MANILA, Philippines – A few days away from the new PBA season, Calvin Oftana appears to not be in rhythm, TNT Tropang Giga head coach Jojo Lastimosa said.
Oftana, who was part of the Gilas Pilipinas team that brought home the gold in the Hangzhou Asian Games, had an underwhelming debut in the East Asia Super League Wednesday night.
The sweet-shooting forward — who is expected to carry the offensive load for TNT due to the absence of key cogs RR Pogoy, Mikey Williams, JP Erram, Justin Chua and import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson — finished with just eight points against the Chiba Jets.
He shot 4-of-11 from the field and missed all of his four 3-point attempts in TNT’s 66-75 loss at the Santa Rosa Sports Complex. He was also blocked four times.
While the former San Beda Red Lion had eight rebounds and three assists, Oftana turned the ball over six times.
Lastimosa said that Oftana is “still not in rhythm obviously.”
“I think he’s far from it. I think Calvin is playing something around 50, 60% of what he can do tonight,” the coach said.
“His timing is off. He doesn’t know when he is wide open. He doesn’t know when he is not open, so a lot of reads that Calvin is not there yet,” he added.
The team is still expected to miss the services of Pogoy, Williams, Erram, Chua and Hollis-Jefferson when they take on Magnolia in the PBA season opener on Sunday.
“I’m hoping it’s not gonna take a lot of time for him to get back into his game,” said Lastimosa of the 6-foot-5 forward.