From my Manila Standard Column 1/21/11
Jay Washington can’t wait to get out there and prove something to his former team whom he felt slighted him. The PBA Philippine Cup finals is set to begin tomorrow in Victorias City, and with both teams so evenly matched in this clash of the titans, it’s hard to predict who’ll emerge victorious.
In an interview, Washington admits that he’s bitter. “It’s all about the way I was handled at TNT, under Coach Chot. At the end of Coach Chot’s first year in TNT, I was traded to San Miguel. For me, I felt it was more of a personal reason that I was being traded and I felt it was a personal attack. I felt that Chot didn’t like me.”
He went on and shared that he had a hard time dealing with the management while he was living and dying for the team. He was the number one draft pick in his batch but he got injured right away. As he tried to find his way back in the regular rotation, the relationship he had with the higher ups seemed “distant”.
Washington thought of taking a year off from the PBA to let his residency pass so that he’d just end up being a free agent, but as luck would have it, he got traded to San Miguel.
But here’s the other side of the story form a TNT insider who refuses to be named but is a very reliable source. “Jwash was sent out of TNT for 2 reasons. 1) Chot didn’t like him, and 2) he was asking for P500,000 per month on his first year then P700,000 per month on his second year and P900,000 per month on his third year. Now who in this stupid world will give him that contract when he was averaging 6 points and 7 rebounds per game”.
This is not saying that Washington has that kind of contract with San Miguel now. But he sure is making every bit of peso they invest on him worth it. He’s one of the top contenders for the Best Player of the Conference and he’s determined to bring SMB’s opponents down.