Gloomy was the atmosphere inside the KaTropa’s dugout that even after an admittedly above par rookie season, Troy Rosario surrendered the Rookie of the Year award to TNT winger Chris Newsome.
“Puwede na natin ibigay sa kanya,” he said after the KaTropa bowed out of the season in a loss to Meralco, 94-88, in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup.
“Alam ko naman na konti lang ang diperensya namin nung nilabas yung stats. Ngayon, papasok pa sya sa Finals, kaya ibigay na natin sa kanya.”
Based on the last statistical points (SPs) race released, Rosario leads by a hair, with the number two overall pick at 23.5 SPs against Newsome’s 23.4 SPs.
But the top rookie plum is the least of Rosario’s concerns on Monday.
TNT ended the year without a championship to boot and left to wonder what went wrong as the season-ending conference’s top seed suffered a heartbreaking collapse against its sister team.
“Wala eh, nangyari na. Talo, ganun talaga. Maganda yung eliminations namin pero nadali lang kami nung semis. Masasabi ko na kang siguro na-outwork kami. Yun lang,” he said.
A championship hardware could have been the fitting cap to an incredible rookie season for the former National University Bulldog, but Rosario isn’t one to daydream, and he knows that at the end of the day, only one will emerge the winner. Just this time, it wasn’t them.
“Siyempre, gusto ko pa sana maglaro pero ganun talaga, lahat may katapusan,” he said, satisfied with his initial foray in the pro leagues while also motivated to contribute more in the following seasons.
“Sa tingin ko, yung first season ko medyo okay na rin. Nakulangan ako sa nangyari sa amin ngayon, pero okay na para sa akin.”
