It has been an open secret that B.League teams made offers for Troy Rosario and Roger Pogoy.
After all, Pogoy’s contract had already lapsed, while Rosario’s was about to expire on December 31.
But instead of signing on deals that were worth $35,000 per month – according to multiple sources closely monitoring the situation – the two opted to sign a three-year max deal to stay with the Tropang Giga.
So how was TNT able to do this? Well, as a coach, Chot Reyes made sure to do his part.
Photo by PBA Images
“It was a matter of time for it to come to the PBA,” Reyes told the Call to Arms podcast about Filipino players getting offers from overseas leagues. “I think we are kidding ourselves if we say that it is not going to happen. It is going to happen and now it’s here.
“So several things, for me, a lot of things beyond our control — there’s nothing I can do as a PBA coach about it. But what I can control is the environment of our team; to make our environment and our culture so engaging for our players that they don’t want to leave,” he bared.
“It’s not just a case of one. Case in point, for our team Roger Pogoy expired contract and Troy Rosario about to expire. They had offers dangled in front of them from Japan. There was a very real possibility that we would lose them. There was nothing we could offer that would match the dollar sign.”
It also helped TNT that Pogoy and Rosario are both family men.
Photo by PBA Images
“But the one thing we could offer is the other things – how we are a family here and the other things. Roger signs and Troy signs, so we have those two guys for the next three years,” he continued
“They are not going anywhere.”
Reyes, though, knows that high-valued assets in his team are not just Pogoy and Rosario. Another player who is about to enter a contract year is Poy Erram.
And the league’s only five-time Coach of the Year hopes that the former Defensive Player of the Year feels at home after his second year in TNT.
Photo by PBA Images
“I would imagine the same thing would happen for the next guy which is Poy Erram.
“So again, there’s nothing we can do with the offers of the other countries. But we have to make them feel so happy to be playing here that they have to give up a difference of a few thousand dollars monthly to stay here, stay with their family and kids; to be happy here, and because they know that they are growing and developing here. For players, that’s very, very important,” he explained.
Of course, not all teams are like TNT and not all coaches are like Reyes.
Moreover, it’s not just the 36 B.League Division I and II teams that are willing to pay top dollar to Filipino players. There are also the 10 teams in the Korean Basketball League and the six teams in the T1 League.
And Reyes hopes that the next few years will serve as a time for all the basketball stakeholders to come together and create a better environment for the Filipino basketball player.
“But I think also, the PBA has come together but it’s also a systemic issue, the entire ecosystem has to come together.”
