New-look Globalport will be fast
IF PEOPLE get the impression that businessman/sportsman Mikee Romero’s interest in basketball has diminished somewhat because his team in the PBA is not doing too well or because he’s spending too much time playing polo, they’re mistaken.
Early last Sunday, Romero sent a text message.
He said he was so excited about the 2013 rookie draft, he only got two hours of sleep the night before.
“It’s the same kind of excitement I felt years ago just before Harbour Centre’s very first championship,” Romero said, quickly explaining that he didn’t mean this to say he was expecting a championship in the PBA this season.
“Will you be at the draft this afternoon? Well you’re in for a big surprise. I think we might be able to pull a drafting coup,” said Romero, who got into the Forbes list of the 50 richest Filipinos this year.
Romero confided he would get the fifth, sixth, seventh and 11th draft picks in the first round but did not divulge the identities of his draftees.
“Please keep this close to your heart, until the actual draft,” he requested.
I didn’t ask. I like surprises. I just asked if he’d be wearing a three-piece signature suit for the event.
He said this time the team will come in barongs.
* * *
All told, Globalport picked 6 players from the draft in this sequence: Terrence Romeo, RR Garcia, Isaac Holstein, Nico Salva, Jopher Custodio and LA Revilla.
“We now have the youngest team in the PBA. The average is 24 years,” said Romero. “We worked hard and long to come up with what we think is the most potent composition. Three months. That’s the time it took to come up with this lineup.”
“We’re doing a complete rebuilding, and it’s very exciting.”
* * *
At T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant, where the brand new Globalport Batang Pier team proceeded for dinner after the long-drawn draft proceedings, Romero showed that he was dead-serious about coming up with a more creditable, if not exemplary, performance this season.
His instructions to assistant coach Glenn Capacio: “Make them run, run, run.”
“I want a fast running team.”
Romero overhauled the coaching staff, too, bringing in new assistants from FEU.
He then called his newly-drafted rookies one by one to give each of them a pep talk.
It’s hard to tell if his words registered because the rookies seemed to still be in a daze, floating on Cloud 9 and savoring the moment.
