Analyzing Shaun Ildefonso's decision to join the NU Bulldogs

Last night, in a surprising turn of events for many, Shaun Ildefonso announced on his Twitter account that he was leaving Ateneo to join the NU Bulldogs. You can find his entire message below:

Ateneo will always be home. Thank you for the One Big Fight 💙 pic.twitter.com/uV2usLF7bx

— Shaun Ildefonso (@ShaunIldefonso) May 29, 2017

The gist of his message is this: He's joining NU to join his dad, and he feels like with the Bulldogs, his athletic potential will be fully realized. The rest of his message has him thanking friends that he made during his stay in college, and the rest of the Ateneo community.

For the case of this piece, only two facts are important: Shaun Ildefonso is going to NU, and a big reason for that happens to be his dad, Danny Ildefonso. So how do these factors affect not only Shaun, but other things as well?

Let's talk about just that.

How the decision affects Shaun

It's important that we discuss the primary subject of this entire exercise. The reason that I'm writing this piece in the first place, Shaun Ildefonso.

Entering his second year in the UAAP, Shaun wasn't projected by many to receive heavy minutes from Coach Tab Baldwin. After all, he has to compete against more polished forwards in Mike Nieto, Vince Tolentino and Raffy Verano. The reality of it is that, Shaun doesn't possess the shooting of Mike, the experience of Vince and the versatility of Raffy. Coach Tab has very little reason to play Shaun over those three other forwards.

So does making the move to NU give minutes for him? Well, that's a difficult question to answer at this juncture considering that Shaun will be sitting out one year because of residency. If we were to answer that question based on how he is right now, then the answer is no. It's highly unlikely that Coach Jamike chooses to play Shaun over Matt Salem, an experienced Stretch 4 and Jonas Tibayan, someone who Jamike prioritized to get. Matt's shooting and Jonas' length and versatility defensively make it hard to believe that he'll be able to get playing time from the get-go.

But that's the thing with residency. Not only does it give a player the chance to get himself acclimated with the new culture that he's going to be immersed with. It also gives him a chance to focus on particular aspects on his game so that he'll be a better player moving forward.

Looking at Shaun, what does he have working for him? He's incredibly strong. That was his calling card as an undersized big man with the Blue Eaglets. He has so semblance of shooting. He's relatively athletic. But against the competition that he's against, describing him with words like "semblance" and "relatively" won't cut it. He has to be able to transition as a wing player by working on his speed, shooting, and ball-handling.

He has his strength and decent basketball IQ working for him. The challenge now for Shaun is whether he'll be able to use these strong attributes of his to become a better player come Season 81. Given Coach Jamike's track record of developing players and the intensive program of the Bulldogs, it won't be surprising if we're able to see a completely different Shaun Ildefonso come next season.

How the decision affects the NU Bulldogs

(Photo Credit: FIBA)

With Shaun, NU gets itself another 4 man to its already rich crop of forwards. Aside from Matt Salem and Jonas Tibayan, the Bulldogs still have Joshua Sinclair and John Lloyd Clemente on board. NU has itself a problem with the amount of minutes that they have to give each player, but it's a good problem for their side nonetheless.

Where it hits the Bulldogs hard is with regards to their desire to get Troy Mallillin on board. As mentioned before, one of the rumored factors for Troy bolting La Salle is his desire to get minutes. That was one of NU's selling points. Join the Bulldogs, you get a decent amount of minutes, but at the same time, you get to be developed by a great coach in Coach Jamike Jarin. 

Now with Ildefonso on board, it complicates things for the Bulldogs. Will Mallillin still consider NU a prime destination for him given the amount of depth that they have in the forward positions? That's something that we're going to have to watch develop for these next few weeks.

The Dave Ildefonso situation

(Photo Credit: SLAM Philippines)

Instead of discussing how it affects the Blue Eagles, it's more important to discuss the Dave Ildefonso situation. After all, this is something that directly affects Ateneo in the first place.

If you notice, the Blue Eagles haven't recruited anybody from this batch. A big reason for that is because of the Blue Eaglets' Fab Four that's set to graduate next season. That group includes SJ Belangel, RV Berjay, Jason Credo, and Shaun's younger brother, Dave Ildefonso. The logic was simple. Why recruit when you have these four mega recruits on the way? It's a group of players who aren't just familiar with how it is in Ateneo, but they also happen to be arguable Top 10 guys in their batch. That's insane, and it makes life easier for the Blue Eagles. All good right? 

With this Shaun Ildefonso move, not exactly. Danny I joining NU was already a big move in itself. But NU now having two of the three Ildefonso boys? That just complicates things to an entirely new level.

If you were Dave, where do you go? To the school which has served as your home for so long now, a program that you are familiar with and a staff that knows you? Or do you go with two of your loved ones, with the chance to play for a championship with your dad and brother? Imagine that. Raising the UAAP championship as a family. That's something the Tengs can't attest to. Even the Ravenas can't say that they won a title together. Now the Ildefonsos have that chance, if only Dave decides to take his talents to the NU Bulldogs program. 

Let's continue the overthinking and say that Dave does decide to join the NU Bulldogs. Now, what about the rest of the Fab Four? NU is a team that will surely try to make a run for SJ Belangel given their lack of a lead guard. Their pitch will be simple: Join Ateneo and you have to wait for your turn since the Blue Eagles still have Matt Nieto, Tyler Tio and others on board. Join us, and you're the guy.  

With regards to Berjay and Credo, they're two guys who are relatively easy to insert to ones team. RV is a solid scoring big man who can easily fit as a role player. On the other hand, Credo is a lengthy player who can play multiple positions. It won't be surprising if NU does decide to make a run for the two.

We're a long way to go before Dave and the rest of the Fab Four even decide to make a decision for college. They have their eyes set on a championship in the UAAP Juniors Division for the Blue Eaglets. But for the coming months, these are just some of the things that we should take into account regarding Dave and his possible decision to join his brother and dad in NU.