AJ Manas
- Thread starter j2pac
- Start date
Cleveland_Rocks
Member
AJ Manas is a great player. Will he work to get to the next level?
If you can beat Jayson Shaw 9-4, you're already next level.
My only concern is that he'll get tired of winning.
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
A bright star if he continues to play like he has the sky's the limit for him !
Manas beat Shaw two in a row.If you can beat Jayson Shaw 9-4, you're already next level.
My only concern is that he'll get tired of winning.
You gotta wait until they're in their mid 20's to know. Of course young kids are going to be unfazed. They're still in the phase of thinking they should beat everyone every time. There is no concept of oh I shouldn't win here, I'm going to put more pressure on myself. It's youthful naivete.Wow. I finally got a chance to watch this kid play. That young fella is scary good. Watched him play a little against Shaw. He looked unfazed. I'm impressed.
We see this all the time, some transition through with some but not a lot of difficulty, like Filler and some have to take several years to get through it, like Wu. Some never overcome it or decide their interests lie elsewhere like Chucky Holyoke, who at one point was supposed to be an up and comer. There were others, but I can't remember names off the top of my head.
I raved about his game early on, but he has been inconsistent, playing great at times and being careless at others. I don't rate him with the best players quite yet.
Quite possibly, he plays with the same frivolity that other youths with the naivete do but a lot of established filipinos do also.I think this particular Filipino might be different.
Like Jay said, he's had some inconsistencies that could be indicative of losing that youthful naivete, but that could also just be due to his style of play and not enough seasoning yet.
But don't get me wrong, I ain't offering him the 7 any time soon.
I think this kid will/can be as good as he wants to be. Should he choose to get the mental side of it completely dialed in, he's Darth Vader, or maybe Yoda. He reminds me of a Tiger Woods type talent, just waiting for Butch Harmon to come along and polish the edges. Maybe a lousy analogy, but...
Manas is a hard one to handicap. His runout skills and pattern recognition are super-elite and give him a chance to runover pretty much anybody, but his tactical game is under-developed and he makes some poor choices from time to time. In offense-oriented matches, he's far more dangerous than he is when he has to grind.
I'm not yet willing to call him a complete player, but if his development and decision making can catch up to his world class skills, he'll likely be a top ten player in the world at some point.
He is, in rough terms, the male Chezka Centeno, who often manages to overcome some of her tactical limitations with mind-blowing offensive execution, but covering up for tactical limitations is a lot harder in men's pool than women's pool, and if he hopes to reach the highest level, he'll have to add some of the missing pieces.
He may never play defense like a Reyes, Pagulayan, Orcullo, or Biado. That said, were he to reach Lee Van Corteza's level in beating players to the shot, his prospects will be very bright.
One thing is for sure, though. He is entertaining to watch.
I'm not yet willing to call him a complete player, but if his development and decision making can catch up to his world class skills, he'll likely be a top ten player in the world at some point.
He is, in rough terms, the male Chezka Centeno, who often manages to overcome some of her tactical limitations with mind-blowing offensive execution, but covering up for tactical limitations is a lot harder in men's pool than women's pool, and if he hopes to reach the highest level, he'll have to add some of the missing pieces.
He may never play defense like a Reyes, Pagulayan, Orcullo, or Biado. That said, were he to reach Lee Van Corteza's level in beating players to the shot, his prospects will be very bright.
One thing is for sure, though. He is entertaining to watch.
At the age of 19 it's an interesting time, Choose.... all pool or.....women and pool..... or hang around older men for the next five years because the games more important, might be a good move from my POV
.DieselPete
Well-known member
Yeah, understanding the current state of AJ Manas as a player means watching him both when he bulldozes great players in fantastic displays of total offense, AND watching him in some of his losses, include big money matches, in which he eschews basic safety play in favor of firing away, seems to lose interest when he falls behind, seeing that the dog has some quit in it (perhaps because of his age), seeing that the nonchalance that makes him look brilliant can also bite him in the butt, etc.
I have watched several money matches in which there is a common refrain in the comments stream of, "If I was backing him, I would want to kill him because he just quit."
Great player? Sure.
Among the world's best? No. Not yet.
Yes, he has to get mentally stronger, but I think that's not the biggest issue. He shoots as straight as all but a handful in the men's game, but he is missing some features, especially in the areas of defense, kicking, and the use of two-way-shots. Until he's playing all the right shots, he won't be in the process of mastering all the right shots.
It is not uncommon for a young, really straight shooter, to never get around to becoming elite in the skills needed to beat players to the shot (the break, defense, kicking, jumping, using two-way shots, tactical conceptualization and general risk management). Today's brand of 9ball, with very tight pockets and a very narrow break box, requires a lot of grinding, and the big winners are those that complement their superior offensive execution with the knowledge and skills to beat opponents to the shot.
Even if he becomes mentally stronger and has the work ethic of an SVB, Gorst or Filler, he won't get to the top unless he becomes a more well-rounded player.
Wishing him well in his continued pursuit of excellence.
Yeah it's reminiscent of the higher amatuer levels where a player can become a danger to win any regional tourney but NEVER uses or learns how to use side spin. Great shot maker, etc, but limits how high he can reach by not learning all aspects of the game.
I'm not innocent in that respect either, the first few years I took this game seriously I learned to use draw and follow along with tangent line and speed control to do anything on the table. That just doesn't cut it in general and especially in specialist games like one hole. Higher level aspects like throw, reverse object ball spin, etc are absolute necessities at the higher levels of the game.
And until you've mastered those and other aspects of the game, making the right choice in situations isn't even possible, because your game doesn't precipitate all the available options.
He played aranas on stream this week, looked completely uninterested. I still believe though