PBA: Jared Dillinger ditches The Daredevil
“I realized that I’ve been playing for five years and that I won’t be playing forever. I just slowed everything down and started appreciating everything; every game, every opportunity.”
The words sounded like these came from a basketball sage who’s on the twilight of his career. However, these words were came from an unlikely source. These words were spoken by Jared Dillinger, the PBA’s Daredevil, who sounded more like Professor X.
A few months ago, Dillinger was in limbo. After a brutal accident that left him unable to play basketball, Dillinger wasn’t sure if he will ever come back. His doctors didn’t know the exact extent of his injury so the player could not decide on how hard to push his body. He just sat and waited until he received news that he will be traded.
“It took a while before I got over the trade. It’s just human nature I guess,” Dillinger shared. Not knowing what Dillinger’s condition was and not having an idea how he fits into their future as a team, the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters sent Dillinger away but they kept him within the family as he landed with the Meralco Bolts.
“It hurt me a lot when I got traded because those guys were my family. We were together all the time and we won a lot of championships,” Dillinger continued. “But I guess I understood why they had to do it. Talk ‘N Text is not known for making a lot of trades so I know they had a really good reason for it because I was basically worthless at that point.”
In his five years with the Tropang Texters, Dillinger normed eight points, four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block per game. More importantly, he helped his team win five championships in that span. But in one instance, after one bad decision, Dillinger was worthless.
“The accident slowed me down,” said the player. “It made me realize just important how life is, how short life could be and how much shorter a basketball career is.”
Dillinger stewed in this renewed fire until his body allowed him to do something about it.
“I just channeled all of my frustrations into something positive,” Dillinger shared. “I stopped worrying about other things and just concentrated on myself and my family. When I grow old and I look back at my career, I want to be able to tell myself that I gave everything I could at that point in my life. I don’t want to have regrets in the future so I just worked so hard.”
In 11 games with Meralco, Dillinger has averaged a career high 12 points and six rebounds. While he was worthless a few months ago, he’s now the most important cog of the system as he makes everything work. With Mike Cortez injured, Dillinger now plays the point for the Bolts.
“I have played point guard here and there but not this much,” Dillinger said after playing 38 minutes as his team’s primary ball-handler. “I played point guard when Jayson [Castro] and Jimmy [Alapag] were out. We have so many point guards hurt now so it’s been an adjustment but I’ve been doing a lot of studying, watching lots of film and talking to coach Ronnie [Magsanoc].”
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Dillinger was outstanding in their game against Alaska. He controlled the pace of the game while doing everything his team needed. He was zen throughout but late in the fourth quarter, the old Daredevil made a shot appearance.
After going in for a layup, Dillinger was hit on the nose after Calvin Abueva blocked his shot. The two got entangled and Dillinger exploded, pushing Abueva down onto the railing.
“Both teams knew the importance of this game so we both played like it was a playoff game. The fight between me and Calvin was just about two men playing hard. Emotions were flying during that important part of the game,” explained Dillinger who suffered a bloody nose after the incident. “I have nothing against him. Sometimes the emotions just flow a little bit. I’ll try to keep it in check next time.”
The explosion was forgivable. It was a small bump in an otherwise perfect game but Dillinger deflected all the praise. “It’s easy to be a point guard when you have Gary David shooting the lights out,” he said. “ And having Danny Ildefonso makes the game so much simpler for us because he makes all the right decisions in the game. I have coach Ronnie, who’s one of the best point guards ever, helping me out with my playmaking skills so whatever I do on the court is because of my team.”
Dillinger started at point guard and morphed into whatever the Bolts needed. He scored and made plays, he even chased Aces down for a couple of blocks. But you can’t expect Dillinger to look too far ahead. Even if his Bolts are on the upswing, he will stay here in the moment and focus on one game at a time; the same way he lives life one day at a time. He was The Daredevil but he's not the same guy now.
“We’re getting wins so that’s all that matters now. I’ll do whatever it takes to win. You can put me at the five-spot and I still try to do my job,” Dillinger said. “I was given a second chance, I’ll try and make the most out of it.”
