Barangay Ginebra guard Scottie Thompson drives against TNT forward Kelly Williams during their game in the 2019 PBA Philippine Cup on Sunday, January 13, 2019, at Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Scottie Thompson’s path to superstardom was solidified when he was named the Finals MVP in the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup after an already impressive first two seasons with Barangay Ginebra.
The Gin Kings’ young point guard then, further upped his trajectory when he was awarded as the league’s Most Improved Player for the 2017-18 PBA season in the Leo Awards Sunday at Philippine Arena.
Thompson, 25, averaged an all-around game with 9.1 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.4 steals the prior season and those numbers were a bump from his averages of 8.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.0 steals from 2016-17.
With a couple of individual trophies under his belt, Thompson is on a sure path to becoming one of the best players of his generation, but the soft-spoken floor general isn’t taking things in a rush.
“First of all there’s added pressure to play well but I’m also more motivated because my focus right now is this conference,” said Thompson in Filipino after Ginebra’s 90-79 win over TNT in the season-opener.
“Whatever happens I’ll just take it a step at a time and I’ll improve on the areas that I have to work on. I’m not in a rush right now.”
Thompson added that he aims to be a more potent offensive player, especially he was never known as a scorer in his professional career.
He put up nine points on 4-of-11 shooting while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out just a couple of assists.
“I tried being more aggressive on offense earlier in the game, I’m trying, but so far it hasn’t been that good,” said Thompson. “I hope that through the course of the season I’ll improve as a player so I can better help the team.”