And what’s scary is, the outspoken American is far from being done.
Calling the shots brilliantly for San Mig Coffee against Rain or Shine in the Philippine Cup Finals, Cone won his 16th championship against Yeng Guiao, eclipsing the record of 15 that Dalupan won in a similarly brilliant career.
He was magnanimous in victory, never wanting to accept the enormity of his accomplishment and insisting — on national television — that no coach is greater than his idol Dalupan.
“Baby was the father of all us coaches in the PBA,” Cone told the crowd, minutes after the din of the celebration subsided. “There is no amount of championships that I can win that can erase what Baby did for the league.”
Such attitude is a truly admirable trait, for one cam simply bask in the glory of it all and get drowned in his success.
Cone also did not forget to mention where it all started. And that was another admirable thing that he did.
“I was fortunate enough to have a team owner that trusted me all those years,” Cone said during the post-game interview with the PBA Press Corps, referring to Wilfred Steven Uytengsu, the man who gave him the break to handle Alaska back in the late 1980s.
“You can never have a long career (as a coach) if your owner doesn’t trust you,” Cone said in praise of Uytengsu, whom he gifted with 13 championships, including a rare Grand Slam in 1986.
Dalupan’s record was a long-standing one and many thought it would never be broken. Until Cone – amid reports that he severed his friendship with Uytengsu – signed up with San Mig two seasons ago for greener pastures.
With a team that is loaded in all fronts — from shooters like James Yap and Peter June Simon; big men like Marc Pingris, Rafi Reavis and Yancy De Ocampo; and a guard rotation led by Mark Barroca and Alex Mallari — Cone certainly has the tools to win some more.
The championship on Wednesday night also gave the San Mig/Purefoods franchise its first back-to-back titles in a long participation in the league. And that also made the Mixers as the only team eligible to win the Grand Slam this year.
The Commissioner’s and Governors’ Cups are import-spiced conferences and will run for short periods of time because of the league’s accommodation of the Gilas-Pilipinas schedule to prepare for the World Cup in Spain in August.
Getting a good import will be the challenge for Cone at this point, but knowing the successes that he has had with reinforcements before, it’s safe to say that Cone won’t settle for mediocre talent and will make San Mig a legitimate title threat.
Cone may argue all he wants that he can never dislodge Dalupan. But records won’t lie and the hardware will serve as proof.
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On the other side of the fence, Guiao lost yet another chance to win his first all-Filipino crown after his Elasto Painters went down, 2-4, in the best-of-seven series.
Guiao was actually the sentimental favorite to win for the first time as there’s no denying the fact that Filipinos love the underdog.
And compounding matters was the aborted walkout in the second quarter which will certainly carry a hefty fine in the next few days coming from the Commissioner’s Office.
The last walkout that happened in the league was in 2010 with Talk ‘N Text, which was fined P1 million for its action. Last Wednesday, even if the Painters returned to the court well within the 15-minute grace period, the team is expected to be slapped a penalty that won’t be lower than what Talk ‘N Text paid.
Guiao certainly had reasons to be disappointed with the officiating — even the sportswriters saw glaring errors in the judgment of the referees not only during the playoffs, but for the entire tournament as well.
But we can only do with what we have and ride the wave — if we can — during bad times.
The coming days will again be bad times for Rain or Shine and Guiao for ordering that aborted walkout. The sanction can even come before the next conference opens on Wednesday.
The Painters must ride that one out again, forget about what happened, and regroup to win the next one because they are certainly capable of doing so.
