IF you haven't noticed, Jojo Lastimosa, for some reason, almost never sits on the TNT bench during games.
The TNT team manager admits he avoids sitting on the team bench during games - perhaps the only PBA team manager not to do so - for two reasons.
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One, Jolas, who won a PBA championship for TNT in his brief spell stepping in for Chot Reyes, explains that sitting at courtside behind the TNT bench gives him a different perspective of the game.
Two, Lastimosa says the courtside seat keeps him far from referees, keeping him from complaining to the officials during games or influencing the calls by his mere presence.
Questioning referees' calls, according to him, is the job of the coaches.
“As a team manager or any official, sitting on the bench shouldn’t be also influencing or trying to meddle in the game calls. Our coaches are more than enough to complain or contest calls,” Lastimosa said.
Lastimosa, a 10-time PBA champion with Purefoods and Alaska and a member of the PBA’s original 25 Greatest Players. stressed the job of a team manager is to make sure "our players and staff are taken care of."
Or, if the situation calls for it, file a protest before the PBA Commissioner's Office over a call that the team feels should be addressed.
“If a situation arises that referees aren’t doing their jobs, there’s another venue for that,” says Lastimosa.
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