Cone assures Devance won’t leave Ginebra

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone said Joe Devance isn’t going anywhere.

Devance is out of Ginebra’s lineup for the time being due to injury, but Cone assured the versatile forward will stay with the team no matter what happens.

“Joe has no reason to go, we know that, and we don’t feel he’s going to go,” said Cone after Ginebra’s 104-97 win over Globalport Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. “We talked to him, we’re not looking to cut him.”

Speculations of Devance leaving Ginebra instantly came up when Phoenix head coach Louie Alas said that his team is on the hunt for a big man and Devance’s name came up.

Devance, however, said he doesn’t know anything of what Alas even said but remarked that they shared history when they were with Toyota in the Philippine Basketball League.

“Coach Louie is a great coach, I thrived under him in the PBL, Toyota Otis, and I’m still friends with the Toyota group,” said Devance. “Coach Tim and I spoke, everything’s okay with the understanding that we have.”

“Nobody’s going to want a 35-year-old basketball player, I don’t think any team is really interested.”

Ginebra only has one player in its injury list and that is Art Dela Cruz with DeVance technically a free agent, but no team can just simply take Devance from Ginebra without both the team and the player agreeing on a move.