Kelly Williams grateful for another PBA Finals stint with 'similar but different' TNT

TNT's Kelly Williams is back in the PBA Philippine Cup finals.

And Williams, who came out of retirement last March, said he is grateful to be back on this stage again after several years.

"I'm definitely grateful. I've said it all year, how grateful I am to Chot [Reyes] for bringing me back," Williams said in a press conference on Tuesday.

"To be where I am at now, definitely, I can't be anything but grateful."

Williams last played in the finals with TNT back in 2013. He was part of a once dominant TNT team, which won three straight All-Filipino trophies, the last of which was in that same year.

The veteran big man announced his retirement from the game in September 2020, but found his way back to TNT after head coach Chot Reyes returned to handle the team for the first time since 2012.

For this year, Williams said he is just enjoying his latest ride to the finals.

"I just want to enjoy the situation we're in, going to the finals, and enjoy it just as I've had the honor to in previous years," he said.

Meanwhile, Reyes said it was just part of his job to give Williams a platform to play again.

"I think there's a lot of lessons to be learned from that journey, especially from Kelly's journey because we all know the adversities he has gone through," Reyes said.

"My job was to give him the platform, give him the opportunity [to play again]."

"Even when he was in retirement, just knowing that there was still that fire within him, and asking him if he was open to do it again. That's the significance [of this journey]," the former Gilas Pilipinas head coach said.

'Similar but different' TNT

Both Williams and Reyes agree that there are similarities and differences between the current TNT team and the old squad they were both part of in the past.

One main difference, they agreed, is the leadership of the team now compared to the previous ones.

"I think the elephant that left the room for us in the last six years or several years was having a player like Jimmy Alapag not with us," Williams said.

Alapag, the long-time captain of TNT, retired in 2015, though he played for one more year with the Meralco franchise before walking away 'for good' in 2016.

"I think that was a huge adjustment. Obviously, with Coach Chot stepping down, the whole organization had to revamp. The transition over the years has been a tough one," he added.

"With having Coach Chot back and kind of bringing back the culture and the atmosphere that allowed us to win in the past, it's been refreshing. I think it's just been what we've been looking for, especially in this drought since the last championship."

From the era of Alapag and Ranidel de Ocampo, Reyes also noted the current team's leaders having different personalities.

"You take a look at the leadership. The personalities of our leaders in the past, Jimmy and Ranidel, are different from our leaders today, which are Jayson (Castro) and Kelly," the TNT coach said.

However, Williams and Reyes also agree that qualities such as values and dedication remain in the franchise.

"We have a bunch of guys who are willing to do whatever it takes for the sake of the team. I think that's a big similarity to the championship teams that I've been on," Williams said.

"The values remain the same," Reyes said. "[The] values of sacrifice, hard work, playing together as a team."

"Ganun naman talaga in any worthwhile endeavor in life. There are different ways of doing things but the important thing remains consistent."

TNT will try to win the All-Filipino trophy in their second straight finals appearance in a best-of-seven finals against the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok, which will start on Wednesday.

—JMB, GMA News