Mike DiGregorio has no complaints after Blackwater traded him to TNT last week, saying that it will always be a part of the business and that he takes it professionally.
The Elite shipped the Fil-Italian shooter to the KaTropa last Saturday in exchange for fellow guard Brian Heruela, marking the first time in his career that he moved to another team.
“That’s part of the business, right?
“So here in the PBA, being a professional basketball player, that’s part of the business. So I need to make the most out of this opportunity,” said the 35th overall pick in the 2015 Rookie Draft. ”
DiGregorio made his debut with the flagship MVP franchise on Friday night. Unfortunately, things didn’t go the way he wanted.
The KaTropa fell to Manny Harris and the NLEX Road Warriors, 113-126, giving them their first loss in the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup after winning all their first seven assignments.
The 27-year-old DiGregorio himself was far from his usual form.
Averaging 10.83 points on 65-percent shooting from deep prior to Friday, he only had six points and a rebound in nearly 15 minutes of play. And it is perhaps because he has yet to acclimate to TNT.
“I need to be better,” he said. “There’s no excuse regardless of how many practices I’ve had with them. I think I’ve been there like three or four days.
“But like I said, there’s no excuses.”
But for the 27-year-old, it’s just one game. TNT’s next game is on November 8 versus Barangay Ginebra, and DiGregorio sees the time in between as a chance to better learn his new team.
“This two-week break is gonna allow me to get acclimated to the style of play, get acclimated to my teammates and how they play, and their different schemes offensively and defensively,” he said.
“I’ve been with Blackwater for the last three years, so my instincts and my second nature, my muscle memory is all Blackwater system … Hopefully, the two-week break helps out.”
