MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings head coach Tim Cone remains optimistic that Gregory Slaughter will return to the team at some point of the halted 2020 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup.
Cone said in a radio interview on April 18 that he hopes the league’s postponement due to coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic will provide the center enough time to finalize the decision of his basketball future.
The coach had no updates about Slaughter aside from the latter’s social media post where he departed to the United States and was training with former Kings forward Chris Ellis earlier this year.
Cone said: “Maybe he’ll be ready to come back, to be fresh minded and to be ready to go. I haven’t had any communication with him aside from seeing things that had been on social media a couple of times.”
The 31-year-old Slaughter announced earlier this year on his social media accounts that he would take a break from the professional league following the expiration of his contract.
Slaughter’s possible return, coupled with the floor maturity of PBA veterans Japeth Aguilar and Stanley Pringle, will make Ginebra a great contender for the All-Filipino title, according to Cone.
“There’s such a maturation process on our team, especially in terms of Japeth Aguilar, and Stanley (Pringle) changes the way we play. We made a natural progression forward. That gives us an opportunity to compete for the All-Filipino every year,” Cone said.
“This would have been our first All-Filipino chance with Stanley in our lineup. And if we happen to bring Greg to our lineup, yes I think we can be a force in the All-Filipino,” he added.
“I think when we come back, we’ll resume with the All-Filipino. That would be available for everybody,” he further said. “And hopefully we (league) come back before (San Miguel Beermen center) June Mar (Fajardo) becomes healthy, to give us all a chance.”/PN
