TIM Cone let out a little secret Wednesday night shortly after Barangay Ginebra survived Blackwater’s late charge in their PBA Governors Cup encounter.
Cone said he almost brought Marqus Blakely with him with the Kings during the 2016 edition of the season-ending meet but wouldn’t be released by Star management back then.
Besides, the Kings also stumbled on an untested import by the name of Justin Brownlee when Paul Harris went down with a hand injury right in his first game with Ginebra.
Everything just didn’t fall down into its proper place, Cone stressed.
“I would have bring him (Blakely) back for Ginebra honestly, except that we picked up Justin, so once we got Justin, we won’t going to change him, sorry Marqus, but for no one,” the Barangay Ginebra coach related after the Kings brought down Blakely and the Elite, 101-93, at the Astrodome.
The conference the Kings tapped Brownlee as Harris’ replacement, Blakely was still playing for the Star Hotshots. As the Hotshots struggled, management finally let the former Best Import go in what served as his final stint with the franchise and was replaced by Joel Wright.
“We could have picked him up, but by that time, we already had Justine,” said Cone of Brownlee, who had steered the Kings to three championships as the team’s resident import.
“Funny how fates happened,” added the Ginebra coach. “We could have easily had Marqus as our import, but Star didn’t want to release him to us.”
After the game, Cone had a brief talk on court with Blakely, who he said was a huge part of the Purefoods franchise’s grand slam year in 2014.
“We had such great time back in 2014 when we were trying to win that grand slam,” recalled Cone. “So it was really an amazing year that 2014 and Marqus was a big part of it. He’s such a terrific player and such a terrific person.”
Asked about Cone’s revelation, Blakely admitted that was ‘news to me.’
But he understands the great work Brownlee has been doing for the Kings that a reunion with Cone is close to impossible.
“When you have somebody like Brownlee who’s an all-around player and a great outside shooter and scorer, there’s not much you can ask for an import. I think they’re more than good with their import right now,” said Blakely, a former Best Import, who finished with eight points, 13 rebounds, and three assists in the Elite’s fourth straight loss for a 2-7 record.
“I’m just worried about what we (Elitle) have to do to get wins.”
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