MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone said the country should take full advantage of having big men like June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter to boost its stock in international play.
Cone called up both the 6-foot-10 Fajardo and the 7-foot Slaughter for the Gilas squad currently doing battle in the Southeast Asian Games and gushed about the sky-high possibilities the twin towers could open.
“It (Fajardo-Slaughter tandem) is significant (not only for this SEAG campaign) for the overall Gilas program,” said Cone, who’s tasked to steer a Gilas ship out for redemption in the SEAG following the team’s disastrous campaign in the FIBA Basketball World Cup last September.
San Miguel’s Fajardo and Ginebra’s Slaughter have been playing against each other since their college days with University of Cebu and University of Visayas, respectively, in the South. Slaughter later transferred to Manila to suit up for the champ Ateneo then the original all-amateur Gilas team, and eventually Ginebra in the PBA. Fajardo for his part saw action for San Miguel Beer in the Asean Basketball League before being drafted by SMB in the PBA.
The “Kraken” and “Gregzilla” haven’t had the chance to join forces for Gilas until now.
“If you can get a guy that’s 6-10 and a guy that’s seven feet in your team and they can develop over time and create chemistry between themselves, back each other up and if necessary play alongside each other, then that’s a weapon you could use throughout the Asian region and even the European and world region,” said Cone.
“As they say you can’t teach height and we haven’t always had guys like these that can go out and compete with other seven-footers. That’s always been our problem,” he added.
Slaughter nearly missed this SEAG stint after a thumb injury led to his being cut from the Final 12. But the Ginebra slotman eventually recovered and got another chance when RR Pogoy suffered a back injury and had to be replaced in the SEA Games team.
“I felt it’s so important to put Greg in there because we needed him to be in there to test him, see if he can play at this level, see if he can perform and more importantly, develop and grow as a player,” said Cone.
“’Coz if he can, that’s a big weapon. We won’t need a 6’10 naturalized player; we could maybe get a 6’7, 6’8 naturalized player who can be a lot more versatile for us. Gives us more options to have these guys there,” said Cone.