TIM Cone admitted he hasn’t heard anything from Greg Slaughter since the Barangay Ginebra big man went back to the US during the offseason.
All his knowledge about the 7-foot Slaughter at the moment are the ones the Fil-Am center had posted in his Instagram account showing him training and practicing with former Ginebra teammate Chris Ellis.
“I haven’t had any communication with him aside from seeing things that had been on social media a couple of times,” said Cone Saturday during a radio interview.
Slaughter decided to take a break from Barangay Ginebra after his contract expired last January.
The big man talked to Cone about his decision during the team’s exit interview at the end of last season shortly after the Kings bagged the Governors Cup championship.
With the PBA postponing the new season indefinitely following the outhreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Cone hopes the long break would give Slaughter enough time to chart his future with Ginebra and the league in general.
“Maybe he’ll be ready to come back and be fresh minded and ready to go,” said Cone.

The two-time grand slam coach believes Barangay Ginebra has a very good shot at winning the Philippine Cup title especially with six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo still recovering from an off-season injury after suffering a fractured right tibia.
Cone recalled Barangay Ginebra playing five-time champion San Miguel during the Philippine Cup finals in 2017 without an injured Slaughter.
“Greg didn’t play in that series because he was injured at the time. We didn’t have him at that point and they (Beermen) just ripped us apart,” said Cone, who remembers well the Kings losing the title series, 4-1.
But even with Slaughter around, the Ginebra coach believes the Kings are a very much different team from that 2017 unit that loss to the Beermen.
“There’s such a maturation process on our team especially in terms of Japeth Aguilar. And Stanley (Pringle) changes the way we play and we made a natural progression forward,” he pointed out.
“And that gives us an opportunity to compete for the All-Filipino every year.”
A healthy Slaughter suited up for the Kings against the Beermen in the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup finals which Ginebra won in six games.
“This would have been our first All-Filipino chance with Stanley in our lineup. And if we happen to bring Greg to our lineup, yes I think we can be a force in the All-Filipino,” said Cone.
Although the resumption of the PBA season remains uncertain, Cone hopes action will be back as soon as possible.
“I think when we come back we’ll resume with the All-Filipino. That would be available for everybody,” he said.
“And hopefully we (league) come back before June Mar becomes healthy, to give us all a chance,” added Cone with a hearty laugh.
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