Tim Cone says runaway Slaughter ‘not responding’ to calls

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–From all indications, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone knows getting Greg Slaughter back is a long shot.

“We don’t know if he’s coming back. He has not responded [to calls],” said Cone, referring to Slaughter, who has won four titles with the Gin Kings but ended ties with the league’s most popular club and threatened to retire at the end of last season over rumors that he was on the trading block.

The 7-foot former No. 1 pick went back home to the United States before the coronavirus pandemic grounded all sports to a halt in the country in March.

“We do know just like everybody else that he’s working out, and the last we heard [was] he’s gonna try out with the NBA G League,” Cone went on. “I don’t know if that’s true or not. We heard that from a third party. But there is no G League [this year], so [even if he is successful], he won’t be in the G League until next year.”

Cone won’t be crying over spilled milk, and instead, will maximize the assets he has remaining in his team—a great trait in his coaching skill set that has resulted in two Grand Slams and a total of 22 championships with three teams.

“We have Japeth [Aguilar], we have Stanley [Pringle],” Cone said in an episode of the Coaches Unfiltered podcast on Thursday night. “Stanley is somebody who we are still very much exploring how to best use and where he fits.

“We only had him for a conference and a half so there’s a lot still to find out about him.”

Aguilar has steadily blossomed into a legitimate threat on both ends under Cone and captured his first Finals most valuable player award early this year while helping the Kings capture the Governors’ Cup.

The 6-foot-9 Aguilar, though, is in hot water after a video on social media showed he was playing five-on-five basketball even with Metro Manila still under general community quarantine. (See related story below)

Pringle was acquired just over a year ago in a trade with NorthPort.