Blackwater is sticking with its current team for the rest of PBA Season 50, as far as interim head coach Pat Aquino is concerned.
The seasoned mentor offered as much in response to the trade rumors that have hounded his Bossing before the freshly opened Governors’ Cup — surrounding their stars, Sedrick Barefield and Christian David, in particular.
“I think it’s just all rumors,” he said after their 131-108 beatdown of Rain or Shine in their conference opener Saturday at the Ynares Center II in Montalban.
“I think the management has backed me up so much that we want to prove as a team and forget about the rumors,” continued Aquino, who was promoted to his current position after the ball club let go of Jeff Cariaso back in April.
The names of both Barefield and David have long been floating in trade rumors, even in the past. But speculation intensified leading up to the season-ending tilt after another losing conference in the recent Commissioner’s Cup.
The gunslinging guard was being linked to a deal with TNT. Reportedly, the perennial contenders look to shore up their vaunted backcourt after falling short in another championship series.
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The versatile 6-foot-6 big man, on the other hand, was rumored to be shipped to NLEX when the team was still under Jong Uichico, who has since been replaced by former-league-MVP-turned-coach Jimmy Alapag.
The buzz partly stemmed from Aquino himself when he hinted about major changes within the team after their loss to Macau last April 28, their third-to-last game of the previous conference, which they eventually ended at 2-10.
They did pull off some changes by letting go of pieces such as Paul Zamar and Bradwyn Guinto. However, both ‘Sed’ and ‘CD’ remain with the squad.
And for Aquino, this will be the team he’ll roll with for this Governors’ Cup at least, as they try to rack up as many wins as they can.
“We’ll just play the games right now. What we have right now is what we’ll have for the rest of the season,” he said matter-of-factly.
Saturday’s swashbuckling rout of the Elasto Painters could be a sign of things to come. Aquino himself hopes that it is, especially after Barefield helped out massively with his 24 points to back up Kentrell Barkley.
The debuting import finished with a triple-double of 29 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists for a solid start to his PBA career. And he did so on the same night that RK Ilagan dazzled in his first game back by firing 22 points and five rebounds.
“Just happy that, you know, everybody stepped up, everybody played with the mindset of winning the game, and they never gave up. Hopefully, this good start will continue in the games to come,” said Aquino.
