OVER the weekend, Barangay Ginebra signed Perpetual Help’s John Abis, the 23rd overall pick in the 2025 PBA draft, as its 14th player in the roster – bolstering the squad ahead of its playoff run in the Season 50 Philippine Cup.
Abis joins the team late after finishing out his playing years with the Altas in the NCAA Season 101 tournament under Ginebra assistant Olsen Racela, and de-facto team manager and Perpetual legend Scottie Thompson.
But who exactly is Abis and what does he exactly bring to the floor for the country’s most popular basketball squad? Let’s take a look.
Perpetual's Silent Operator
While all eyes were on Patrick Sleat and Mark Gojo Cruz in the Altas’ solid semifinals run in the recently-concluded NCAA season, Abis was the one who held it all together in the previous tournament for the squad from Las Pinas.
The 6’3 forward was, in fact, the only Perpetual player in the Top 10 of the MVP race, finishing eighth with a total of 38.3 statistical points – ahead of the brilliant Benilde pair of Justine Sanchez (37.1) and Tony Ynot (36.1) – after averaging 9.3 points, seven boards, 2.7 assists and one steal in 17 games including the playoffs.
His biggest value for the Altas comes with his versatility in the forward spot on both ends as defensively, he’s nimble enough to guard wings while his physicality allows him to bang bodies in the paint against some of the NCAA bigs.
Offensively, his biggest strength is making great reads on whether to attack, be it from the pinch post or the wing. His familiarity playing from the pinch post is very important, especially given Ginebra coach Tim Cone’s offense.
READ: Ginebra draftee John Abis showing welcome versatility for Altas
Familiarity won’t certainly be that big of an issue with Racela and Thompson on the Perpetual bench, with Racela allowing Abis to join in on some of the Ginebra practices while Perpetual’s season was ongoing.
Certainly has the tools
Abis has primarily played the four position at Perpetual in the NCAA Season 101, and at 6’3, he’s going to have to make some adjustments to playing into a full-time wing player for coach Cone.
But that’s something that he won’t have problem transitioning to, if coach Racela’s to be asked.
In an earlier interview with SPIN.ph correspondent Andrei Barrantes, Racela touched on Abis’ skillset while stating that Abis caught the attention of Cone with his tools.
“Si coach Tim liked what he saw in practice. Ang gusto niya is John's guard skills,” Racela said.
“He may play the four in the NCAA, but he has the potential to play the wing position in the pros. That's the beauty of yung skills ni John.”
Things to work on
Four guys transitioning well to play the wing in the pros aren’t really rare, and should Abis transition well then it should bode well for Ginebra. Guys like JV Mocon, Bong Quinto and Calvin Oftana among others, played the power-forward positions in their time in the NCAA before becoming really good wing players in the PBA.
But it will certainly take a lot of sharpening for him to get there.
For one, his shooting will certainly have to improve, having just shot 2-18 for the season from three point range for a paltry 11.1 percent, while also shooting 23 of 39 from the line for a 58.9 clip.
At the wing, he’ll certainly have to handle the ball more – something he didn’t get that much of a chance with the Altas, with Gojo Cruz, Sleat and Shawn Orgo handling the rock for majority of the time.
The good news for Ginebra fans is all these ‘shortcomings’ are all workable through training – and his pro-ready decision making, physicality and grit is a good starting off point for the rookie.
It will certainly take a while until he sees valuable floor time with Ginebra given it’s facing a win-twice disadvantage against Converge in the quarterfinals – but time might just very well be what Abis might need to blossom into a key rotational piece for the Kings.
Will he get there? Only time will tell. But should Abis work on the parts of his game which needs improvement while sharpening his already solid tools, then Ginebra just got a solid one
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