JORGE Gallent is keeping his fingers crossed San Miguel will be injury-free come the next season of the PBA.
Jorge Gallent on SMB outlook
By that, he meant having six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo and three-time scoring champion Terrence Romeo back in the active roster.
The two are both nursing injuries during the Beermen’s campaign in the season-ending Governors Cup, where they were swept by reigning champion Barangay Ginebra Kings in their best-of-five semifinals series.
“We just have to stay healthy,” said Gallent. “Come May, I think there’s a (pre-season) tournament, so I just hope the two of them are healthy and we can build through it.”
Fajardo went down with an MCL sprain in San Miguel’s campaign in the East Asian Super League (EASL) Champions Week that kept him out for the remainder of the season’s final conference.
Romeo meanwhile, only suited up for a single game as he continued to recover from a hamstring injury,
“We missed Terrence. His hamstring really hurts pa. But I’m so happy for T because he’s there dressing up and trying it in the round robin. But it still hurts daw,” said Gallent of the high-scoring wingman, who earlier also battled a back injury that made him missed the Philippine Cup.
“So I just hope he gets his therapy, and I hope the big boy (June Mar) gets well soon.”
The San Miguel coach, who took over the reins from Leo Austria at the start of the conference, admitted the team’s campaign took its toll when Fajardo injured his knee.
“It brings down a little bit of your confidence because the six-time MVP got injured. But I don’t make excuses of that,” he said.
Gallent though, did credit the rest of the Beermen from taking the slack once the 6-foot-11 Fajardo got sideline.
“The rest of the people stepped up,” noting even in the absence of the veteran big man, San Miguel still finished as the no. 2 seeded team and advanced to the semifinals after taking care of Converge in the quarterfinals.
Still, the gap left by Fajardo was too big enough to compensate as the Beermen saw their season ended at the hands of Justin Brownlee and the Kings.
But a return to active duty by Fajardo and Romeo gives Gallent reason to be more optimistic by next season.
“For me, we just have to be healthy, and we will be OK,” said the San Miguel coach.
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