Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach Tim Cone said there are no plans to trade the rights to Greg Slaughter and that the Kings intend to retain his services if he decides to come back to the PBA.
Cone said that while there are no offers or anything on the table for Ginebra, he already bared what he wants for the 7-foot Slaughter, whose contract expired early this year.
“No… everything is dead right now, nobody is talking about anything in terms of trade,” said Cone as he appeared Saturday on The Chasedown on One PH channel of Cignal TV.
“We don’t have any conversation, we don’t have any desire to trade Greg. We won the last championship with Greg (and) when he’s healthy, he’s a dominant player in the league."
After the expiration of Slaughter’s contract, Ginebra made him a tender offer, which reserved the rights to the former top overall pick. Slaughter is currently in the US as he had recently signed with BeoBasket to manage his career path that includes a possible stint in the G-League.
As part of the Kings, the 32-year-old Slaughter won four championships, including the last PBA Governors’ Cup. His progress didn't escape Cone.
“I really like the fact, especially towards the end of the last conference, that he was really starting to mold his game a little bit to being more of a perimeter type of big man,” said Cone.
Based on Cone’s assessment, Slaughter had been making shots more from the perimeter, running the floor a little better, setting high screens and “not just trying to live in the post area.”
Cone said these are what Ginebra has encouraged Slaughter to do.
“He’s taking it to heart, and he was making some real strong progress. I think that’s the direction we would go in if he would come back and join us – we would continue to work on as a perimeter big and not just a power inside guy,” said Cone.
Because of the new rules, big guys are not as dominant at the painted area, and the majority have become more of perimeter shooters. If there are exceptions, there are just a handful of these ‘big’ men.
Joel Embiid, the 7-foot-2 center of the Philadelphia 76ers, is one in the NBA, while the 6-foot-10 June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer is the PBA’s version of that kind of big.
“It’s very hard to power in the post these days,” said Cone.
“Because of their massive strength, they (Embiid and Fajardo) can hold position… and bulldoze through. But the game has really moved towards the perimeter bigs,” added Cone.