Cone, Ginebra hope to land another gem in ‘deep’ PBA draft

Ginebra coach Tim Cone after the Gin Kings won the PBA Philippine Cup crown. PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines — It’s not easy to find a valuable piece late in the draft.

Fortunately for Barangay Ginebra, head coach Tim Cone believes the coming rookie selection has a deep enough pool to choose from.

“From what I understand, this coming draft is supposed to be a deep draft. However, we are drafting at No. 12. It’s really hard to find a true impact player at that spot. But you’ll never know, this is a deep draft so we’ll take the best player available irrespective of position,” Cone said.

In the previous draft, Ginebra did just that in landing Arvin Tolentino as the 10th pick.

Arvin Tolentino shines for Ginebra. PBA IMAGES

Tolentino, a lengthy 6-foot-4 forward, proved to be a quality addition to the Gin Kings last season in the bubble, playing a key role in helping the team capture its first Philippine Cup title in 13 years.

“We will certainly use our pick very, very carefully. We’ve got our eyes on a couple of guys and we are hoping they will drop to where we are.”

Aside from Tolentino, Ginebra also got Jerrick Balanza and Kent Salado in the second round.

Cone has high hopes for Balanza and Salado heading into the new season.

“It was like a leap of faith for Arvin and we gave him the minutes. But we’re still very, very high on Jerrick, we’re very, very high on Kent and we expect these guys to be impact players down the line.”