Jones graded ‘OK’ in Meralco debut

Head coach Luigi Trillo gave import Marvin Jones a passing grade after leading Meralco to a rousing start in its campaign in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup.

A last-minute replacement for controversial Ismael Romero, Jones made an immediate impact for the Bolts after dropping 29 points in a 109-88 opening game rout of Converge on Wednesday at the Ynares-Center Antipolo.

“He was okay, we had one (tune-up) game with him. But you can’t really gauge an import that way. So, you really have to see him up close in a game, in a real game, and I thought he handled it pretty well,” Trillo said.

Jones was brought in after Meralco abandoned its original plan of tapping Romero, who was involved in a violent incident when he kicked former PBA player Nick Demusis, who was playing for the Zamboanga Valientes, during the Dubai Invitational Basketball Tournament.

The 7-foot Jones shot 12-of-19 from the field and held his own against the towers of the FiberXers in reinforcement Kylor Kelley, Justine Baltazar and Justin Arana. He dished out three assists and had one block.

“Converge to me on paper is maybe top two in the league, talent-wise, obviously they haven’t been playing good basketball (of late) but I see them on paper as one of the favorites, and that lineup of Baltazar, Arana and Kelley’s hard. But overall, you know he’s held his own, shot 63 percent from the field, he had 50 percent from threes,” Trillo said of the 32-year-old forward-center, who spent most of his pro career playing in Europe.

The mentor, however, identified areas in Jones’ game that must be addressed.

Trillo was particularly expecting more from Jones crashing the boards and operating more from down low. He pulled down only eight rebounds compared to 15 by Baltazar, 11 by Arana and Kelley’s nine.

“I’d like to see him rebound the ball better. He only had eight rebounds. Sometimes he plays on the perimeter in the three-two match,” Trillo said.

“So, hopefully, he can improve that part of his game. He also had five turnovers, which he has to improve on.”

Jones will have a couple of days to work on his game and make the necessary adjustments before the Bolts take on the unbeaten Phoenix bannered by James Dickey III, Ricci Rivero, Kai Ballungay and Jason Perkins on Saturday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.