Tenorio, Devance laud Cone’s move.
LA Tenorio and Joe Devance are surprised with Tim Cone’s decision to implement a more free-flowing offense that resulted in four wins out of five games for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Cone decided to tinker his offense this conference after spending most of his 27-year coaching career with the Triangle Offense that won him two Grand Slams for Alaska in 1996 and San Mig Super Coffee in 2014.
Ginebra has won its last three games, including Wednesday’s 107-95 victory over Blackwater that saw the crowd-favorite squad making 31 assists.
“I’ve been with him for nine years now, and it’s very shocking for him to do that,” said Devance, who played for Cone with Alaska and San Mig before joining him at Ginebra this season.
“I guess he is adjusting to the times, and I think Gregg Popovich did that too in San Antonio right? I guess he just have to adjust, especially with the players that he had. I think we bought in to the system right now, and hopefully we can still keep on going and get more wins.”
Also benefiting from the new approach is Tenorio, who against Blackwater was named Best Player after producing 23 points, three rebounds, five assists, and two steals in nearly 35 minutes of action.
Like Devance, Tenorio, a member of Cone’s title-winning team with Alaska in the 2010 Fiesta Conference, is also pleased with the changes.
“Hindi ko ineexpect yun but its working,” said Tenorio. “Actually medyo lumihis na siya dun sa Triangle Offense niya.
We’re still running the basic triangle, pero marami nang variation, medyo nag-adapt na siya dun sa kung anu meron kami at kung anung pyesa meron kami.”
While the offense appears to be more free-wheeling, Cone insists that the Triangle is still in effect.
“We’re not deviating from the triangle, we’re trying to enhance the triangle and kind of expand on that,” said Cone.
“We’re just trying to add a few options to it, we moved the positions around a little bit so we can take advantage of some of the things our big guys are doing.
“Our big guys have the ability to shoot the ball so we kind of focusing on that, and we also have a very strong guard play. So with that things in mind, were not saying deviating, were still doing a lot of those stuff, we kind of enhanced it.”
Cone and the rest of Ginebra will put their new system to the test during a crucial stretch beginning tomorrow against defending champion San Miguel Beer at the Mall of Asia Arena, followed by meetings with Rain or Shine on Aug. 21, Star on Aug. 28, and Mahindra on Sept. 9.