Cone also enlisted six players from Barangay Ginebra—the team he is coaching in the PBA.
The six Ginebra players named to the pool are LA Tenorio, Scottie Thompson, Stanley Pringle, Japeth Aguilar, Greg Slaughter and Art dela Cruz, tv5.espn.com reported.
Joining the six Ginebra players are TNT’s Jayson Castro, RR Pogoy and Troy Rosario; San Miguel’s Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter, Christian Standhardinger and June Mar Fajardo; Alaska’s Vic Manuel and Phoenix’s Matthew Wright.
Rookie guards Robert Bolick and CJ Perez, who both had impressive stints in the FIBA World Cup, didn’t make the pool.
Cone explained having veteran players is a must since the competition is a couple of months away.
“We decided to go with a veteran group, again because — and this is not always the truth — generally, veterans are easier to coach short-term. They pick up things faster than young guys. This is all about speed and efficiency that we’re trying to do. I know that guys like Bolick and Perez had a great [World Cup] but once we decided we were gonna take six Ginebra players, we decided to go with a veteran group,” Cone said in the report.
