CHOT Reyes is a PBA champion again after steering TNT to the 49th Season Governors’ Cup crown in dispatching Barangay Ginebra in Game 6 last Friday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, an achievement that had a lot more meaning to him than the rest of his other feats.
“There is something special about this team,” said Reyes. “Because a lot of the players are going through a lot of personal adversity. That’s why we said, for us, it was bigger than basketball.”
READ: TNT outduels Ginebra in Game 6 dogfight to complete title repeat
Of course, Reyes had to go through an adversity of his own before claiming his 10th PBA crown. The TNT coach had a tumultuous stint in his most recent time as Gilas Pilipinas coach where he received heavy criticisms after he took over from Tab Baldwin in 2022.
Reyes even labeled himself as “the most hated man in Philippine basketball” for being the coach who lost the gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi in 2022. And even after Gilas regained its supremacy in the region by reclaiming the gold in Cambodia in 2023, the criticisms just wouldn’t go away.
The bashing to Reyes came to a head in the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup when the Philippines lost one game after the other against high-level competition, prompting him to step down as Gilas Pilipinas coach because the criticisms have been hard to his family even before the last game of the tournament that Gilas won over Asia neighbor China.
After resigning from the Gilas Pilipinas post, Reyes came back to his post as TNT head coach. Fourteen months after stepping down, Reyes said he is thankful to overcome the hurdles by winning the PBA crown.
“Everything happens for a reason,” said Reyes. “I’m filled with gratitude.”
“A lot of players have things going on in their personal lives. That’s the same with me, I guess,” said Reyes.
During his tenure with Gilas Pilipinas, the term ‘learning experience’ was synonymous to Reyes due to the fans' claim that his focus as a coach was more towards learnings rather than winning games.
As it turned out, Reyes banked on the learnings of the past to be able to get back on top.
“People are talking about lesson learned, lesson learned. But it’s really lesson learned,” said Reyes.
“I’m a very growth-minded individual. For me, all of the challenges and the difficulties I went through were opportunities for me to learn and grow,” Reyes said.
The adversities he experienced made this title with TNT in the Governors' Cup much sweeter, with the campaign ending with him being carried by his players for a victory ride.
“After all of that, to be back here and winning a championship with this group of guys is incredibly satisfying on a personal and team level, especially also for my family,” said Reyes.
Reyes is thankful to have a solid support system led by his family during the rough times of his coaching career.
“I know we played Barangay Ginebra but there is a huge Barangay Reyes clan also watching on their television sets, cheering and praying for us,” said Reyes.
He also would rather turn the focus of the championship to the entire team.
"For me, coaching this team is not about me but we. It's about the team. It's about the collective," said Reyes
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