Lyceum of the Philippines University rookie Jonathan Daileg has introduced himself to the league after the Pirates' 96-81 win against Mapua University last Tuesday.
The 21-year old Daileg made nine points in LPU's surge in the fourth quarter where the Pirates erupted for 31 points and limited the Cardinals to 15 points.
"Sumunod lang kami sa sistema na pinapagawa nila. Nagtiwala kami sa kanila (coaching staff)," Daileg said after his 14-point outing.
The rookie from Guimba, Nueva Ecija admitted that rookies like him also need to step up due to injuries of his teammates, such as JM Bravo who was ruled out of the season due to a spine injury.
"Kailangan po namin mag-step up dahil na-injury 'yung ibang beterano namin like si Kuya Bravo. Inaalay din po namin laro namin sa kanya, sa lahat ng injured po," he said.
Daileg has been with the Pirates for more than two years already but only made the team this year.
"Nag-online tryout kami nung pandemic. Sa awa ni Lord, nakuha kami and ayun nagtuloy-tuloy na," he said, adding that it was their municipal councilor Oyo Lumang who also brought him to Manila to play in leagues.
From then, Daileg has made his way to Intramuros where he landed a spot in LPU, the school also of his idol CJ Perez.
Daileg also earned the praise of head coach Gilbert Malabanan.
"Jonathan Daileg is one of my rookies but 'yung confidence niya, mataas na. Talagang pinu-push namin siya kasi one of the pieces [siya] sa team namin. We want everybody doing their role and Daileg embraced that already."
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
