With Jayson Castro out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, TNT adds Simon Enciso to help fill in the gaps as the Tropang 5G chase a PBA Grand Slam.
Simon Enciso made his first public appearance as a member of the TNT Tropang 5G on the day the PBA honored the additional 10 members of the Greatest Players list last April 11.
After two months without a team, Enciso just looked happy to rejoin the TNT squad he was part of during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
“I’m grateful for Boss MVP, Boss Ricky [Vargas], Boss Jolas [Lastimosa] for giving me another chance,” Enciso told One Sports.
“I wasn’t on a team for the past two months — it was rough. Being able to get back on a team, and a contending team at that, is amazing. I’m just grateful. I knew that God has a plan for me. I’m here to work hard and hopefully help them out.”
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Picked up by the Tropang 5G as an unrestricted free agent, Enciso now joins a team that is gunning for a rare Grand Slam after topping the Governors’ Cup and Commissioner’s Cup behind super import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
And with Jayson Castro out, TNT is hoping Enciso helps fill that void for the now 11-time PBA champion franchise.
“Simon has this kind of like a reputation na alam mo na, medyo maangas. But Simon is a hard worker. We know he can make threes which is important in our system,” said TNT team manager Jojo Lastimosa.
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Enciso and TNT are banking on familiarity to make things work as they now look to complete the triple crown.
“He came from the TNT franchise already in 2020. Familiar sila diyan. Si Roger (Pogoy) teammate nya yun. Sila Kelly (Williams), sila Ryan (Reyes),” said Lastimosa.
(With reports from Gillian Trinidad, One Sports Digital)