Alaska and Cone, the veteran mentor with whom he worked with for several league championships including the fabled 1996 Grand Slam.
Together, Cone and Banal will try to rekindle that winning spirit - an atmosphere the Aces hadn't experience the past seven years and an undertaking Joel knows it has to be achieved at the expense of his former team.
Cone however doesn't buy the idea that the Aces holds an edge over the Phone Pals simply because of the presence of Banal on the Alaska sideline.
"He's going to give me everything that he can regarding whatever that he knows, but whether that makes a huge impact on the series, that I don't think so," said Cone as his Aces prepare for the best-of-seven Finals.
"I'm not sure if it would give us the necessary edge, but it will definitely give us more insight than it would than say, playing against San Miguel during the semis," Cone stressed.
Derick Pumaren, the man who took over the Talk `N Text coaching chores when Banal left, doesn't see it that way either.
"We're not thinking about that. It didn't enter our minds. We're focus on winning. We know we just have to come out and win four games to take the series," he said.
Besides, Pumaren pointed out only a few players from that Talk `N Text champion team are left with the squad, among them Harvey Carey, Vic Pablo and Felix Belano.
Sophomores MacMac Cardona and Anthony Washington also played under Banal for a while but as Pumaren said the two "didn't play that much."
Cardona and Washington are now major players in the Phone Pals' quest for a second PBA championship.
To his credit, Cone admitted Banal will be of big help at the Alaska bench in the Finals, in the same manner that he was during Alaska's run of championships in the mid-90s.
"Joel's gonna help us not in dissecting Talk `N Text, but more on dissecting Alaska. That's what he's really good at. He really sees what we do. He's a tremendous problem solver. He's a tremendous coach who does adjustments very well," Cone said of Banal, also a champion player with Great Taste and champion amateur coach with the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
And the ultimate compliment Cone reserved by likening his top assistant to legendary coach Virgilio "Baby" Dalupan.
"He's the kind of guy more like a Baby Dalupan, who really looks at the game and decides this should be the way it should be played. He brings a little bit of that and it made us a little less predictable.
"He's the primary reason why we are where we are today," Cone added. (Press release)
