Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Regardless if the reported trade demands from Rain or Shine players are true or not, coach Caloy Garcia was appreciative of the professionalism from his team in their 90-84 victory over Meralco on Friday.
“We all know going into this game that there are issues regarding our players, but I told them that we just have to be professional about it and put in the effort because the ones paying their salaries are the owners and that’s the only way that we can repay them,” said the soft-spoken mentor in his postgame press conference.
This past week, Beau Belga, Raymond Almazan, and Jericho Cruz were all rumored to have made trade demands following a supposed spat with their coach.
But Garcia said that these supposed trade requests are nothing new.
“We know from the beginning that Jericho really wants to go back to coach Yeng (Guiao). I told him that there are times that players want to be traded, but we just have to be professional about it,” he elaborated. “I know Raymond is motivated because he wanted to prove something and we’ll take it slowly. And for Beau, it has been an issue for the longest time, even years ago.”
Garcia, though, neither confirmed nor denied if trades for these players are indeed on the table and opted to clarify that he enjoys a healthy relationship with the three.
“Just to clear everything out, Raymond and I are in good terms. On Jericho, I told him that this is his job and you have to love your job. If he comes in and play hard, they’ll get to play,” he said.
“I just told them that the only way you can be traded is if you play good, because if you play good, the team can also get something good in return.”
Despite all the distractions, Garcia was glad that the three able to contribute and help the Elasto Painters win their first back-to-back games in the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup.
“I hope this will be the start. Like I said, we just have to think on how we can get better,” he said.
Rain or Shine stakes its two-game winning streak against Magnolia on Saturday.