.MANILA—Though sad at how Talk ‘N Text’s Grand Slam bid ended, business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan will be keeping intact his Tropang Texters for the PBA’s 37th Season starting on October 2.
Board representative Ricky Vargas, in a telephone interview with the Inquirer Thursday, bared that the Texters will have the same lineup, even as he congratulated their nemesis, Petron Blaze, for a great effort in the Governors’ Cup title series.
“We’ve got a young team and our wish is for all of them (players) to be healthy (for the coming season),” the amiable Vargas said.
“He (Pangilinan) was very disappointed and sad,” Vargas said when asked how the billionaire-sportsman Pangilinan felt after a 73-85 Game 7 loss to the Boosters last Sunday night.
That defeat spoiled the Texters’ quest to become just the fourth league franchise to complete a Triple Crown sweep.
“We were beaten, simple as that,” added Vargas. “They (Boosters) wanted it more and they played really hard to win and I congratulate them for that.”
A probable addition to the squad, which Vargas said would be a very welcome one, would be Japeth Aguilar, the former No. 1 pick in the Rookie Draft who has spent the last two years with the Smart-Gilas program after being traded by Burger King to the Texters.
Next month, the 6-foot-9 center who played collegiate ball with Western Kentucky University in the US NCAA, will be going with the Smart Gilas five to Wuhan, China, for the Fiba-Asia Olympic qualifier.
Aguilar said he would stay with Smart Gilas for as long as coach Rajko Toroman stays as coach of the national team.
Newly crowned MVP Jimmy Alapag and Jason Castro, who shared Finals MVP honors in both the Philippine and Commissioner’s Cups, will continue to be the backbone of the squad.