Cone, Uichico Agrees: "Point Guard is the Coach's Extension on the Court"

Tim Cone had Johnny Abarrientos, Mark Barroca, and now LA Tenorio. Jong Uichico had Olsen Racela, Jayjay Helterbrand, and Jimmy Alapag. All six players are known as some of the best point guards in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and that, all of them have multiple championships. 

Coming off winning his 23rd PBA championship as a coach and fifth with the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, Coach Tim Cone found time to join Benny Benitez and Coach Jong Uichico for the 21st episode of "Bull By the Horn" by Benny Benitez on Saturday and the trio discussed the journey that the Gin Kings embarked on en route to winning the team's 13th championship and first Philippine Cup title in 13 years. One of the many things that were discussed and agreed upon by both coaches is that having a good point guard is important.

As Uichico said, "I won't be able to survive if I did not have a point guard,"

Uichico then added,  "The point guard position is very important for me because of so many reasons but also because they (point guards) are my extension. If I build the team, it's always going to be around the point guard position. Regardless of what tempo I play or what kind of offense I run will really be dependent on the point guard,"

For Tim Cone who won a Grand Slam each with Abarientos and Barroca being his extension on the court, a point guard is not just merely the extension of the head coach on the playing court. A point guard is the leader of the team and for Cone, LA Tenorio exemplifies what being a true point guard is. "LA is not just a point guard. He's the leader of men. I think he transcends the point guard position because of his leadership skills. He does more off the court than on the court in terms of leading our team and driving our team, especially in this bubble because he was so keen on winning his first all-Filipino title," The 62-year coach also mentioned another great point guard who drove the Alaska franchise to a Grand Slam during the 90s: Johnny Abarrientos. "I just never thought I ever coached Johnny. Johnny just did his thing. He was so instinctive. I didn't need to teach him. I just let him play. We put him in a structured offense in terms of the triangle (offense) and rather than us trying to put an offense around Johnny, Johnny just totally adapted himself to the triangle. It was an amazing thing to see and Johnny was just so incredibly special,"

Going back to the point of his fellow coach in the PBA, Tim Cone agreed, "You need that point guard. I don't care what system you run. You need a guy who's gonna go out there and be your extension. Lead your team. It doesn't matter what your system is gonna be. It doesn't matter what pace I play, what style play. I still need that point guard and that's what kinda driven home for me after having a Johnny, a Mark Barroca, and an LA Tenorio. I'm a little bit more system-oriented than Coach Jong because of the triangle but our guys have always done really good job of playing the point guards that have adapted and played within the triangle system,"

Incidentally, three of the point guards that played for either Uichico and Cone have gone on to don the Ginebra jersey and won a championship for the franchise. Abarrientos, a 12-time PBA champion, was instrumental to Ginebra's previous Philippine Cup title during the 2006-2007 season when Ginebra was still coached by Uichico. Helterbrand, of course, was the other half of Ginebra's famed "Fast and the Furious" tandem alongside Mark Caguioa. Tenorio is now in his eighth season with the Gin Kings and is instrumental to the team's last five championships. 

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