Guard Terrence Romeo sits on the TNT bench during a game against Phoenix. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel didn’t take anyone’s draft picks in the 2018 PBA Rookie Draft but it did set a plan to acquire the polarizing Terrence Romeo from TNT.
The Beermen traded away role players Jay-R Reyes, Ronald Tubid, Rashawn McCarthy, and their 2019 first round pick for the Columbian franchise’s first overall pick in the 2017 Draft that turned out to be Christian Standhardinger.
This time around, San Miguel is planning to trade bench players David Semerad, Brian Heruela, a 2019 first round pick, and a 2021 first round pick for the beleaguered Romeo.
San Miguel head coach Leo Austria kept mum on the subject but he did say that everybody deserves a second chance and that includes Romeo.
“As a player, we’ll start with his good traits and Terrence played for Gilas,” said Austria in Filipino Sunday at Robinson’s Manila. “He’s one of the most admired players.”
“Everyone can change and his talent will always be there.”
It’s been a rough few months for Romeo, who was slapped with a three-game suspension for his participation in the Philippines-Australia brawl in the Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers in July and was also involved in a scuffle also in the same month where his group got into an altercation with bar patrons in Quezon City.
The spitfire guard has also reportedly gone AWOL from the KaTropa for several days now though, TNT head coach Bong Ravena downplayed the news, saying Romeo’s only recovering from flu.
Nonetheless, Romeo is still considered to be of the best guards in the PBA, having won the scoring title from 2015 until 2017.
“Any team will surely need his talent,” said Austria.