By JONAS TERRADO
Calling Barangay Ginebra San Miguel a dynasty is something coach Tim Cone disagrees with even after six championships in the last 13 conferences, including its latest feat of once again ruling the PBA Governors’ Cup.
“Dynasties are winning consecutive championships, not Governors’ Cup, Governors’ Cup, Governors’ Cup. It’s really winning multiple championships in a row, like the San Miguel team did in the last few years. So, I don’t know,” Cone said.
“I hate to think that we think about those things. We don’t think about those things. We’re just thinking about this next conference,” he added.
But there’s a strong case for Ginebra to be in such an elite class, given its success rate since Cone was tapped to handle the league’s most popular ballclub.
Ginebra’s win over regular victim Meralco made it four Governors’ Cup titles in the last five editions, all with resident import Justin Brownlee leading the charge.
“I guess you probably could call it that right now,” Brownlee said when asked about the dynasty talk. “I’ve been a part of the team since 2016, I guess you could say that now.
The Gin Kings also won one Commissioner’s Cup championship in 2018 with Brownlee facing taller imports while also bagging the Philippine Cup during the 2020 bubble.
What Cone believes is that Ginebra still has what it takes to continue reaching the top and make their legion of fans celebrate on a constant basis.
“The common thread in winning the Commissioner’s Cup and the Governors’ Cup, there’s a common thread, it’s Justin Brownlee. So, if we can continue to get Justin back and continue to keep him healthy, I don’t see a reason why we can’t continue to compete for championships,” he said.
“I think you’re just starting to see the start of Scottie’s career, I think Scottie (Thompson) is just gonna get better from here. And, of course, if we can get Stanley (Pringle) back and continue to get the fountain of youth for LA (Tenorio).
“I don’t know where he (Tenorio) finds it but he’s got some magical place that he goes to and keeps finding the fountain of youth. I think he showed Jeff Chan where it was for a while, Jeff Chan was the comeback kid for us.”
One thing Cone wants to see is for Ginebra to get back the All-Filipino crown after its hold of the Jun Bernardino Perpetual Trophy was relinquished earlier in the 46th season with a quarterfinal defeat to eventual winner TNT.
Though not discrediting the 2020 win held under a bubble setup in Pampanga, Cone hopes to get one under normal, or at least close to normal circumstances.
“I’d like to see Ginebra win the All-Filipino,” he said. “I think that’s the one we all, LA always talks about.
“We were able to win in the bubble and that was nice, the first bubble, we won the All-Filipino. But we’d like to win the All-Filipino in front of our fans, that’s for sure. That’s the big crown, at this point.”
