Barangay Ginebra, no doubt the most popular team in the PBA, and Tim Cone, the most decorated coach of all-time, are headed for a marriage that would hopefully make for better years for the Gin Kings.

After steering Star (formerly Purefoods and San Mig) to a Grand Slam last season and experiencing a lot of downs in the season that is about to conclude, Cone is coming to the third team of his career which could realize its true greatness under his guidance.

San Miguel Corporation, which owns three teams in the PBA — San Miguel Beer, Star and Barangay Ginebra — is expected to make the announcement any time this week, though sources said that officials would not want to get in the way of the Beermen’s impending triumph over Alaska in the Governor’s Cup Finals.

San Miguel has a 3-0 lead and can wrap up the best-of-seven series against the Aces with another win at 7 p.m. Friday night, and SMC officials want the Beermen to hog the spotlight as much as they can, for they deserve it after a job well done.

This is surely big news whichever way you look at it as Cone remains to be the only man left out there who can turn things around for the under-achieving Gin Kings.

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Ginebra tried out three different coaches in the last three conferences and the results were practically one and the same: epic failures.

The Kings have a mixture of talent, size, youth, experience and solid management backing that it is almost impossible to think that you wouldn’t see them in the Final Four — at least — of all three conferences staked each season.

Jeffrey Cariaso had his shot, Ato Agustin a second calling he bungled, and Frankie Lim a tumultuous head-coaching debut in the league that was marred not only by an eighth place finish but also an act of hooliganism, an Arab News source said, contributed to his relief.

Ginebra has not finished higher that fifth place in the last four conferences, has never been to the Finals in more than two years and last won in 2009.

Fans of the barangay that the legendary Robert Jaworski built in the mid-1980s have grown disappointed, and so has Ramon S. Ang, the basketball-crazy president of the SMC Group who watches over all of his three teams with much interest.

With Cone aboard, with his glittering resume and the respect he commands wherever he goes, there is another reason to consider for the Gin Kings to not fail again.

It is either Cone rises to the challenge — which he has done throughout his coaching career — or becomes just the latest candidate to fail in handling the talented Kings.

It could either be a blessing — as the tools in the Ginebra bench can be assembled into another dominant franchise — or a curse for Cone.

We will see. Most especially if management decides to give Cone more than a conference to prove his worth.

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Cone could certainly welcome this new challenge with open arms, especially if he reminds himself of the fact that he has the 7-foot Greg Slaughter and the 6-foot-9 Japeth Aguilar to work with.

There is also Mark Caguioa, the former MVP who has maybe a couple more good years left in those legs, Chris Ellis and Mac Baracael, and a former player at Alaska in LA Tenorio who is more than itching to get back to his once lofty perch as one of the premier point guards in the league.

When Cone went to Star from Alaska, it was obvious that he didn’t have as much talent that he will have at Ginebra.

Then known as San Mig Coffee, the Mixers had James Yap and Marc Pingris as its legitimate superstars. Cone’s magic wove a mix that won them championships one after the other, including that sweet Triple Crown sweep last season.

Cone must be salivating at the material he will have once he assumes command at Ginebra.

He wouldn’t have to deal anymore with the declining performance of former two-time MVP Yap and the consistent bickering with officials of Pingris. Those would be problems that another man would have to handle.

That man would be Jason Webb, the former Tanduay point guard who ascended from the ranks quite quickly after joining Cone’s staff just this season.

What is on the table for Cone at the moment is how to realize the potential of Slaughter and make Aguilar really fit into a system that could maximize his athleticism and make the team win first before looking pretty to the crowd second.

Cone is bound to fall in love with Caguioa, a hell of a hard worker who leaves everything on the floor every time he plays.

And Cone will enjoy working with Ellis and Baracael, who could be perfect for the Triangle Offense being a slasher and a potent outside shooter.

Cone’s only problem that we see at the moment is how to make those boys accept the Triangle into their system, having played with a run-and-gun style for most of their lives and rejecting that philosophy as evidenced by the failure of Cariaso to make them play at their best.

That’s why this could be both a blessing and a curse for Cone.

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A very reliable source had told Arab News that part of the reason why Lim was axed was because of the incident involving Calvin Abueva of Alaska in their quarterfinal duel in the Governors’ Cup.

The source said that management felt that the incident where Lim struck Abueva with what appeared to be a kick in the butt and a slap at the side of the head while the Alaska stalwart was on his back left a bad taste in the mouth.

Ginebra, the same source stressed, is not about violence when it comes to their PBA stint, but all about giving the fans what they like — and that is hard work on the floor.

Lim was fined P50,000 and suspended for a game by commissioner Chito Salud because of that infraction.

Lim, who coached San Beda to several championships in the NCAA, also had a falling out with the PLDT Group of Manny V. Pangilinan, who also bankrolls the San Beda program, after Lim and some of his players mauled the volleyball coach of San Sebastian, Roger Gorayeb.

Gorayeb was at the San Beda gym together with his women volleyball players when he got into an altercation with Lim and his players, which ultimately led to a much-celebrated mauling incident that left the multi-titled volleyball coach swollen all over the face.

Had that incident against Abueva not happened and made memories of the Gorayeb incident resurface, Lim could have had a second chance with the Kings.