THERE is optimism in the air at Terrafirma with the entry of talented rookies led by No. 1 draft pick Stephen Holt.
Two holdovers of the Dyip expressed their excitement over the outlook of the team for the upcoming 48th season of the league with Holt joining the team along with fellow first-rounder Taylor Miller and big man Kemark Carino.
“Every year naman, kailangan ko maging optimistic but I guess ngayon ‘yung very promising season namin with our new guys and our import in Thomas (De Thaey),” said Juami Tiongson.
READ: Terrafirma coach raves about Stephen Holt's poise, versatility
“Madali silang kasama, ang babait and sa practice games namin, we’ve been winning and competing well. I’m really looking forward to our season,” Tiongson added.
“We have a good team this year,” said Isaac Go. “Everybody has gelled well. We have some new guys. I think the vibe of the team has been great. We’ve had a couple of tune-ups to varying results but it’s mostly positive. There’s a lot of optimism with the team. Let’s see what we can do.”
Since joining the league in 2014, Terrafirma has only qualified for the playoffs once during the 2016 Governors’ Cup when it was still called Mahindra.
Since then, the Dyip have not won more than four games in each of the conferences.
But for Tiongson, a playoff push is a realistic target for this current Terrafirma batch.
“Every year naman, ang goal ko is to make the playoffs,” said Tiongson. “All throughout my stint with Terrafirma, parati na lang kami four wins. I guess ‘yung goal namin collectively is to try to make it six wins and make it to the quarterfinals and then we will see what happens from there.”
While all the rookies have been excellent, Holt stood out no doubt.
“’Yung new guys namin, Stephen Holt, Taylor Miller, Kemark Carino, malaking tulong especially Stephen Holt. He may be a rookie pero very experienced internationally,” said Tiongson, mentioning Holt’s previous stints in other professional leagues overseason.
“He knows what he can bring already and he is unselfish sa goals namin… Nagulat ako first time I saw him, akala ko 6-1 tapos pagtingin ko, 6-4. Mas malaki pa siya kay Eric Camson. I guess he can play multiple positions. I’m very excited,” said Tiongson.
Go raved about the athleticism of Miller and the interior presence of Carino.
“We are going to see him at the point or two. You can expect him to have a couple of highlights, couple of lobs, and he will be out there. He plays hard,” said Go.
Kemark Carino is onboard
On Carino, Go said: “We lost Gabayni last season and that’s always the thing that we needed more bigs. For some reason, we can never stay healthy. Now, having Kemark in, he will provide shotblocking. As you see, me, Eric, and Aldrich aren’t really bigs who get up there and challenge shots. We are more of stay in front and keeping on the ground.”
“Now, the coaches can now be creative with their defense, allowing him to chase shots and he showed that he is able to stretch the floor,” said Go.
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