Racela: Only time will tell if Romeo is missing piece to TNT’s puzzle

MANILA, Philippines — With Terrence Romeo’s arrival in at TNT, the question of whether the KaTropa have finally acquired the missing piece for their championship bid has  again cropped up.

And who could be best the recipient of such query other than the man at the helm, Nash Racela?

Shortly after acquiring the hotshot guard, Racela was quick to point out that there “is always a lot of pieces to a puzzle.”

“Every piece is just as important,” he told a handful of scribes after Romeo’s first practice as a member of the KaTropa squad.

“You can never say if a puzzle is complete until you get to your main objective. I always believe that only time can [answer that],” Racela continued. “The only objective with all the player movements is to make the team better. Regardless of the personnel — a lot of you talk about personalities — I think the only main objective is for us to strengthen the team.”

Racela and the flagship MVP group team acquired Romeo along with big man Yousef Taha in a swap that cost them Moala Tautuaa and two future draft picks.

The KaTropa may have given up ceiling in shipping out the work-in-progress Tautuaa, but Racela said that spectators might be focusing on a lone facet.

“We always look at the whole package,” he offered. “I think in the end, as long as we feel and we think that it will benefit us — hopefully in the near future or kahit na in the long run — we're all hoping that it was a good move in our part.”

So far, Racela likes what he sees from Romeo along with the perk that he gets to reunite with a familiar face and that it leads to a productive backcourt since he also acquires someone to run with veteran star Jayson Castro.

And he hopes it ushers in a fresh outlook come the Commissioner’s and Governors’ Cup.

“Now [we] have a different mix. It’s important for us is we need to work on things that we need to work on and I think the first step is building relationships,” he said.

“We've had a lot of changes in the past two to three months — changing personnel is just the first step. I think the more important step now is really build relationships.”

Asked if fans are going to see a new backcourt tandem in the pairing of Romeo and Castro, Nash was also quick to moderate the hype.

“It’s always the team that gives you wins and losses. It's always the team that gives you championships. As long as we put in the right pieces, it should give us a better chance [in winning,” he closed.

The new-look KaTropa gets its first field run against Romeo’s former team GlobalPort on April 22 when the Commissioner’s Cup gets rolling.