COACH Tim Cone of defending champion Ginebra is not one to cry over spilt milk.
With beloved Kings import Justin Brownlee’s fate still hanging in the air and the PBA Commissioner’s Cup set to kick off this Sunday, Nov. 5, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Cone said they will simply roll with the punches.
“We just kept telling the guys that we’re just gonna roll with the punches and worry about what’s right in front of us. I think that’s what we’re gonna do with Justin,” Cone said in an online interview. “We’re gonna roll with the punch, see how it evolves, see what happens, and try to deal with it as it comes.
“It kind of blows our mind, and Justin was shocked by it as well. It’s there, it’s done, we can’t bring it back. But just like we kept saying during the Asian Games, during that whole run up to the gold medal, just the things that weren’t working for us here or there,” he added.
Brownlee’s supposed next tour of duty for Ginebra is in limbo after he failed a doping test during the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China where he starred in Gilas Pilipinas’ golden conquest.
The 6-foot-5 Brownlee, 35, faces suspension from the FIBA and the pro league.
The length of Brownlee’s suspension, however, has yet to be announced, prompting the Kings to sign up former Meralco reinforcement Tony Bishop for the season-opening meet.
Even Cone, who called the shots for the Philippine five’s triumph in China that ended a 61-year mint dry spell, was stunned by Brownlee flunking the doping test.
“First of all, it was a real shock. We didn’t know anything until a couple of days later when we returned to the country. I remember we were having a post-game dinner, and we were all waiting for Justin and Calvin (Oftana) to come to the dinner because they were left behind at the stadium,” Cone said.
“They were the ones selected to be randomly tested. We waited two to three hours for them to show up, but we had no clue that anything was going to happen at that point,” he added.
Cone is also clueless on where and how Brownlee got the banned substance.
“I don’t know where it could’ve happened. It wasn’t a performance-enhancing drug, an anabolic steroid, or anything like that. There’s no way that he could bring that kind of stuff in China since he’s gonna get in trouble for trying to do that,” he said.
“We understand that kind of stuff stays in your system for quite a while, so the only thing we could think of was it happened way before he left for China.”
