This Tuesday night, the San Miguel Beermen held a victory party to celebrate their 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup championship at the San Miguel headquarters in Mandaluyong City.
June Mar Fajardo only attended briefly.
The league’s reigning five-time MVP did not take part in the festivities. After dropping by, he immediately headed to the Meralco Gym in Ortigas, which is just a few minutes away.
Fajardo attended Gilas Pilipinas’ practice for the FIBA World Cup instead.
“Nagpaalam naman ako sa San Miguel na may practice ngayon. Sabi ko ‘di na ako sasali sa party. Naiintindihan naman ng management so okay lang sa kanila,” said the 6-foot-10 slotman.
“Duty calls. Priority yung Gilas ngayon so naintindihan naman ng mga boss sa San Miguel. Nagpaalam ako sa kanila coach na kailangan mag-practice… Naintindihan naman nila ako.”
Fajardo and TNT stars Roger Pogoy and Troy Rosario have all returned to national team duties now that they have fulfilled their obligations to their mother ball clubs.
The Cebuano admitted that the season had been tiring – especially the title series, which went to six games. Still, they now have to move on, as their top priority is serving the country.
“Nakakapagod rin,” he said. “Kailangan na namin mag-move on. Iba na yung priority.
“Gilas muna.”
Fajardo and his fellow returnees have some catching up to do, since some of Gilas’ sets have been tweaked during their Spain trip. The goal now is to get used to those new patterns.
“May mga plays na alam ko, may mga plays rin na bago. So sabi ni coach na the next practices, agahan namin para ma-workout yung mga plays na hindi pa namin alam,” he said.
“Sana ma-adopt namin, ma-absorb mga tinuturo ni coach. Tingin ko hindi naman ganoong kakomplikado. Kasi na-run naman namin, sabi ko madali naman.”
