Gabe Norwood called him the 'mystery man' of their draft class.
Nowadays, Jared Dillinger rarely sees action in the PBA. Well, he is 39 years old. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel needs his veteran presence on the sidelines more than anything else. But hey, he wasn’t always the Filipino Udonis Haslem.
Back in the day, exactly 15 years ago, Dillinger was a talent worthy of becoming the top overall pick in the PBA, at the very least, in the eyes of the TNT franchise. Eyeing the scrappy Filipino-American cager for a while, the then-Talk 'N Text Phone Pals made sure that no other scouts would find out about their dream recruit
On ClutchPoints Philippines' Let it Fly podcast, longtime Talk 'N Text coach Chot Reyes and the Daredevil himself reminisced their exploits in the days leading up to the 2008 PBA Draft.
“That was the time where there were no pre-draft camps yet, there was no draft combine, so you can really hide people. I loved it,” Reyes recalled while laughing.
Reyes was the one who personally recruited Dillinger from the University of Hawaii after learning about him through his coaching network in the United States.
Dillinger further explained how he was asked by Reyes to stay low-key. Even as he played for the Pampanga Buddies in the now-defunct Liga Pilipinas to meet the PBA’s draft requirements, the longtime tactician was on his ear, practically telling him to act like a potential bust.
“It was a real thing. Like when I was playing for Pampanga, they were just always mindful like, ‘JD don’t dunk, don’t play, don’t do nothing,’” Dillinger recalled.
“Every now and then, I’ll get mad and I’ll punch one in or something, (and they’ll say), ‘JD you’re doing too much. What’s wrong with you? You got to calm down,'” added the nine-time PBA champion.
Talk 'N Text was ultimately successful in hiding Dillinger, especially from the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters who owned the first overall pick. As the Phone Pals planned, they selected Jarred at number 2. Ironically, Rain or Shine went with Dillinger’s Let it Fly co-host Gabe Norwood at number 1. Having the next two picks as well, Talk 'N Text chose Jayson Castro and Rob Reyes at numbers 3 and 4, respectively.
So, did Talk 'N Text really make the right move in hiding JD? Had Dillinger gone number 1 to ROS, the Phone Pals could’ve gotten Norwood instead. That’s not a bad trade-off at all. How do you really feel, Coach Chot?