KELLY Nabong is confident new teammate Terrence Romeo's career will get a new lease on life at San Miguel.
"It's gonna be very exciting coming into the all-Filipino and everybody's expecting us to win the title again," Nabong said after the three-time scoring champion was acquired by the Beermen from TNT in exchange for Brian Heruela, David Semerad, and a future first-round pick.
Nabong is no stranger to Romeo, with the two having teamed up at the forefront of the then-GlobalPort (now NorthPort) side for three years.
Together with premier slasher Stanley Pringle, they brought the Batang Pier to their only semifinal appearance in franchise history back in the 2016 Philippine Cup.
But as much as Nabong is beaming with excitement with his renewed bond with Romeo, he knows that it will all depend on how the former Far Eastern University star will adjust playing in a loaded team like San Miguel.
"From his last stint with TNT, he seemed like he grew a lot. But it's all about adjustments. It's a new team, a new system, so he has to learn adjustments on who he plays with cause we got superstars here, we got scorers here. He's a scorer himself, too, so he has to come in and put in the work," he said.
"It all starts with the ground work. Once he gets in here and learns our system, how we do things over here, I think he can contribute a lot for us."
The rich definitely got richer with the arrival of Romeo as he joins an already powerhouse San Miguel crew bannered by four-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo, former MVP Arwind Santos, two-time Defensive Player of the Year Chris Ross, and Team Pilipinas studs Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter, and Christian Standhardinger.
However, as formidable as that lineup is on paper, Nabong was quick to warn that a fifth straight Philippine Cup trophy for the Beermen, and possibly a first for him and Romeo, will not come easy.
"It's not gonna be handed to us," he testified. "There's a lot of teams out there that got better. It's not gonna be easy. It's not gonna be a cakewalk. So we really got to buckle down and get to work, and show who the real champions are. But again, the sky's the limit for this team."