By REYNALD MAGALLON
There’s no one prouder to see TNT head coach Jojo Lastimosa succeed than the same person who put him in the position that he is in right now – former head coach and now active consultant Chot Reyes.
It was actually Reyes who paved the way for Lastimosa to become the new head coach of the Tropang Giga in the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup after he decided to step down and focus on the preparation of the Gilas Pilipinas for the upcoming 2023 World Cup.
Having been a longtime TNT mentor, Reyes was naturally glad to see Lastimosa to win his first championship in his first conference – a feat that he now shared with Reyes along with other great coaches in the likes of Ryan Gregorio, Eric Altamirano, Joel Banal and Ciso Bernardo.
“Obviously very happy, very proud of the guys, the coaches, coach Jojo specifically and the players,” said Reyes.
“I really thought that we battled a lot of adversity in the series with all the injuries with Poy, Kelly and then Justin and Roger but the players were able to keep their minds on the most important thing. I think that’s what pulled us through sticking to what we do,” he added.
Lastimosa’s calm demeanor and being level headed is what stabilized the team through the adversities according to Reyes.
“Fantastic coaching job, his calm demeanor was a very, very big factor to stabilize the players but also coach Josh, Sandy and Yuri and Lale did a heck of a job,” he added.
Reyes said he never doubted that Lastimosa has what it takes to help TNT get over the hump as he already foreseen it when he took over for him when he was in his Gilas duty during the Philippine Cup finals.
“If you remember nung sa all-Filipino finals diba nung nawala ako iyan na yung setup eh except he was not taking such an active as now but we were already preparing toward,” Reyes recalled.
“I knew he would have a lot of value to us even when he was the team manager. He was always present at our strategy meetings and I would always seek his inputs,” he added.
Originally, Lastimosa’s stint was a one-time setup only although things might change given the success of the team. Lastimosa assured that he’s prepared for any eventuality in the future but he is leaving it to the decision of the big bosses.
“Ang pagkakaalam ko, this is a one-off. But I don’t know what MVP will do, Mr. Vargas will do, Mr. Al Panlilio will do. But I’ll be ready just in case,” said Lastimosa.
