Ginebra rookie starts to 'announce himself into the league'

Tim Cone said he was the least surprised to see rookie Ralph Cu perform well in Barangay Ginebra’s last two victories that allowed the league’s most popular squad to climb up to solo third spot in the team standings of the PBA Philippine Cup.

After firing 14 points on a 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range to help Ginebra dominate Blackwater, 105-85, the 6-foot-4 wingman churned out a PBA career effort last Sunday with 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, while going 6-of-11 from downtown.

Ginebra rookie starts to ‘announce himself into the league’

The near triple-double performance proved huge as the Gin Kings vaulted back from a 10-point deficit en route to completing a 95-88 victory over the NorthPort Batang Pier.

Selected in the second round (23rd overall) by Ginebra in the 2023 PBA Draft, Cone said they already had their eyes on the sweet-shooting freshman even before draft day.

In fact, the American mentor said they were hoping on draft day that no one would pick the former La Salle Green Archer.

“He played in our PBA [On] Tour team (in 2023) and he played in the 3×3, so the coaches were really excited about him,” said the 66-year-old Ginebra mentor.

“We knew going into that draft that he’s going to be our target. We didn’t have a first-round pick and we were hoping that he would land into the second round. So it wasn’t a pick like we were doing it just because he played for our ‘On Tour’ team. We were sitting on pins and needles hoping we could get him, that no one else would draft him. And no one else knew him like we did.”

Cu fell an assist shy of becoming the first rookie to register a triple-double since Scottie Thompson did the trick in 2016.

But then again, Cone believes their freshman wingman’s effort on Sunday was Cu’s way of “announcing himself into the league.”

“[Almost a] Triple-double, these are big numbers for anybody. So he just kind of announced himself to the league so I’m sure the next time out, they’re going to be a little bit more conscious of him,” said Cone, the PBA’s all-time winningest coach.