MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings will finally unleash new acquisitions Jamie Malonzo and Von Pessumal when they face Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup tonight at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Malonzo and Pessumal arrived at the Gin Kings camp via a blockbuster trade last week where they sent Negrense Jeffrei Chan, Arvin Tolentino, Prince Caperal and Kent Salado to the NorthPort Batang Pier.
The two were supposed to have their Ginebra debut last Sunday against the Converge FiberXers but the match was postponed to a later date due to the landfall of Super Typhoon “Karding”.
Gin Kings head coach Tim Cone is certain that Malonzo, whom he described as an “expensive get” as they need to part ways with four players and a draft pick, will emerge as a star of the future for the crowd favorites.
“It was an expensive deal for us. We gave up a lot for Jamie, because we have a lot of belief in Jamie,” Cone said of Malonzo. “We just have a real good feeling for him in our future.”
“He’s still very young. He still plays a young game. You can see he doesn’t have the veteran savvy yet. But he’s terrifically skilled. He can jump out of the gym obviously. He’s a guy that we can build our team around for the next several years,” he added.
The 6-foot-7 former De La Salle University Green Archers standout has solid averages of 17.2 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.4 blocks during the previous conferences with the Batang Pier.
Cone also has high hopes on Pessumal, who has a lot of upside as a three-point gunner but was relegated to the bench of a loaded San Miguel Beermen rotation in his PBA career.
“Von has been stuck behind the great Marcio Lassiter for the last few years,” said Cone. “We’re going to give him that opportunity to carve out a role with us here and see where it takes him.”
“Sometimes, players just need a change of scenery. We’ll see if that holds true for Von,” Cone added on Pessumal, who averaged 2.4 points in 16 games during the Philippine Cup with the Beermen./PN
