LETTING go of stars Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle while adding new players has left Ginebra with a lot of work ahead.
Kings coach Tim Cone doesn’t mind, as long as they get their desired results in the long run.
“It takes a lot of work together to develop a team–develop team chemistry and guys figuring out what they’re gonna do for the team. I mean, everybody is basically changing their role,” Cone said. “Japeth (Aguilar) is changing his role because he is now not backing up Christian. He is now the main guy, asking to play more minutes and more touches and that is an adjustment to him.
“Scottie (Thompson) coming in and playing with a guy like RJ (Abarrientos). Both of them are great passers and neither (one of them) wants to shoot. Stephen (Holt) having to be an (import) stopper and still be the scorer is a big adjustment to him. Those things need to be addressed,” he added.
Cone spoke after Ginebra dismantled NLEX 119-91 on a rainy Tuesday night to get back on track in Group B of the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Like the wrath of tropical storm “Enteng,” the Kings wreaked havoc on the Road Warriors in redeeming themselves from a stunning 88-95 loss to the Blackwater Bossing six days ago and improved to 2-2.
Cone said Ginebra simply pounced on a weary NLEX side that came off a 112-108 win over San Miguel Beer in Cagayan de Oro City last Saturday.
“I thought we played with a really good tempo tonight and I thought guys other than Justin (Brownlee) stepped up and played aggressively and looked for their shots,” Cone said. “NLEX looked tired tonight coming from out of town, having that overtime win against San Miguel. I think they kind of suffered a letdown, and we were able to take advantage of it.”
The Road Warriors fell to 3-2.
Holt, the reigning Rookie of the Year acquired by the Kings from the Terrafirma Dyip along with Isaac Go for Standhardinger and Pringle in the off-season, scattered a career-high 26 points, to go with 11 rebounds and six assists while Maverick Ahanmisi chipped in 20 markers, eight boards and four dimes.
Thompson, Brownlee, Abarrientos, and Aguilar also had 19, 19, 13, 13 points, respectively, for Ginebra.
“From the jump, coach wanted us to be aggressive on both ends of the floor, individually as players and as a team,” Holt said. “I wanted to set the tone defensively. We talked about that in the locker room and so I have a tough job every night, switching me and (Brownlee) on the import.
“It’s a total team effort and I just have to deny and make sure to make it difficult (for the opposing team’s import).”
Robert Bolick paced NLEX with 19 points, five caroms and three feeds while reinforcement Myke Henry was handcuffed to just 16 markers on 7-of-16 clip.
Robbie Herndon, Dominic Fajardo, and Jhan Nermal also had 15, 14, and 10 points, respectively, for the Road Warriors.
One can only imagine how potent the Kings can be when they fully jive with their new players.
