NEW Ginebra prized addition Troy Rosario passed his initial test with flying colors against NLEX last Wednesday night.
Kings coach Tim Cone was understandably elated no end and even described the 6-foot-7 Rosario as the “missing piece” to Ginebra’s puzzle.
“By Troy coming in and being able to play the four, the three, that allows Justin (Brownlee) to be on the opposite wing and takes some of the load of the rebounding, the inside play, that we relied a lot on Justin for,” Cone said. “Then Stephen (Holt) had to play the wing for us last conference, and that allows him to get back to the guard position where he’s very comfortable.
“So, he fills out a really important piece of the puzzle for us that allows us to complete the picture and so that to me was really the key to his addition,” he added.
Cone spoke after his wards scored a 109-100 victory over the NLEX Road Warriors in their debut in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The pro league’s winningest tactician gushed on the upside the former Gilas Pilipinas national team member brings.
“Not necessarily what he’s going to do for his game in and game out, and he’s going to do a lot of things,” Cone said. “But for what he does for everybody else when he plays, allows everybody else to get comfortable.”
Rosario opted to join his childhood favorite team after the last Governors’ Cup via free agency.
He finished with nine points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Kings.
Cone is convinced Rosario has what it takes.
“He a tough kid. He’s a physical kid, and I think that that’s a big piece of the puzzle that we didn’t have coming into this conference before,” Cone said. “He fills out that physical part of playing that 3-4 position. He can guard multiple people and he’s very physical on the boards.
“I think if you looked at our team in the past and said what we were missing, it was the physical presence. So, he really lends us that physical presence.”
