Earn your keep

Will Cone ever convince Urbiztondo
to stop with the heat checks?

When Tim Cone was brought in by the San Miguel brass to helm the suddenly flailing BMeg Llamados in the PBA, he wasn’t signed to develop a champion team for the future. He was brought in to win, and to win now.

How else could you explain the sudden revamp of the line-up, trading away key player Kerby Raymundo for the uber-athletic JC Intal and the releasing another team leader Roger Yap to the ABL San Miguel Beermen? Yes, the Intal move was a push for a younger line-up, but it also put a clear premium on a “win now” mentality.


Get the best, beat the best and actually be the best.

Cone was given free reign to pick his coaching staff which he did with old stalwarts and multiple time All Stars Jeffrey Cariaso and Johnny Abarrientos. For good measure, he kept Koy Banal in the fold and even threw in a couple of names for kicks. The offense went from iso-heavy for just about anyone and everyone who thinks he’s feeling it, to a more spread out approach.

James Yap is the recognizable star, but even the great two time PBA Most Valuable Player has been forced to move out of his comfort zone and do more for his team. He’s moving without the basketball, making the extra pass, rebounding and even playing some modicum of defense. PJ Simon rose in the ranks from a mere “Super Sub” to a heavy contributor much like Rodney Santos did playing alongside Kenneth Duremdes.

There’s also the OJT-like development of Mark Barroca. Not only is he being coached by Cone, but he’s training directly under Abarrientos and also getting a ton of crunch time minutes over starter Josh Urbiztondo. If that’s not trying to develop a guy right away in hopes of winning big with him now, then I don’t know what is.

In the Philippine Cup, it was quite obvious that Cone, the Llamados and the SMC brass were all one in wanting to make it to the Finals on their first try. Unfortunately for them, they collapsed in the end versus the underdog Powerade Tigers because they played individually instead of as a team once their backs were on the wall.

Now that they’ve made it into the Finals, we’re finally going to see just why the Llamados opted for Cone instead of sticking it out with the promising Jeorge Gallent (who needs another shot in the PBA, if only for his multiple PBL rings) or even promoting Koy Banal.

Versus good buddy Chot Reyes and the mighty Texters team, Cone finds himself at a rare disadvantage manpower-wise. For the first time in his illustrious, PBA Finals career, he doesn’t have the best player of the series on his team. Usually, he’d have an Abarrientos, Duremdes, Miller, Tenorio or someone who’s widely recognized as the best in the PBA at that certain period.

This time? Not so much.

While Yap continues to rediscover the game of basketball and Marc Pingris is hands-down the hardest working defender in the PBA, they are far from being the best in the series. At SG, the Texters have Jayson Castro. Fangirls would pick Yap in a heart beat and say that his 2 MVPs are enough to give him the edge. Basketball fans know that Castro is in a class on his own and could easily lead the Texters to a title even without reigning MVP Jimmy Alapag and defensive ace Ryan Reyes by his side.

Pingris is solid, no doubts about it, but Ranidel de Ocampo is arguably the best power forward in the business today—when he’s on. He’s slower than Pingris, but what he lacks in speed he makes up for with heft and veteran gulang. It’s not going to be easy for Pingris to get away with his antics this time around, not with RDO all but willing to hand out elbows and Kelly Williams always focused on just winning.

That’s leave it all up to Cone. How he’ll make sure that Yap gets his looks against the defense of Reyes who pretty much shut him down alongside Denok Miranda during the Santa Lucia-Purefoods Finals years back (shout-out to my fellow SLR diehards!). If Yap slides up to SF, he’ll be forced to play some D from time to time against Jarred Dillinger. Either way, he won’t be able to take any breaks in this series and will have to be on his A game all throughout.

Cone will also have to device a plan on how to free up his other high scoring guard Simon. Can Cone slide Simon to PG as he often has this year? No. Maybe against a Alapag, but definitely not against Castro who is going to simply run over the taller yet skinny Simon. Also, the Texters have a guy who has the game and body type to pretty much cancel out Simon in Larry Fonacier.

Fans should also be on the lookout if Cone will finally entrust the team to 3rd string point guard Jonas Villanueva who looks to be fully recovered from injury.  When healthy (which he clearly looks as being), Villanueva will give the Llamados a steady point guard who has the hand and foot speed, height and IQ to contest Alapag and even Castro. Barroca proved to be a dud on defense versus Meralco’s Mercado in the quarterfinals. And no one really buys that starter Josh Urbiztondo is an actual PBA point guard (he’s a straight up, shoot-first SG).

You know what they say about looking for “greener pastures,” you’re bound to go through rough patches before you get there.