MANILA, Philippines – Under Tim Cone's tutelage, Johnny Abarrientos played the best basketball of his career with the Alaska Milkmen in the 1990s.
Now with a new team and a new set of players decades later, Cone has found another gem that showed him shades of Abarrientos' brilliance before — Ginebra’s do-it-all guard Scottie Thompson.
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Thompson's near triple-double performance in Game One of the Philippine Cup Semifinals last Sunday against Meralco — posting 13 points, nine rebounds and eight dimes — prompted the multi-titled tactician to draw comparisons between the two stars.
"He's [Thompson] very unique," said Cone. "The guy I always compare him to is Johnny Abarrientos,"
"Johnny did so much during the game... he would do a couple of razzle-dazzle plays that make everybody go ooh and aah, but no one would remember or notice the other 25 different plays that he was impacting the game," he added.
"That's the same with Scottie, he does one or two things that oh and ah you but throughout the whole game he is totally impacting, rebounding, on defense,"
A nine-time PBA champion with the Milk Men in his time, Abarrientos is a legend with his time under Cone in helping his team reach new heights.
Already in the thick of the prime in his career, Cone believes Thompson is headed in the same direction.
"His ability to just to play with that tremendous energy lifts our whole team all the time," Cone said.
Cone, Thompson and the rest of the Ginebra San Miguel will attempt to take a 2-0 advantage over the Meralco Bolts when Game Two tips off later Friday at 3:45 p.m. at the AUF Sports Arena & Cultural Center.