BILL Bayno looked back with fondness his short but memorable stint as Talk 'N Text coach during the 2002 PBA season.
Now an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, Bayno described that batch of Texters as 'great guys' and 'fun to coach.'
And while the team fell short of winning the championship during the Commissioner's Cup, he believed the experience planted the seed for the franchise to finally break through the winners' circle the following season.
"It was a fun journey. I miss them all. I owe so much to them because we had a lot of success," said the fiery American mentor.
"I felt good that even though we didn't win the championship, I felt like I set the table for them and coach Joel (Banal) to finish it out."
Sponsored content: Bayno did a lot of reminiscing when he served as one of the resource person in a coaching webinar organized by Hoop Coaches International in partnership with Blackwater under team consultant and sports director Ariel Vanguardia.
The 57-year-old Bayno had Vanguardia for his deputy during his two-conference stay with the franchise.
Just only in his second conference with the team, Bayno managed to guide the Texters to the finals of the mid-season conference, losing to Red Bull in the decisive Game 7 of the title series behind the endgame heroics of Jimwell Torion.
Bayno admitted Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao 'kicked my butt' during the finals series.
While the Texters fell short, Bayno still remembered most of his players 18 years after, mentioning the likes of Asi Taulava, Mark Telan, Vic Pablo, Donbel Belano, Fil-Am Kenny Evans, Gilbert Demape, and imports Jerald Honeycutt and Pete Mikeal.
Sponsored content: He recalled the soft-spoken Demape playing his best season with the Texters.
"Ibet Demape who people say was too slow and couldn't play, ended up becoming a really good player. He had a great year for us then," said Bayno, who also served as assistant coach at Portland, Minnesota, and Toronto prior to landing the job at Indiana where he's reunited with coach Nate McMillan.
The former UNLV mentor was surprised to hear the 6-foot-10 Taulava still playing in the PBA at age 46 with NLEX.
"Is he really? Asi still playing," said Bayno with a hearty laugh when informed about it.
He described the Fil-Tongan, who was on loan with the national team preparing for the Busan Asian Games that time, as 'a beast.'
"He reminded me of Greg Oden before Greg got hurt," said Bayno.
The Goshen, New York native couldn't forget too, the all-out support given to him by the management led by owner Manny V. Pangilinan.
"I felt good about helping MVP, Mr. Ricky Vargas. Mr. Al Panlilio, and all the management staff up there because they were so competitive themselves and they wanted to win," said Bayno.
Win Talk 'N Text finally did two conferences after Bayno left as Banal steered the franchise to its first ever league crown during the 2003 All-Filipino Cup when Taulava rejoined the team and Fil-Am rookies Jimmy Alapag and Harvey Carey coming on board.
Bayno, who steered the Yakima Suns to the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) title a year after his departure from TnT, likes to believe he was able to plant the seed of that championship team.
"We had a good crew there and we had a good run," he said.(RG)
