CALOY Garcia is confident everything has been settled between him and star player Raymund Almazan as he looks forward to starting afresh at Rain or Shine.
"Hopefully, all's well, ends well," said Garcia, days after the dialogue he had with Almazan and Rain or Shine management on Monday where coach and player finally settled their differences.
"Sana malinaw lahat," added Garcia on Wednesday. "On our side nasabi namin yung gusto namin, and narinig namin yung gusto naming marinig."
Almazan admitted his constant misunderstanding with Garcia, who was also his college mentor at Letran, led him to go 'AWOL' and miss the team's last seven games in the PBA Governors Cup.
Accompanied by wife Liza and agent Danny Espiritu, Almazan met co-team owner Raymund Yu, team governor Atty. Mamerto Mondragon, and alternate board of governor Edisob Oribiana along with Garcia.
Garcia, however, refuses to blame the absence of Almazan, who has been suspended for the rest of the conference, for the team's failure to advance in the quarterfinals - just a conference after finishing as the top seed in the Commissioner's Cup playoffs.
"I think we just started this conference on the wrong foot," said Garcia as the team tumbled to a 2-7 record following a 107-93 loss to Phoenix at the Astrodome.
He added the failure to tap the right import to suit the team's system also affected the team's campaign. Current import Terrence Watson came over to replace JNathan Bullock after the Elasto Painters' first two games.
"We have nothing against Terrence, he really plays hard," said the Rain or Shine mentor. "But minsan malaking factor ang having an import who can finish the game and score in the end."
"Malungkot lang ako sa performance ng import namin, he did not give us anything today," he said of Watson, who finished with just four points on 1-of-5 shooting and had seven rebounds.
"But I told the players that I'm happy with the way they performed. The players played with heart."
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