MARCIO Lassiter and RJ Jazul are still at the peak of their powers in the PBA and somehow, they feel a bit weird seeing their sons strut their stuff in the UAAP stage already.
“Definitely feel a little bit old,” quipped Lassiter, with his son Montae now playing for the Far Eastern University junior high school squad.
Jazul, whose son Sky plays for Ateneo, added, “Napakaswerte ng mga bata ngayon. At their young age, they’re experiencing playing at this stage na.”
It does feel a bit of a passing of the torch for Lassiter and Jazul as their sons get the rare chance of suiting up at the hollowed floors of the Big Dome.
“Nakakatuwa rin pero you feel lucky to see him play while I’m still playing,” said the Phoenix guard.
The San Miguel shooter, who’s now the PBA record holder for most three-points made, agreed, noting: ”I think it’s great for his career now so I just want to be there for him. It’s just great to see him carve his own path. Hopefully I could be there and give as much advice as I can and be a father, not a coach.”
READ: Marcio stands alone! Lassiter now PBA's all-time 3-point king
But the younger Lassiter and Jazul are just two of the many second-generation players who are starting to carve their own paths.
Aside from Lassiter, also in the Baby Tamaraws roster are Mic Pingris (Mark Pingris), CP Miranda (Denok Miranda), Krystof Isip (Mark Isip), Jaidel Daa (Dennis Daa), and Dos Adriano (Kiko Adriano), while Dwayne Khobuntin is following his father Glenn’s path in National University.
There’s a lot more in the senior high school division.
Ateneo has Ziv Espinas (Gabby Espinas); FEU has Tash Maierhofer (Rico Maierhofer) and Liam Salangsang (Allan Salangsang); Mapua has Dwayne Miranda (Denok Miranda) and Carl Rodriguez (Larry Rodriguez); NU has Roje Matias (Ronnie Matias); La Salle Green Hills has Ram Sharma (Carlo Sharma); Arellano has Jacob Ferriols (John Ferriols); and Perpetual has Lebron Jhames Daep (Rommel Daep), among others.
Of course, carrying the family legacy in the sport comes with its own sets of pressures.
But for the fathers, they’ve constantly reminded their sons to not be weighed down by these external factors and rather, just focus on their games.
“It’s still early. He hasn’t done anything, I always tell him. You just got to get your feet wet, keep the good habits of working hard,” said Lassiter, with Montae not shying away from using the jersey no. 13 as his own number with the Baby Tamaraws.
“I always tell him you can always lead the horse to the well to drink water but you cannot force it. So always be in the moment, embrace the grind, and just have fun.”
Jazul, whose son also wanted to use no. 13 but eventually settled for his birthday and used jersey no. 25, had the same advice.
“I told him you make your own path and work hard. Since bata pa siya, he really wanted to be there sa UAAP, so sabi ko lang ito na yung opportunity so grab it, have confidence, and just play your game.”
As much as the next generation is there to seize the day, both Marcio and RJ are still in agreement of one thing: they’re still the better players.
“Sa ngayon, oo. Nasa PBA na ako eh,” Jazul said with a laugh.
Lassiter was more definitive. “Hell yeah, I am!”
Maybe, for now.
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