JUSTIN Brownlee will come in as the shortest import in the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup but Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone explained there is no real need for his team to bring in a taller player to match up against other reinforcements.
Brownlee is officially listed as 6 feet, four and five-eighth inches, well below the 6-foot-10 height limit of the league for the conference. Brownlee will be making his third straight Commissioner’s Cup appearance. In his first run, he led Ginebra to the 2018 crown on his way to winning the Best Import.
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Cone said Ginebra will look to once again seize the luxury of having Brownlee along with Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger, two players who can hold their own against imports, while still providing their usual numbers.
“We have Christian and Japeth so if we bring in an import, a big 6-10 import, it’s going to limit the time on the floor for either Christian or Japeth,” said Cone. “By bringing in a 6-foot-5 guy, Justin is a mismatch hell to any team. It allows us to continue Japeth and Christian in regular minutes. They are two of our best players. You don’t want to bring in an import and make one of our best players sit down.”
Tim Cone can maximize Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger with Justin Brownlee as an import.
Cone said Brownlee delivers the quickness against a taller import, and strength against local players.
“That’s our advantage. We have two big guys that allows us to bring in a smaller import. We are going to have problems defending the other big man, although Christian is a great defender and we think that he can do a yeoman’s job handling.”
“There’s not a lot of imports that can guard Justin. Because Justin is too quick for the big guys and if they play them with a smaller player, he can overpower them. He is a mismatch hell for the other team,” said Cone.
Brownlee is coming off a Governors’ Cup stint last season with Barangay Ginebra, carrying the team to another crown. Unlike in the previous import-laden conference where he groped for form at the start, Cone said Brownlee was in excellent form from the get go.
“He came in good shape, much better shape this time than he was the last time. He is more prepared to come in,” Cone said.
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