GINEBRA coach Tim Cone, who was voted to call the shots against Rain or Shine counterpart Yeng Guiao in this year’s PBA All-Star Game in Passi City, Iloilo on March 12, stressed the match is for fans and they choose who they want to play.
Cone issued the statement in response to armchair pundits who bewailed the fact that some “deserving players” are missing in the festivity after they failed to crash the top 24 in the voting process.
“I think the thing that we forget about is the fans. It’s for fans, it is for nobody else but the fans. It is for the fans totally,” Cone said.
“You want to reward those guys who are deserving but basically it’s a fans’ game so I don’t have anything at all with fans picking the team,” he added.
It will be Team Japeth Aguilar against Team Scottie Thompson in the PBA All-Star Game after the Kings stars showed the way in the fan voting that closed last Wednesday, with Aguilar taking the No. 1 spot with 1,239,665 votes.
Thompson finished second with 1,217,226 votes.
Aguilar and Thompson drafted their teammates from the next 22 top vote getters at press time yesterday.
“There will always be guys deserving and don’t make it. It happens in the NBA all the time, in all sports, whether in football, baseball, basketball, it doesn’t matter, All-Star teams always leave deserving players off,” Cone said. “That’s the nature of the All-Star, not enough spots for everybody. I think it’s kind of an exciting format. It’d be fun to see guys who are in the same team and pick players against each other in Japeth (Aguilar) and Scottie (Thompson).
“I think it’s an exciting format. I think it’s gonna be fun for the fans, the fans are seeing the players that they want to see.”
Two to three celebrities per team are also being eyed to spice up the All-Star weekend in the rice and sugar-rich component city in the Panay Island.
Skills challenge competitions such as the Slam Dunk Contest, Three-point Shootout, and Obstacle Challenge will also be held during the All-Star Weekend.
The PBA All-Star Game was last held in Calasiao, Pangasinan with the North beating the South 185-170 in 2019.
