BARANGAY Ginebra may have gotten even better with Christian Standhardinger coming on board.
Still, that doesn't guarantee the Kings are a lock in to repeat as PBA Philippine Cup champions, according to coach Tim Cone.
The team's lineup on paper may look formidable enough, but it's an entirely different thing when they're playing together on court.
"The game is not played on paper. This is not a fantasy league where you just put in the best players and take their stats and then you win because they put up great stats," Cone pointed out.
"That's not the way real games are played."
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Standhardinger was a valuable off-season acquisition by the Kings following a one-on-one trade with NorthPort for 7-foot center Greg Slaughter.
But even in the absence of either Standhardinger or Slaughter, Barangay Ginebra was good enough to emerge champion in the Philippine Cup bubble, beating a TnT Tropang Giga side in five games during the best-of-seven finals.
It was understandable that odds favor the Kings to win it all again upon Standhardinger's arrival as the Fil-German big man led the league in rebounding last season with a 12.0 average, while submitting a team-high 19.9 points and 3.8 assists for the Batang Pier.
Cone sees the intangibles and other factors the 6-foot-8 Standhardinger brings to the table now that he's with the Kings.
Then again, there are a lot of things to consider for a team to become champion.
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"But there's a lot more going to like chemistry, the sharing of the ball, the off-court staff that goes on. It's not just played on the paper, it's played on the court. And the game changes when you get on the court," Cone stressed.
"I'd like to think that we are a contender, but we won't know until we get out to the floor and actually start doing the work because it really comes down to the work you're going to do day-to-day. That's going to decide whether you're going to be a contender or you're going to be a championship team." (RG)
