Weak Imports Against Justin Brownlee Might Guarantee Ginebra 2018 Governor's Cup Defense

Coach Tim Cone understands the power of the spoken word. He always makes pronouncements early in a conference and his insights usually result in a positive outcome. Take his pronouncements about Greg Slaughter being the best defense against the PBA's reigning MVP Jun Mar Fajardo. While he did this early in the year, and it didn't happen during the Philippine Cup, Ginebra was able to bag the Commissioner's Cup. Having the media play on the facts that Slaughter beat Fajardo when they were in college and that Fajardo and Slaughter have never faced each other in a finals series placed doubt in Fajardo's mind and was used to Ginebra's advantage. Never mind the fact that Fajardo has been the MVP for the past four years. And never mind the fact that Fajardo has faced taller competition in the international arena and bigger and stronger imports like Onuaku and Smith. Suddenly, Fajardo doubted his ability to dominate the paint because of this masterful tactic. So, if San Miguel wants to dominate again, Fajardo has to be mentally tough.

And San Miguel, as a team, should remove the idea of being the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) in the PBA. You shouldn't talk about that until you've retired as a team. Lebron shouldn't be in the conversation until he has retired like Michael Jordan. And neither should the current SMB Core, until they are finally done. They still have a lot of future accomplishments as long as they keep healthy and as long as they improve their bench. And many years from now, when that time finally comes, then we can compare this SMB team with the Alaska of the 90's, or Star Hotshots or other PBA teams who have achieved a grandslam. As a fan, having a grandslam would still be one of the benchmarks to be included in the discussion for a GOAT Team.

Now, with the recent article of SPIN on the 2018 Governor's Cup imports, I wonder if any team really wants to beat Ginebra, knowing that they've had the best Governor's Cup import for the past two years. Durham is still there, but we've already seen that Meralco doesn't stand a chance against Ginebra, and more so now that Ginebra has gained confidence against SMB. Arizona Reid was an import who left San Miguel in recent memory. Why would you give this guy another chance at redemption? We know how that story will end since we've just seen it in the recently concluded Commisioner's Cup.

What SMB needs is an import that can do it all just like Brownlee. One who is a three-point threat and can slash to the basket.  And more important than this skill set is that  preferably, this import has beaten Justin Brownlee numerous times in the past. An import that has the mental edge over Brownlee and will cause Brownlee to doubt his ability to lead Ginebra to a title defense. If teams can find that import, then they will have the edge over Ginebra in a potential finals match up. And when the leader of the team doubts himself, then the team begins to doubt their ability, too. And if that happens, Ginebra will no longer be the Governor's Cup champions.