Cariaso has high hopes for rookie Barefield

EASL

Blackwater coach Jeff Cariaso has heaped nothing but praises upon Sedrick Barefield, the second overall pick of the recent PBA Rookie Draft.

But Cariaso, having played pro basketball in the past, is no fool to speak about someone in absolutes.

“We know that there’s a lot that still has to happen,” he told the Inquirer in a recent chat. “But being able to bring in a guy like that, [a guy] with a great attitude, great work ethic? [He’s] only gonna help us in the future.”

Much is resting on the shoulders of the 27-year-old Filipino-American guard. Blackwater, a perennial league doormat, is hoping to turn its fortunes once when PBA’s 49th season gets going this Aug. 18.The Bossing have won only five of its 22 games during the previous season. The club hardly looked like it belonged in the league during the Commissioner’s Cup, winning just a single game, like Converge. Cariaso and his charges, however, put up a significantly better outing in the subsequent Philippine Cup, tabbing four victories.

That improved showing in the All-Filipino may just be the springboard that Blackwater truly needs at a time it reels in top-shelf talent whose wealth of experience includes stops in the NBA G League in the US, and in European leagues like in Lithuania and Greece.

Rehabilitating image

“It was really hard to pass up on a guy like that,” Cariaso said of Barefield. “That kind of talent, we feel like, doesn’t come often, doesn’t come every year.”

“I don’t know if you wanna say a ‘generational talent,’ but we wanna say [he is the kind] that doesn’t come often in our league—and that’s why we’re really high and big on him,” he added.

Barefield is expected to report to officially meet with the Blackwater brass on Tuesday to formalize his entry to the Bossing’s fold which also heralds the team’s renewed bid to rehabilitate its image.

“I think with who we have now, it’s really now about getting more experience together and growing together,” said Cariaso.

“I think we have the pieces we like. The only one we probably missing right now is a guy who can defend June Mar (Fajardo). But I don’t think anyone else is getting that too,” he added with a chuckle.