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    Bong Alvarez thanks Cone for reminding people about his greatness

    Most especially his kids
    Jun 16, 2021

    CAN’T blame Bong Alvarez for acting like a kid who had been given his first candy at age 53.

    Mr. Excitement became so excited when told about coach Tim Cone’s recent pronouncement about him being the most talented player he ever handled in his more than 30 years of experience coaching in Asia’s pioneering pro league.

    Alvarez, who turned a new leaf on Tuesday (June 15), can’t get enough of the compliment showered on him by the coach he played for during his best years in the PBA, which resulted in his first and only league championship.

    The high-leaping guard out of San Sebastian was grateful to Cone for putting him above the numerous talented players he handled from 1989 with Alaska all the way to his current team Barangay Ginebra, some of whom had won multiple MVP trophies.

    “Nakakatuwa, biro mo banggitin niya tayo diyan. E, hindi nga tayo kasama sa 25 (PBA) Greatest (Players) di ba,” an ecstatic Alvarez said in a talk with SPIN.ph.

    “Puro MVP yun. James Yap, Willie Miller. May [Stanley] Pringle pa, (Johnny) Abarrientos. Lahat ng magaling binanggit niya,” he stressed.

    “Si Tim Cone hindi (naman) magsisinungaling yan. Siya ang may pinakamaraming championships (sa PBA). So imagine mo para magsalita siya ng ganyan, nakakatuwa talaga.”

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    Cone made the statement in a recent special guest appearance in the SPIN ZOOM In, where he was asked about the most talented PBA player he ever handled.

    “People ask me, ‘Who’s the most talented player I’ve ever coached? It has to be Bong Alvarez,” confessed the now 63-year-old coach.

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    “James Yap was great, Willie Miller was really up there. Mark Caguioa, although I didn’t coach Mark in his prime, and Stanley now,” added Cone. “And I’ve really coached some really talented guys. But I don’t think there’s anybody more talented than Bong Alvarez in terms of just pure basketball athletic, can-do-everything kind of guy.”

    Alvarez got to play under Cone when the American mentor took over the coaching reins at Alaska after replacing Bogs Adornado in only the player’s second conference in the league back in 1989.

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    He said their mentor-student relationship went along very well as proven by the two finals appearances of the Milkmen during their stay together, including winning what would be the first of the franchise’s 14 championships during the 1991 Third Conference.

    Alvarez also made the Mythical First Team during the 1990 season, the second year of Cone as Alaska coach.

    “Kami ni Tim wala kaming kaproble-problema niyan,” he said emphatically.

    Just how Cone valued Alvarez was reflected in the way he checked on his player every time he missed practice with the team even just for a single day.

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      “Mawala lang ako, umabsent lang ako sa ensayo ng isang araw, papasundo na agad ako niyan kay coach Aric (Del Rosario),” said Alvarez, referring to Cone’s longtime deputy at Alaska.

      The player dubbed ‘Mr. Excitement’ even remembered how he personally invited Cone and Alaska team owner Wilfred Uytengsu to his old family home in Quiapo.

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      “Pinapunta ko pa nga yan (Cone) sa bahay ko, e. Silang dalawa ni Mr. Uytengsu,” he recalled.

      It was actually a tricky contract renegotiation with management by the end of the 1992 season which signaled the beginning of the end of Alvarez’s stay at Alaska.

      “Nagka-problema lang naman tayo sa kontrata, e. Kaya ako nawala,” he said.

      Now affiliated with the TGP partylist, Alvarez admitted getting wind of Cone’s kind words about him through his eldest daughter Alyssa, the young model and actress who sent him a link of the SPIN.ph story.

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      Although Alvarez would tag Alyssa along with him during the latter part of his playing career, he said his daughter was too young back then to understand the significance of everything going around her.

      “Yung mga anak ko hindi naman ako nakitang maglaro ng mga yan kasi maliliit pa sila (nun),” said Alvarez, adding Alyssa was only eight years old when he finally retired in 2005.

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      That's why he’ll forever be grateful to Cone for reminding people, including his children, about his greatness.

      “Sa totoo, the best yan si coach Tim,” he said of the most accomplished coach in PBA history.

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