Once again, Mikey Williams is MIA for TNT.
The TNT Tropang Giga are a championship team with leading scorer Mikey Williams. They proved as much in the last PBA Governors’ Cup, where Williams completed his character arc from AWOL to champion in leading the franchise to a title.
But Williams has turned heel once more, as he continues to be missing in action for TNT with just a week remaining before PBA Season 48 tips off on November 5. And, if this saga drags out, that is about 20 points out the window for the Tropang Giga.
Prolific import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson will obviously try to fill in those big holes. But Jojo Lastimosa knows all too well that RHJ won’t be able to do it all on his own. So, this early, he is banking on two players, in particular, to step up big time: Asian Games gold medalist Calvin Oftana and PBA On Tour stalwart Glenn Khobuntin.
"Hopefully, we get some guys into their roles and get more shots. Calvin will have a bigger role in terms of scoring, Glenn probably after gaining a lot of confidence in the On Tour, and the rest of the guys will have to put us points," Lastimosa pointed out in an article on the PBA website.
Then again, even that might not be enough as TNT will also be missing the services of shooting guard RR Pogoy, who was diagnosed with myocarditis a few weeks ago.
And that is why Lastimosa is hoping his Tropang Giga can step it up on defense, too, as the team’s normally supercharged offense is facing the prospect of being average only.
"We have to be a better defensive team than last year because right now, we can't outscore teams without our two leading scorers, Mikey and Roger. That's (almost) 40 points a game so I don't know how we're going to compensate that," Lastimosa added.
Indeed, TNT will be challenged this conference. But it would be wrong to count out a team led by RHJ, veterans like Jason Castro, Kelly Williams, and Ryan Reyes, and the wing duo of Khobuntin and Oftana.