NEWLY CROWNED Mythical First Team member Sean Anthony said Ranidel de Ocampo was a big influence in his PBA career.
“Kuya @teamrdo , congrats on an amazing career and thank you for being such a positive influence in mine,” wrote Anthony a day after his retirement on his Instagram account.
De Ocampo’s retirement came after Anthony played a stellar 2019 season in which he won the Mythical First Team and the All-Defensive Team. A few days ago, it was announced that Anthony also captured the Defensive Player of the Year award by the PBA Press Corps.
But before achieving those success, Anthony had to learn the ropes. The NorthPort cager recalled how he was schooled by De Ocampo during a finals series. He was referring to Talk ‘N Text’s 2012 Philippine Cup finals match against Powerade where he was in his second season.
“When I came into the league my muses were you offensively and @jeanmarc15 (Mark Pingris) defensively. Battling with you in the finals where you gave me nine stitches above my eye and took me to school was one of the best lessons I could have learnt to start my career,” wrote Anthony, who posted a photo of him with De Ocampo with a tape above his eye to cover his stitches.
Eventually, Anthony and De Ocampo became teammates with Talk ‘N Text from 2013 to 2014 where he even learned a lot through defending him in practice and copying his moves.
“It’s also no surprise my first breakout conference was after my short stint with you at TNT where you and the other vets took me under your wing,” said Anthony, referring to his stint with Air21 after the short stay with TNT.
“I took pride in guarding you everyday while secretly stealing your moves and practicing them on my own after practice. I never could get the quick spin one way, stop on a dime, then fade in the opposite direction though,” Anthony said.
Five years after being teammates with De Ocampo, Anthony stamped his class as one of the premier defenders in the league by winning the All-Defensive Team in the Leo Awards and the Defensive Player of the Year in the upcoming PBA Press Corps awards.
Anthony closed his tribute to De Ocampo by saying: “Wishing you all the best and congrats again on an amazing career.”
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