Third overall pick, used on a guard from FEU surnamed Abarrientos. Tim Cone has seen this scenario before.
For Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach Tim Cone, it was a case of déjà vu.
Thirty-one years ago, during the 1993 PBA Rookie Draft, Cone and the Alaska Milkmen were hoping to land FEU Tamaraws forward Vic Pablo with the third overall pick. But Pablo was snapped up by Ginebra, and the Milkmen were forced to “settle” for Pablo’s college teammate, a point guard by the name of Johnny Abarrientos.
On Sunday night, Cone found himself in a familiar spot. With Johnny now serving as his assistant coach, the champion coach once again had the third overall pick. In a full circle moment, he used it on another point guard from FEU surnamed Abarrientos, Johnny’s nephew RJ.
“I kind of compare it to the time back in 1993 when we were drafting with Alaska and we had the third pick,” Cone recalled Sunday night during the Season 49 draft. “It was Jun Limpot, number one, Vic Pablo, number two. We were hoping for Vic Pablo.
“We had number three. We were hoping, hoping, hoping for Vic Pablo. They took Vic Pablo and we went, ‘Oh man, we have to take Johnny Abarrientos.’
“We took Johnny and never looked back.”
In this draft, Cone said the coaching staff debated amongst themselves on who to pick before eventually landing on the younger Abarrientos.
“We went back and forth, back and forth. One coach liked this guy, another coach liked that guy. Later on they would flip. This went on for a few days. The bottom line was that we just felt that RJ would be an elite player at his position. Maybe even a transcendent player. He has the potential to be that kind of player. It was just somebody we couldn’t pass up, even though we would have liked the size of some of the other players.”
The Gin Kings were also thinking of going big with their pick after trading away Christian Standhardinger, but in the end, went small.
“We’re always obsessed with size. We always want to get the big player first. That’s something we battled with. We wanted that size, especially after trading Christian. There’s a big hole there.
“We really debated on it, but we just said that we just couldn’t pass up on RJ. We’re hoping it turns out. Third pick for RJ, third pick for Johnny, both an Abarrientos. Kind of poetic, we thought. Really nice story, actually.”
Johnny, who went onstage in lieu of his nephew who is in Taiwan playing in the Jones Cup, went on to win an MVP and lead the Alaska franchise to numerous championships. He is generally regarded as perhaps the best point guard in PBA history.
It’s certainly put enormous weight on RJ’s shoulders, but Cone said the two shouldn’t be compared.
“They’re different types. They’re not exactly the same. I think RJ is more of a lights-out scorer. He can really score, but he has the versatility. He can score. He’s a tremendous passer. He can create, just like Johnny could. It’s a different game now than it was back then. It’s kind of hard to compare them.
“Johnny, without a doubt, was the best of his era. We’ll see how RJ is in two or three or four years. He wasn’t at the same level that Johnny was, but he’s going to get that opportunity with us. He’s a potential star, so we’re going to give him that opportunity to try to start.
“Johnny wasn’t a prolific three-point shooter, not because he couldn’t shoot it, it just wasn’t that much of a game back then. RJ is a really prolific three-point shooter as well. He’ll bring a little bit of a different dimension than Johnny did to us.”
RJ Abarrientos will be joining a Ginebra backcourt that got even deeper with the addition of last year’s top overall pick Stephen Holt, and Cone is excited to see how it all plays out. The Kings still have Scottie Thompson, who can now slide back to his more natural off-guard position.
“Well, the good news is that Stephen has enough size to play various positions in the lineup, so we can move him around,” Cone said. “Scottie has always been really at his best as more of a two-guard, only because it allows him to do different things rather than handle the ball all the time.
“It allows him to cut and get behind the defense and rebound and do all those Scottie things. Sometimes when he’s having to handle the ball all the time, it’s kind of a burden on him and he doesn’t get to do a lot of the other stuff that he gets to do. He has to pay more attention to handling the ball. He’ll still be a primary ball handler. With RJ, some of the burden will be over.”
Whatever position the young Abarrientos plays, he will always be compared to his legendary uncle. But for Cone, RJ doesn’t need to duplicate his uncle’s success.
“I told Johnny up on the stage that if RJ could be half the player that his uncle is, then he’s going to be the best player in the PBA. Because Johnny was the best I ever saw.”
Banner Image from PBA Media Bureau.
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