BEING the winningest coach in the PBA only means Ginebra and national team coach Tim Cone has had lots of great players who played for him–locals or imports.
What makes resident Kings reinforcement and Gilas Pilipinas naturalized Justin Brownlee stand out is he simply makes his teammates better, according to Cone.
“If you’re playing with a very instinctive player, you tend to see him and watch him and can adapt to that and those guys who are like that are the ones that make the players around them better,” Cone said. “I think that’s the best description of Justin Brownlee.
“I mean, you can say so many things about Justin but the single most important thing that he does is he makes the players around him better,” he added.
The 6-foot-5 Brownlee has powered Ginebra to six titles in the pro league and has won the best import award three times.
He also starred in the Philippine five’s golden triumph in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year that ended the Filipino cagers’ long and weary 61-year dry spell.
“They see the way he plays, and they see what he sees, they start to see what he sees and that gives them a different perspective and elevates their game,” Cone said. “That was the knock on Michael Jordan when he was young. He played in that era of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and they were always described as players who could make those around them better.
“Michael in his early in his career couldn’t figure that out, according to everybody.”
The Nationals will resume their bid in the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
Gilas will play a pair of home matches against New Zealand on Nov. 21 and Hong Kong three days later both at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Brownlee has also endeared himself to rabid Ginebra supporters and true-blue Filipino cage fans that matter most.
“Just in time for what we do and Gilas and the fact that he’s naturalized has been a priority in his life now as well, so everything is built around Gilas and Ginebra,” Cone said. “He really feels he’s Pinoy and I’m really proud of him in terms of you know adapting and adopting to the country.”
