Pingris continues to earn Cone's trust

Pingris: Always Ready to Battle

When Hall of Fame-worthy BMeg Llamados head coach Tim Cone first came into town, talks of him developing established 2x PBA Most valuable Player James Yap captured headlines. There were dreams of multiple titles, unmatched greatness and a dynasty that was just waiting to happen.

For a time, people even toyed with the idea of how Cone could make his own present day "Alaska circa 1996" with Llamados with guys like Yap, Roger Yap, PJ Simon and Kerby Raymundo all in the fold. What people didn't really bother to talk about in those stages, was where defensive and rebounding bloodhound Marc Pingris fits in the Triangle Offense and Cone's gameplan altogether.

It was pretty obvious that Cone didn't know what he had in Pingris early. There were times in the Philippine Cup that Pingris would sit in crucial situations simply because Cone wanted someone who could generate some offense from the high post as opposed to a guy who freewheels for rebounds and help defense.

Once the second conference came along and Raymundo was sent elsewhere, it opened up the floor for Pingris to show just how valuable his relentlessness was for the Llamados. With the high IQ yet often injured Raymundo out of the way, Pingris only had to compete with the likes of Yancy de Ocampo (too slow) and Joe DeVance (too lackadaisical) for minutes. The fleet-footed, tenacious Pingris was quick to catch Cone's attention not just as a rebounder, but also as a quality defender from positions 1 through 5 (in the Pinoy set-up of course).

From guarding L.A. Tenorio to hounding Mac Cardona, Pingris did his job with gusto and spunk-- succeeding most of the time and making himself look like an elite PBA player. What's really great about Pingris is that not only is he a good one-on-one defender (who's quick on his feet for a guy his size) but he is also an exceptional team defender who knows how to trap pick and roll plays and play off the weak side. This also helped make Cone look even more like a genius, with games such as last night's 24-13 bomb on the hapless Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings just one of those nights for the Pinoy Sakuragi.

Is he the Llamados' Dennis Rodman?

Quite possibly. The game is there, Rodman's rebounding prowess is unearthly but Pingris is pretty consistent when it comes to his approach to the game. While others talk about playing like their rugged NBA idols (hello Ogie Menor), Pingris just goes out there and performs-- leaving all of us to make the conclusions.

The only thing that leaves a bad taste in our mouths is that this guy, arguably the most magnetic player to watch in the PBA today given the energy he plays with, is that he wasn't allowed to suit up for SMART Gilas 2 due to The Silent War. Sigh.