BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone sees a lot of Johnny Abarrientos in Scottie Thompson, especially in terms of their boundless energy.
Scottie Thompson-Johnny Abarrientos comparison
Thompson drew comparisons from Abarrientos in the eyes of Cone, who coached the Alaska legend in his prime particularly in 1996 where he won the MVP during the Milkmen’s grand slam campaign.
The Ginebra star recently captured the Finals MVP of the Governors’ Cup after the Gins put away Meralco in six games.
“Is there a player who is more deserving? All the things that he does for us defensively, offensively, on the boards,” said Cone when asked about Thompson’s Finals MVP.
“It’s very similar to what Johnny Abarrientos used to do for us. He played great defense. He used to rebound great for a guard and he was such a great controller of the game. And he never got tired and he always hustle and never got tired. That’s Johnny’s big thing. He never got tired,” said Cone.

With Cone calling the shots, Abarrientos captured nine championships with Alaska before he was traded to Pop Cola in 2001. He eventually won three more titles in his career with Coca-Cola and Barangay Ginebra.
Meanwhile, Thompson has already won six titles under Cone during his stay with Ginebra where he has already won two Finals MVPs with the team that drafted him in 2015.
Cone shared that Abarrientos was tireless during drills and workouts when he was still a young coach with Alaska.
“When I was a younger coach, I used to make our guys do really, really hard drills and Johnny would do the hard drill and would look at me and smile when he was doing it and laugh. Everybody else was dying but Johnny wasn’t,” said Cone.
Needless to say, Thompson is the same.
“Scottie never gets tired either. We play him 47 minutes and 35 seconds in one game. I couldn’t take him out of the court. He never gets tired,” Cone said.
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