By REYNALD MAGALLON
Blackwater head coach Jeff Cariaso is handing over the keys to Troy Rosario to lead the team in the upcoming PBA season.
The Bossing mentor issued the challenge to his star player and made sure to lay out all of his expectations from him when he assumed the head coaching role during the offseason.
“Troy is our guy. He is our main guy. He knows that. When I first took over he was the first one I spoke to. Siya yung unang kinausap ko with regards to understanding what his role is gonna be,” said Cariaso who is looking at Rosario to be the Bossing’s go-to-guy.
“Every team has it. Every team has that go-to, that star level talent that needs to be the leader on and off the court and I told Troy this is your team so you have to be able to carry the load and understand what is expected from him,” he added.
Rosario was traded to Blackwater last season and has yet to really find his niche with the team due to a couple of injuries.
Now with a clean bill of health and a full offseason to forge his chemistry with his team, Cariaso is optimistic that Rosario can finally rediscover the old, dominant form that enabled him to be part of Gilas Pilipinas in his early years in the league.
“I know last year he was hurt by injuries medyo nahirapan siya to recover from that but he has a clean bill of health now. He’s looking good in practice, he’s looking good in tuneup games so we foresee him leading that charge for us,” said Cariaso.
Rosario showed semblance of his top form in the PBA on Tour which proved to bring a lot of positives for Blackwater which finished third with a 7-4 record.
“The drop in his performance, I want to attribute that, mainly because of the injuries so now that he’s recovered, there’s time for him to kinda work on his skills again,” noted Cariaso who also sees a great year ahead for his veteran forward especially if he stays healthy.
“More than anything, he’s just feeling good. Iba yung feeling good, feeling healthy. Sometimes when you are feeling something or minor injuries here and there, you can’t perform and do the things na gusto mo so I’ve always said it, as long as he stays healthy he’s gonna have a great year,” emphasized Cariaso.
