By REYNALD MAGALLON
Festivities, celebration and drama.
A lot will be in store for the fans in the opening of the PBA 50th Season as a grand celebration aimed to honor the past five decades of the league, as well as the beginning of a new chapter to the fabled Manila Clasico rivalry, is set at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday, Oct. 5.
The curtain to the golden season will be raised at 4 p.m. with the opening ceremony where past PBA players are expected to attend, followed by the mentor-mentee battle of Ginebra’s Tim Cone and Magnolia’s new mentor LA Tenorio at 7:30 p.m.
Being on the same side for years surely will make their first meeting as opposing coaches a little strange but Cone is confident that his former player would do well at his new role as the Hotshots head coach.
“I think LA is going to do wonderful things at Magnolia. I think they will be a contender,” said Cone.
“It is difficult going against them and that is just the friendship part and then, there are the X’s and O’s of what we are trying to do. I’ll be curious about what LA does. It would be interesting to see how much of the triangle he adapts,” he added.
But, of course, Cone wouldn’t want Tenorio’s first PBA win as a coach to come at his expense.
And the veteran mentor will have to rely on Scottie Thompson, who Tenorio also shared long battles with, heading into the contest especially with Japeth Aguilar still recovering from a hand injury and Jamie Malonzo also departing from the team during the offseason.
New addition in rookie Sonny Estil and free agent signing Norbert Torres will be key alongside RJ Abarrientos and Stephen Holt if they wish to topple a new-look Magnolia.
Aside from Tenorio, the Hotshots have also added Javi Gomez de Liano through a trade to form a young combination with Zav Lucero and veterans Mark Barroca, Ian Sangalang and Paul Lee.
Tenorio, who is named as reserve for Magnolia, admitted that Cone played a huge part at what he is today as a coach and it would certainly feel strange standing at the opposite bench of the veteran mentor.
“The biggest help na meron sa akin talaga, definitely coach Tim all my championship are under coach Tim so how he coaches, how he handles the team pulut-pulot ako dun kung anong pwede magawa,” said Tenorio.
