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With Terrafirma wrapping up the 2020 PBA season with a 1-10 record, coach John Cardel admitted that his future and most of the players with expiring contracts are up in the air.
Cardel, whose coaching contract expires at the end of the year, still has no idea what management plans to do with the team next season.
“We have a lot of players with expiring contracts, and that includes the coaches. So honestly, we still don’t know what will happen next year,” Cardel told ESPN5 on Friday. “We don’t know what will happen to the team if we will keep it intact or there will be changes since we have about 10 players with contracts about to expire.
Cardel, whose team returned to Metro Manila early Friday, mentioned that he will meet with the team’s governor, Bobby Rosales, next week.
Fil-American point guard Rashawn McCarthy and forward Glenn Khobuntin are two players whose contracts will end at the end of the year. Cardel, however, reminded his charges to stay fit even though the offseason could be longer for them as the PBA will still have to determine the next step for the 2021 season.
“The important thing for the players is to stay in shape because once we start the new season, the players will play as if it were a test, since there will be rookies who will try to win places in the team as well,” he explained.
While each team had their share of sacrifices in the PBA bubble, Cardel noted that the experience is a great reminder for Dyip to learn to play in different conditions. The Dyip had a 0-7 start, most of which were blowout losses or second-half collapses, which Cardel said had a lot to do with players failing to get their timing and conditioning during eliminations of a single round.
“We stayed in the bubble for almost two months and the challenge is that the players were not 100 percent (in playing condition) because we had no games or other preparations,” Cardel said.
Terrafirma managed to unite their acts during their eighth game, putting in a solid effort in the second half to overtake Blackwater, 110-101, to finally clinch their first and only victory in the PBA bubble.
Dyip dropped a narrow 93-95 loss to the Meralco Bolts, before dropping back-to-back losses to the Barangay Geneva Kings and NLEX Road Warriors to close the season on a low note.
Cardel, however, insists the future looks bright for Dyip, who has CJ Pérez and rookie Fil-Am Roosevelt Adams as part of the franchise’s young core.
“I think we’re a big solid man away and then we just need a tall point guard because we all know the players there today are great,” he emphasized.
