Caguioa in Smart Gilas “I don’t want to disrupt the team’s chemistry”

Shortly after Mark Caguioa won Most Valuable Player honors, SMART-Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes sent out a Twitter message congratulating him and throwing out the possibility of the Ginebra hotshot returning to the national team.

Caguioa, who was awarded the PBA Press Corps Comeback Player of the Year on Monday night, is flattered by the idea, but said the team is doing very well without him.

“I don’t want to disrupt the team’s chemistry,” Caguioa told InterAKTV in an exclusive interview. “Man, the team won the Jones Cup and I don’t think they will still need me there. They don’t have to make any changes, except only when one of the players get injured.”

Caguioa said the team has enough firepower even without him.

“I don’t want to take away some minutes from Gary (David) and Jeff (Chan). They’ve been playing so well. Isa pa, maganda na yung samahan nila on and off the court. Guys have developed a special bonding among themselves,” said Caguioa, who played for Reyes in the national team in 2007.

“Who doesn’t want to play for Coach Chot? It’s an opportunity that hardly comes. But I have so much respect for the players who were selected there, players who have worked so hard and sacrificed a lot. To me, it would be unfair if I will be included there. They deserved their spots more,” he said.

SMART-Gilas leaves for the FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo this week, with the Philippine team facing a tough China training squad in its opening assignment. Caguioa believes it would be tough, but anything is possible.

“You just have to believe and I’m sure the players themselves have belief in their selves and their level of confidence is higher now,” Caguioa said.

-Rey Joble, InterAKTV