ANTIPOLO - Meralco active consultant Nenad Vucinic felt the semifinal finish in the PBA 50th Season Commissioner’s Cup was already an achievement considering the Bolts had to switch imports before and during the conference.
The Serbian coach admitted the Bolts were caught off-guard when they were forced to change imports at the start of the midseason conference, bringing in Marvin Jones after original choice Ismael Romero got embroiled in controversy.
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Jones was later replaced by Patrick Gardner after Game 4 of the best-of-seven semifinal series against TNT.
Asked if the changes of imports had an effect in their campaign in the Commissioner's Cup, Vucinic admitted they were bent on playing Romero even if he got embroiled in a controversy where he attacked Filipino player Nick Demusis of the Zamboanga Valientes during a pocket tournament in Doha last January.
Vucinic made it clear Romero should have been punished by a higher body for the Doha incident, but said the controversy was also bad timing for the Bolts.
“It was a very difficult situation at the start of the conference because we wanted to go (with Romero). We know the story with Romero and what happened. We wanted to go through (with it),” said Vucinic.
“There was public outrage that we wanted to sign him. I still don’t know why. Just because he hit somebody that is Filipino. He should have been punished for sure for whatever reason by a sanction body. It was very close to the start of the season,” said Vucinic.
Vucinic said Romero later decided not to return to Meralco for the March opening of the Commissioner's Cup after he leaving to play for Puerto Rico in the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers.
“It’s very hard because it was all set. He was with us the whole time, the whole previous conference, EASL. We were just waiting for him to hop on the plane. And then because of all the outrage, he decided that he doesn’t want to be put up through the torture of being labeled as somebody that hates Filipinos, which is absolute rubbish. And it was very close to the start of the conference.”
“I thought even despite that, we did okay,” said Vucinic.
Despite the predicament early in the conference, Vucinic said the team did a great job of overcoming the odds early, starting at 5-1 and taking the No. 4 seed in the quarterfinals with an 8-4 win-loss record.
The Bolts were eliminated by TNT in six games after bringing in Gardner to replace Jones, which Vucinic felt was the right decision for the team in the semifinals.
“We brought Marvin Jones. He has done well for us. But we thought that later on in this semifinals, we had to change. And I don’t regret it,” said Vucinic.
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