TNT head coach Chot Reyes is hopeful to get Mikey Williams back to his lineup especially right now that the squad has been dealing with a couple of injuries to its key players.
Reyes revealed that the last season’s Rookie of the Year is set to arrive in the country early Sunday morning and he should be available for TNT’s next game if he finally signs the restructured deal after a series of back-and-forth negotiations in the past few months.
Williams, who also made it to the Mythical First Team last season, should serve as a huge boost for the Tropang Giga who had a roller-coaster start with Ryan Reyes and Jayson Castro nursing some injuries and Kib Montalbo still out of the lineup due to a strained groin.
“Hindi na kailangang umiskor ng 30 points lagi si Roger,” said Reyes in jest.
“Magkakaroon na siya ng katulong although we know that he is not going to be in game shape. But with the injuries that we are having, with Ryan and Jayson and we still don't have Kib for a couple of weeks, we need all the help we can get. Hopefully, Mikey is in decent shape to be able to help us in the next game” he added.
A Williams return to TNT will see a happy ending to a grueling contract negotiation that has been stalled for a couple of months as the TNT guard struggled to fly back to the country.
Apparently, it was Reyes along with former TNT manager Gabbi Cui who handled the contract talks before the ballclub hired Jojo Lastimosa as the new team manager to take the task of getting Williams back to Tropang Giga.
Reyes also cleared up the air regarding his relationship with the last Philippine Cup Finals MVP.
“Wala naman kaming problema kay Mikey. There was no problem. It was the people around him. ‘Yung sinasabi niya dati na we should have fixed things after the first conference, yes we were trying to. But we had to go through other people. Alam niyo naman na hindi puwede sa PBA diba? Doon nagkaproblema," said Reyes.
“But between Mikey and myself, wala namang problema. Hopefully, now that he is on board to play to come over, that’s a great sign of his intent to really come in and play for the team.”