Crucial will be the week ahead for Terrafirma.
The Dyip have their fingers crossed that Isaac Go will sign with Terrafirma to finally join the team that picked him first in the special Gilas draft in 2019.
“We will see this week,” coach Johnedel Cardel told Tiebreaker Times.
The 25-year-old has yet to make a decision, unlike his fellow classmen.
Just last Saturday, fellow Atenean Mike Nieto inked a two-year contract with Rain or Shine, who chose him at no. 5 in the special proceedings.
Second pick Rey Suerte, on the other hand, is reportedly set to be signed to a two-year pact by Blackwater in the next few days.
Matt Nieto and Allyn Bulanadi, the third and fourth picks of the five-man draft, have yet to come to terms with NLEX and Alaska, respectively.
The Gilas draftees became eligible to join their mother teams as they were no longer renewed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
Their contracts with the program expired last January 31.
Cardel definitely hopes to have Go on board, especially after losing key cogs Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and Roosevelt Adams to free agency.
“Di natin masabi kung matutuloy siya sa’min — maganda kung matutuloy siya sa’min, at least lalaki na naman ‘yung lineup ko, ‘di ba?” said Cardel.
“Magandang addition sa amin ‘yun.”
Photo from @Cahilig
But as they wait for Go, Terrafirma has one reason to smile about. The team was able to keep Andreas Cahilig by signing him to a two-year extension.
It was a sigh of relief for Cardel after bidding goodbye to Ganuelas-Rosser and Adams, both of which were actually part of the core he’s been developing.
“He’s one of my scrappy players eh, on both ends,” he said of Cahilig.
More than that, Cardel is proud to see the Fil-Swede bruiser grow into the reliable player that he has become to be known today.
Cahiilig had actually been seen by the cager-turned-mentor during his college days in EARIST, when the latter was the head coach of RTU in NAASCU.
So it didn’t come as a surprise for Cardel to see the 6-foot-3 forward thrive in the PBA, which he entered in 2017 after being the 24th pick by GlobalPort.
“I gave him the chance na makapaglaro tapos, ayun nga, unti-unti na-adapt niya yung laro ng PBA in terms of physicality,” said Cardel.
“Ngayon, nagkaroon na siya ng pangalan sa team namin.”
