IF Jamike Jarin would have his way, he wants the entire Phoenix team to be kept intact for Season 48 of the PBA.
Jarin sounded off his wish after the Fuel Masters’ season came to an end on Wednesday afte a 132-105 loss to top seeds TNT Tropang Giga in the Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.
Despite a slow start that saw the team begin its campaign with four losses, the Fuel Masters managed to come together as a team under Jarin’s first stint as interim coach and do enough to clinch the eighth and last playoffs berth.
READ: TNT through to semis after rout of Phoenix
Jarin credited the hardwork of his players for making everything possible, a factor which the former NCAA champion coach from San Beda wanted to retain for next season.
“I would want to see everybody come back because we have group of very hardworking players that deserved to be in the PBA,” he stressed just before leaving the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We’re just going to be better with their attitude and the culture that we’ve built. So I want everybody to comeback and just get better."
A few of the Fuel Masters have expiring contracts, most notably rookie Encho Serrano, who is coming off a remarkable debut season as a second-round draftee by Phoenix.
Serrano has already attracted interest from several teams that management may find itself hardpressed to keep the services of the tough-playing guard out of De La Salle.
But Serrano obviously has the vote of his coach.
“As much as possible, I’d like everybody to come back because they all deserve to come back with what they’ve been through, and there’s just no going up but really high at this stage,” said Jarin, who took over the coaching reins from Topex Robinson just this conference.
Of course, the final say belongs to management as Jarin’s status as acting coach also remains up in the air.
“That’s not mine to decide. It’s management, it’s the bosses that will decide that,” he said. “But I’m a basketball coach, if you tell me to coach, I will coach, If you tell me to sit down, I will sit down.”
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